God calls Elders
7. Ordination - where does it come from?
The Old Testament
Depending on which translation of the Bible you refer to you may find the first references to ordination as far back in the Old Testament in Chronicles, Numbers and Habakkuk. Here the reference is to a variety of ways and subjects for what we might call ‘setting aside’. In Exodus and Leviticus we find the details of the rituals to be followed for the ordination of the priests including the following:
1 Now this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, so that they may serve me as priests. Take one young bull and two rams without blemish, Verse 1 (link opens in a new window)
22You shall also take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the appendage of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of ordination) Verse 2 (link opens in a new window)
On the surface there may seem to be little in common with our own experience or expectation of ordination. These were Jewish rituals but at the centre was their understanding of setting aside in the presence of God those for whom there was a special calling to specific tasks, tasks which had been ordained by God.
The New Testament
If we look a little closer to our own day there are examples in the early church, of this ‘setting aside’ in ways that are reflected in our own tradition and actions.
1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.