"Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting. Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp; it is a sin offering. "Then you shall take one of the rams, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. Then you shall cut the ram into pieces, and wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and its head, and burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. "You shall take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram, and you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet, and throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons' garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons' garments with him. "You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails, and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination), and one loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD. You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD. Then you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before the LORD. It is a food offering to the LORD.
Exodus 29:10-25
The following words by an old commentator on the meaning of the burnt offering are worth pondering: 'The Cross, as foreshadowed by the burnt offering, had an element in it which only the divine mind could apprehend. There was a voice in it which was intended exclusively for, and went directly to, the ear of the Father. There were communications between the cross of Calvary and the throne of God, which lay far beyond the highest range of created intelligence …. (The Cross) was the place where Christ's love to the Father was told out in language which only the Father could hear and understand .... There is that in the cross which passes far beyond the loftiest conceptions of saints and angels, namely, the deep-toned devotion of the heart of the Son presented to, and appreciated by, the heart of the Father.'
The third offering is called 'the ram of consecration' (cf Leviticus 8:22). Some think this refers to the peace offering (cf Leviticus 3), but the additional reference to it in Leviticus 8:22 makes this unlikely. The reference to consecration seems to concern the priests themselves, who are sprinkled with the blood (21) and have ear, hand and foot anointed by it. As the aforementioned commentator beautifully puts it, 'A bloodstained ear was needed to hearken to the divine communications; a bloodstained hand was needed to execute the services of the sanctuary; and a bloodstained foot was needed to tread the courts of the Lord's house. The twofold sprinkling of the blood and the anointing oil (21) speaks of the twofold reality of the Christian experience, justification by the atoning blood of Christ and sanctification by the outpouring of the Spirit. The 'filling of the priests hands’; as the ritual in 23 and 24 is called, seems to indicate that the service they rendered was not of themselves, but of God. As the hymn puts it, 'We give Thee but Thine own, whate'er the gift may be'.