“Blood on the ear, thumb, and toe”
took some of its blood and put it on Aaron's right earlobe, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. (Leviticus 8:23 BSB)
What it sounds like today
A strange, almost macabre smearing of blood on body parts.
The cultural key
The three points are chosen deliberately; together they represent the whole person set apart for God. Blood, the agent of purification and consecration, is applied to the right earlobe, right thumb, and right big toe, the extremities that stand for a man's faculties: the ear for hearing and obeying God's word, the hand (thumb) for the work and service he will perform, and the foot (toe) for the path he will walk. Touching each with blood consecrates the priest's listening, his doing, and his going, his whole life, top to bottom, to God's service. Remarkably, the identical ritual is used to restore a cleansed leper to the community (14:14), symbolically reconsecrating a person given back their life. A modern reader recoils at blood on body parts; the first hearers saw a man's ears, hands, and feet, his entire self, dedicated to God.
Recovered meaning
Daubing blood on the priest's right ear, thumb, and toe consecrates his hearing, his work, and his walk, his whole person, to God's service. The same rite restores a healed leper, reconsecrating a life given back.