This is the offering of Aharon and his sons... The Yalkut Shimoni expounds on the wording of this Passuk, and says the following.
רבי נחמיה אומר, חביב קרבנו של אהרן לפני הקדוש ברוך הוא כקרבנן של נשיאים, להלן כתיב זה קרבן וכאן כתיב זה קרבן אהרן ובניו.
- Rebbi Nechemia said: The sacrifices that Aharon offered were as beloved to Hashem as the sacrifices offered by the Priests [i.e. the sacrifices that the Priests brought for the inauguration of the Mishkan]. [The Midrash goes on to explain that we learn this from the similar wording that the Torah choose to use when introducing these two sacrifices.] By the Priest's sacrifices the Torah says, 'This is the offering...' Similarly, by Aharon's sacrifices the Torah says, 'This is the offering of Aharon and his sons...'.
In this vein, the Midrash also relates to us how much King Dovid desired to offer those Priestly sacrifices.
אמר רב אידי מתאוה היה דוד לקרבן נשיאים. הדא הוא דכתיב עלת מחים אעלה לך, אין לך קרבן שיש בו פרים אילים עתודים אלא קרבן נשיאים.
- Rav Idi said: Dovid yearned to bring the sacrifices of the Priests, as Dovid had said, 'Fat burnt-offerings I shall offer You with the burnings of rams. I shall prepare large cattle along with goats, always'; and there is no set of sacrifices that includes within it cattle, ram, and goats, other than those sacrifices that the Priests offered during the Mishkan's inauguration.
The question is, why was it specifically those sacrifices that the Priests offered during the inauguration of the Mishkan that Dovid yearned to bring, more than any other sacrifice that were offered in the Mishkan.
The Gemara in Sotah (ט ע"א) tells us the following.
מאי דכתיב רננו צדיקים בה' לישרים נאוה תהלה. אל תקרי נאוה תהלה אלא נוה תהלה. זה משה ודוד שלא שלטו שונאיהם במעשיהם.
- What is the meaning of that which is written, 'Sing joyfully, O righteous, to Hashem; because for the upright praise is fitting'? Do not read it נָאוָה תהלה - the righteous should sing joyfully, because for them 'praise is fitting'; but rather נְוֵה תהלה - the righteous should sing joyfully, because they merited to erect lasting 'places of praise'. This refers to Moshe and Dovid, for their enemies did not gain control over their handiwork.
When David yearned to bring the Priestly offerings, is wasn't the offerings, per se, that he yearned to bring, rather it was the building of the Bais Hamikdash that he truly yearned for. For Dovid knew that were he to build the Bais Hamikdash, the enemies of the Jewish People would never be able to gain control over it and destroy it, for as the Gemara teaches us, 'the enemies of Moshe and Dovid were unable to gain control over their handiwork'. Dovid also knew, as Yechezkel would eventually prophesize many years later (פרק מ"ה ומ"ו), that at the inauguration of the last and ultimate Bais Hamikdash which will never be destroyed, we will merit once again to offer those very sacrifices that the Priest offered at the inauguration of the original Mishkan.
It was to this that Dovid referred to when he yearned to offer those priestly offerings. He was actually yearning to merit to build the Bais Hamikdash, which if built by him, would indeed have been inaugurated with those priestly offerings.
זרע שמשון פרשתנו אות ד
