מִלֻּא

From the study of Exodus 29:27

Range of meaning

Literally 'fillings'. It is the technical name for the installation of priests and for the offerings used in that rite (Exod 29:22, 26, 27, 31, 34; Lev 7:37; 8:22-33). It comes from the idiom 'fill the hand of X', meaning to install X in office (Exod 28:41; 29:9; Judg 17:5, 12; 1 Kgs 13:33). The term is also used of setting gems in a mount (Exod 25:7).

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'consecration', YLT 'the consecration', BSB 'ordination', and some versions 'installation'. 'Ordination' makes a modern reader think of a church service with a vow and laying on of hands.

How it drifted

'Ordination' and 'consecration' are later church words. The Hebrew picture is concrete: hands being filled. In this very rite the priests' hands were literally filled with fat, the thigh and bread (vv. 22-24).

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint translates milluʾim as teleiōsis, 'completion/perfecting'. That is the source of the 'perfecting' language for priests in Hellenistic Judaism (Philo) and in Hebrews (teleioō). Texts from Mari (18th century BCE) use a similar 'filling the hand' phrase for giving someone their share or entitlement, but how close that parallel really is remains debated.

From the study of Exodus 29:22

Range of meaning

A plural noun from the root m-l-ʾ, 'to fill'. It means 'filling(s)' and, in priestly texts, the installation of priests: the ram of installation (Exod 29:22, 26, 27, 31; Lev 8:22, 29), the days of installation (Lev 8:33), and the bread of installation (Exod 29:34). It is closely tied to the idiom millēʾ yād, 'to fill the hand', meaning to install in office (Exod 28:41; 29:9, 29, 33, 35; Judg 17:5, 12; 1 Kgs 13:33). Elsewhere the same noun is used for stones 'set' or 'filled' into a setting (Exod 25:7; 35:9).

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'consecration'. BSB, NIV, ESV and NASB have 'ordination'. Both give the outcome correctly. Neither keeps the concrete picture of hands being filled, which the very next verses act out: Moses places the fat parts, the thigh and the bread in Aaron's and his sons' palms and has them lift them before the LORD (vv. 23–24).

How it drifted

'Ordination' brings to mind a church service with laying on of hands, vows and a certificate of ministry. 'Consecration' sounds like an inner spiritual dedication. Hebrew millūʾîm is a physical, ritual act. A person's hands were filled with holy portions, and that marked him as authorized to handle what belongs to God.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek translation (Septuagint) renders millūʾîm as teleiōsis, 'completion, perfecting'. That understanding of priestly installation as a 'perfecting' carries into Hebrews, where teleioō is used of priesthood (Heb 7:11, 28). Texts from Mari, an 18th-century BC city on the Euphrates, use an Akkadian phrase meaning 'fill the hand' for handing a person his share of spoils. Many scholars think the Hebrew idiom first meant receiving one's allotted share, here the priests' income from the altar, and then came to mean installation.

From the study of Leviticus 8:22

Range of meaning

The root מלא means 'to fill, be full'. The singular milluʾ means a 'setting' or 'filling', as with the gemstones 'set' into the high priest's ephod and breastpiece (Exodus 25:7; 35:9). The plural milluʾîm is used only in priestly texts (Exodus 29; Leviticus 7:37; 8). It means '(the act of) installation into priesthood', and it can also name the offering that carries out that act (Leviticus 7:37). It comes from the idiom millēʾ yad, 'to fill the hand (of someone)', meaning to install someone as priest (Exodus 28:41; 29:9; Leviticus 8:33; 16:32; 21:10; Judges 17:5, 12; 1 Kings 13:33). The idiom later widened to dedicating things too. In Ezekiel 43:26 the altar's 'hand' is filled, meaning it is put into service.

Against the English

KJV and WEB have 'consecration', and BSB, ESV, NASB and NIV have 'ordination'. Both give the right idea in general, but both lose the picture of filled hands. That picture is acted out a few verses later: Moses puts the fat, the right thigh and the bread into Aaron's and his sons' hands. They wave these before the LORD, and then everything is burned (vv. 25–28). YLT's 'a ram of the consecrations' keeps the Hebrew plural, though it reads oddly.

How it drifted

'Ordination' came into English from church Latin (ordinatio, appointment to a church order). Today it calls up a church service in which a minister is set apart, often by bishops or elders laying hands on the candidate. In Leviticus 8 no one lays hands on the priests. The priests lay hands on the animal. The office is conferred by anointing, by dressing them in their garments, by blood on their ear, thumb and toe, and by filling their hands with sacrificial portions.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint renders the word teleiōsis, 'completion, perfecting': 'the ram of completion' (also Exodus 29). This is the source of the later Greek language of 'perfecting' priests, which the Letter to the Hebrews draws on (e.g. Hebrews 7:28). The Latin Vulgate has aries consecrationis. Commentators such as Milgrom note a similar Akkadian idiom, 'to fill the hand'. At Mari it is used for assigning someone a share, for example of booty. That suggests the Hebrew phrase may first have meant 'giving someone his entitlement or income'. In Judges 17:10–12, Micah pays a Levite wages and 'fills his hand'.