God told Moses to "bring near Aaron" for the priestly consecration—and the Targum Jonathan adds three devastating words the Hebrew Bible does not contain: "who is afar off on account of the work of the calf." Aaron was disqualified. He had made the Golden Calf. He was spiritually distant. And God told Moses to close that distance anyway.
The ceremony happened on the twenty-third of Adar—a date the Targum supplies but the Hebrew does not. For seven days, the Tabernacle was erected and dismantled daily while Aaron and his sons completed their consecration. The Targum adds that Moses himself officiated at the altar during this period: "he took it not down, neither ministered any longer" only after the consecration was complete.
The most remarkable addition comes during the blood ritual. When Moses purified the altar with the blood of the sin-offering bull, the Targum explains exactly what he was purifying it from: "all double-mindedness, constraint, and force, from the thoughts of his heart." If any Israelite prince had donated materials under social pressure rather than genuine willingness—if anyone "heard the voice of the crier, and was constrained, and brought without willingness"—the altar had to be cleansed of that tainted intention.
The Targum adds the Urim and Thummim by name when describing the breastplate, and specifies that blood was placed on the "middle cartilage" of the right ear, the "middle joint" of the right hand and foot. These anatomical details transform a symbolic anointing into a precise medical diagram of consecration.
For seven days, Aaron and his sons could not leave the Tabernacle entrance. The Targum warns: "that you may not die, for thus it hath been commanded." The priestly office was both gift and mortal danger.