“Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.
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Exodus 28:1-4 sits inside this longer paragraph.
“Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. They shall use the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.
Parallel Translations
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“Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office: Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.
You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.
These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.
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And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty.
And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
And these are the garments which they shall make; a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre, and a girdle: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office.
Show all 3 translations
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And bring thou near unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that they may minister unto Me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.
And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for splendour and for beauty.
And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office.
And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a tunic of chequer work, a mitre, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto Me in the priest's office.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Commandments (2)
The laws of the Torah, each cited and shown as a primary source.
Cross-references (87)
- Exodus 31:10 (vv1–2) the finely worked garments—the holy garments for Aaron the priest, the garments of his sons to minister in the priest’s office—
- Leviticus 8:30 (v2) Moses took some of the anointing oil, and some of the blood which was on the altar, and sprinkled it on Aaron, on his garments, and on his…
- Ephesians 1:17 (v3) that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,
- Revelation 19:8 (v2) It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
- Numbers 18:7 (v1) You and your sons with you shall keep your priesthood for everything of the altar, and for that within the veil. You shall serve. I give…
Show all 85 cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 (v3) But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the profit of all. For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom,…
- Exodus 31:3-6 (v3) I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of workmanship, to devise…
- Exodus 35:35–36:2 (v3) He has filled them with wisdom of heart to work all kinds of workmanship, of the engraver, of the skillful workman, and of the embroiderer,…
- Job 40:10 (v2) “Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty.
- Isaiah 11:2 (v3) Yahweh’s Spirit will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of…
- Hebrews 7:26 (v2) For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- James 1:17 (v3) Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning…
- Leviticus 8:7-9 (vv2, 4) He put the tunic on him, tied the sash on him, clothed him with the robe, put the ephod on him, and he tied the skillfully woven band of…
- Exodus 35:30 (v3) Moses said to the children of Israel, “Behold, Yahweh has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
- Exodus 39:1-2 (v2) Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron,…
- Deuteronomy 34:9 (v3) Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. The children of Israel listened to him, and…
- Hebrews 5:1-5 (v1) For every high priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and…
- Revelation 5:10 (v2) and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth.”
- Exodus 28:40 (v2) “You shall make tunics for Aaron’s sons. You shall make sashes for them. You shall make headbands for them, for glory and for beauty.
- Exodus 35:25 (v3) All the women who were wise-hearted spun with their hands, and brought that which they had spun: the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the…
- Psalms 90:16-17 (v2) Let your work appear to your servants, your glory to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be on us. Establish the work of our…
- Proverbs 2:6 (v3) For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
- Ephesians 6:14 (v4) Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
- Revelation 9:17 (v4) Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the…
- Exodus 28:39-40 (v4) You shall weave the tunic with fine linen. You shall make a turban of fine linen. You shall make a sash, the work of the embroiderer. “You…
- Numbers 16:9-11 (v1) Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do…
- Numbers 17:2-9 (v1) “Speak to the children of Israel, and take rods from them, one for each fathers’ house, of all their princes according to their fathers’…
- Numbers 26:61 (v1) Nadab and Abihu died when they offered strange fire before Yahweh.
- Deuteronomy 10:6 (v1) (The children of Israel traveled from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son…
- 1 Chronicles 6:10 (v1) Johanan became the father of Azariah, who executed the priest’s office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem.
- 2 Chronicles 26:18-21 (v1) They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests the sons of…
- Psalms 132:9 (v2) Let your priests be clothed with righteousness. Let your saints shout for joy!”
- Psalms 132:16 (v2) I will also clothe her priests with salvation. Her saints will shout aloud for joy.
- Isaiah 28:24-26 (v3) Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods? When he has leveled its surface, doesn’t…
- Isaiah 59:17 (v4) He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head. He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad…
- Isaiah 61:3 (v2) to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the…
- Isaiah 61:10 (v2) I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:8 (v4) But since we belong to the day, let’s be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
- Exodus 6:23 (v1) Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.
- Exodus 24:1 (v1) He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.
- Exodus 24:9 (v1) Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.
- Exodus 28:6-35 (v4) “They shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skillful workman. It shall have two…
- Exodus 28:41 (v1) You shall put them on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that…
- Exodus 29:1 (v1) “This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest’s office: take one young bull and two rams…
- Exodus 29:5-9 (v2) You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and clothe him with the…
- Exodus 29:9 (v1) You shall clothe them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind headbands on them. They shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute.…
- Exodus 29:44 (v1) I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will also sanctify Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest’s office.
- Exodus 30:30 (v1) You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest’s office.
- Exodus 35:19 (v1) the finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place—the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons—to…
- Exodus 39:2-5 (v4) He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to…
- Exodus 39:8-22 (v4) He made the breastplate, the work of a skillful workman, like the work of the ephod: of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined…
- Exodus 39:25-26 (v4) They made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates around the skirts of the robe, between the pomegranates; a bell…
- Exodus 39:28 (v4) the turban of fine linen, the linen headbands of fine linen, the linen trousers of fine twined linen,
- Leviticus 8:2 (v1) “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the…
- Leviticus 10:1 (v1) Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer, and put fire in it, and laid incense on it, and offered strange fire before…
- Leviticus 10:12 (v1) Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, “Take the meal offering that remains of the offerings of…
- Numbers 2:4 (v1) His division, and those who were counted of them, were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
- 1 Samuel 2:18 (v4) But Samuel ministered before Yahweh, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.
- 1 Samuel 22:18 (v4) The king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day…
- 1 Samuel 23:6 (v4) When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.
- 1 Samuel 30:7 (v4) David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring the ephod here to me.” Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
- 2 Samuel 6:14 (v4) David danced before Yahweh with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod.
- 1 Chronicles 24:1-4 (v1) These were the divisions of the sons of Aaron. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their…
- Isaiah 11:5 (v4) Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.
- Exodus 19:5-6 (v2) Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all…
- Exodus 29:29-30 (v2) “The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them. Seven days shall the…
- Exodus 40:13 (v2) You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office.
- Numbers 20:26-28 (v2) and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron shall be gathered, and shall die there.” Moses did as Yahweh…
- Numbers 27:20-21 (v2) You shall give authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may obey. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest,…
- 2 Chronicles 11:14 (v1) For the Levites left their pasture lands and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons cast them off,…
- Psalms 96:6 (v2) Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
- Psalms 149:4 (v2) For Yahweh takes pleasure in his people. He crowns the humble with salvation.
- Isaiah 4:2 (v2) In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of…
- Isaiah 64:6 (v2) For we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf; and our…
- Jeremiah 9:23-24 (v2) Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom. Don’t let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his…
- Zechariah 3:3-4 (v2) Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. He answered and spoke to those who stood before him,…
- Luke 1:8 (v1) Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division
- John 1:14 (v2) The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- Romans 3:22 (v2) even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
- Romans 13:14 (v2) But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, for its lusts.
- 1 Corinthians 1:30-31 (v2) Because of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption: that, as…
- Galatians 3:27 (v2) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
- Hebrews 2:9 (v2) But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor,…
- 2 Peter 1:17 (v2) For he received from God the Father honor and glory when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I…
- 1 John 3:2 (v2) Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for…
85 distinct cross-references across this passage (87 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (25 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–4 Whereby his office may be known to be glorious…
Whereby his office may be known to be glorious and excellent.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Exo 28:1 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy…
Exo 28:1 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister unto me in the priest’s office, [even] Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons.
Ver. 1. Take thou unto thee.] Christ also was "taken from among men," {Heb 5:1} to mediate and negotiate man’s cause with God: and this honour he assumed not to himself, but it was given him from above. {Heb 5:5}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Take thou unto thee cause them to come near…
Take thou unto thee cause them to come near unto thee, that thou mayst before them and before the people declare the will of God herein, and solemnly set them apart for his office.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 We have here,
We have here,
I. The priests nominated: Aaron and his sons, Exo 28:1. Hitherto every master of a family was priest to his own family, and offered, as he saw cause, upon altars of earth; but now that the families of Israel began to be incorporated into a nation, and a tabernacle of the congregation was to be erected, as a visible centre of their unity, it was requisite there should be a public priesthood instituted. Moses, who had hitherto officiated, and is therefore reckoned among the priests of the Lord (Psa 99:6), had enough to do as their prophet to consult the oracle for them, and as their prince to judge among them; nor was he desirous to engross all the honours to himself, or to entail that of the priesthood, which alone was hereditary, upon his own family, but was very well pleased to see his brother Aaron invested in this office, and his sons after him, while (how great soever he was) his sons after him would be but common Levites. It is an instance of the humility of that great man, and an evidence of his sincere regard for the glory of God, that he had so little regard to the preferment of his own family. Aaron, who had humbly served as a prophet to his younger brother Moses, and did not decline the office (Exo 7:1), is now advanced to be a priest, a high priest to God; for he will exalt those that abase themselves. Nor could any man have taken this honour to himself, but he that was called of God to it, Heb 5:4. God had said of Israel in general that they should be to him a kingdom of priests, Exo 19:6. But because it was requisite that those who ministered at the altar should give themselves wholly to the service, and because that which is every body's work will soon come to be nobody's work, God here chose from among them one to be a family of priests, the father and his four sons; and from Aaron's loins descended all the priests of the Jewish church, of whom we read so often, both in the Old Testament and in the New. A blessed thing it is when real holiness goes, as the ceremonial holiness did, by succession in a family.
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II. The priests' garments appointed, for glory and beauty, Exo 28:2. Some of the richest materials were to be provided (Exo 28:5), and the best artists employed in the making of them, whose skill God, by a special gift for this purpose, would improve to a very high degree, Exo 28:3. Note, Eminence, even in common arts, is a gift of God, it comes from him, and, as there is occasion, it ought to be used for him. He that teaches the husbandman discretion teaches the tradesman also; both therefore ought to honour God with their gain. Human learning ought particularly to be consecrated to the service of the priesthood, and employed for the adorning of those that minister about holy things. The garments appointed were, 1. Four, which both the high priest and the inferior priests wore, namely, the linen breeches, the linen coat, the linen girdle which fastened it to them, and the bonnet or turban; that which the high priest wore is called a mitre. 2. Four more, which were peculiar to the high priest, namely, the ephod, with the curious girdle of it, the breast-plate of judgment, the long robe with the bells and pomegranates at the bottom of it, and the golden plate on his forehead. These glorious garments were appointed, (1.) That the priests themselves might be reminded of the dignity of their office, and might behave themselves with due decorum. (2.) That the people might thereby be possessed with a holy reverence of that God whose ministers appeared in such grandeur. (3.) That the priests might be types of Christ, who should offer himself without spot to God, and of all Christians, who have the beauty of holiness put upon them, in which they are consecrated to God. Our adorning, now under the gospel, both that of ministers and Christians, is not to be of gold, and pearl, and costly array, but the garments of salvation, and the robe of righteousness, Isa 61:10; Psa 132:9, Psa 132:16. As the filthy garments wherewith Joshua the high priest was clothed signified the iniquity which cleaved to his priesthood, from which care was taken that it should be purged (Zac 3:3, Zac 3:4.), so those holy garments signified the perfect purity that there is in the priesthood of Christ; he is holy, harmless, and undefiled.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and…
And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him,.... Moses is bid to fetch or send for Aaron and his sons to him: or "cause" them to "draw near" (n) to him, and stand before him, that he might in the name of the Lord, and by his authority, distinguish and separate them
from among the children of Israel: and before them all invest them with the office of priesthood, as it follows:
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that they may minister unto me in the priest's office, before this time every master of a family was a priest, and might and did offer sacrifice, and all the Israelites were a kingdom of priests; and Moses, as Aben Ezra calls him, was "a priest of priests"; but now it being enough for him to be the political ruler of the people, and the prophet of the Lord, the priestly office is bestowed on Aaron and his sons; nor might any afterwards officiate in it but such as were of his family; and a great honour this was that was conferred on him, and to which he was called of God, as in Heb 5:4 and it is greatly in the favour of Moses, and which shows him to be an upright and undesigning man, that sought not to aggrandize himself and his family; that though he had so much honour and power himself, he sought not to entail any upon his posterity. It is hinted in the latter part of the preceding chapter, that Aaron and his sons should minister in the sanctuary, and look after the candlestick, and its lamps; and here the design of God concerning them is more fully opened, which was, that they should be his peculiar ministers and servants in his house, to do all the business appertaining to it:
even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons: who were all the sons that Aaron had that we read of; though Aben Ezra thinks it probable that he might have other sons, and therefore the names of those are particularly mentioned, who were to be taken into the priest's office with him; the two first of these died very quickly after this, in a very awful manner, as the sacred story relates; and from the other two sprung all the priests that were in all successive generations.
(n) "appropinquare fac", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–2 In this and the following chapter care is taken…
In this and the following chapter care is taken about the priests that were to minister in this holy place. In this chapter,
I. He pitcheth upon the persons who should be his servants, ver. 1.
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II. He appoints their livery; their work was holy, and so must their garments be, and answerable to the glory of the house which was now to be erected, ver. 2-5. (1.) He appoints the garments of his head-servant, the high-priest,
1. An ephod and girdle, ver. 6-14.
2. A breast-plate of judgement, ver. 16-29. in which must be put the Urim and Thummim, ver. 30.
3. The robe of the ephod, ver. 31-35.
4. The mitre, ver. 36-39. (2.) The garments of the inferior priests, ver. 40-43
Aaron and his sons - Hitherto every master of a family was priest to his own family. But now the families of Israel began to be incorporated into a nation, and a tabernacle of the congregation was to be erected, as a visible center of their unity, it was requisite there should be a publick priesthood instituted. Moses, who had hitherto officiated, and is therefore reckoned among the priests of the Lord, Psalm xcix, 6, had enough to do as their prophet, to consult the oracle for them, and as their prince, to judge among them. Nor was he desirous to ingross all the honours to himself, or to entail that of the priesthood, which alone was hereditary, upon his own family; but was very well pleased to see his brother Aaron invested with this office, and his sons after him; while (how great soever he was) his sons after him would be but common Levites. It is an instance of the humility of that great man, and an evidence of his sincere regard to the glory of God, that he had so little regard to the preferment of his own family. Aaron, that had humbly served as a prophet to his younger brother Moses, and did not decline the office, is now advanced to be a priest to God. God had said to Israel in general, that they should be to him a kingdom of priests; but because it was requisite that those who ministered at the altar should give themselves wholly to the service, God here chose from among them one to be a family of priests, the father and his four sons; and from Aaron's loins descended all the priests of the Jewish church, whom we read of both in the Old Testament and in the New.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Aaron and his sons are set apart for the…
CHAPTER XXVIII
Aaron and his sons are set apart for the priest's office, 1.
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Garments to be provided for them, 2, 3.
What these garments were, 4,
and of what made, 5.
The ephod, its shoulder-pieces, and girdle, 6-8.
The two onyx stones, on which the names of the twelve tribes
were to be engraven, 9-14.
The breastplate of judgment; its twelve precious stones,
engraving, rings, chains, and its use, 15-29.
The Urim and Thummim, 30.
The robe of the ephod, its border, bells, pomegranates, c.,
and their use, 31-35.
The plate of pure gold and its motto, 36,
to be placed on Aaron's mitre, 37, 38.
The embroidered coat for Aaron, 39.
Coats, girdles, and bonnets, 40.
Aaron and his sons to be anointed for the priest's office, 41.
Other articles of clothing and their use, 42, 43.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVIII
Verse 1. Aaron - and his sons] The priesthood was to be restrained to this family because the public worship was to be confined to one place and previously to this the eldest in every family officiated as priest, there being no settled place of worship. It has been very properly observed that, if Moses had not acted by the Divine appointment, he would not have passed by his own family, which continued in the condition of ordinary Levites, and established the priesthood, the only dignity in the nation, in the family of his brother Aaron. "The priests, however, had no power of a secular nature, nor does it appear from history that they ever arrived at any till the time of the Asmoneans or Maccabees." See Clarke on Ex 19:22.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Exo 28:1. Aaron and his sons — Hitherto every…
Exo 28:1. Aaron and his sons — Hitherto every master of a family was priest to his own family. But now, as the families of Israel began to be incorporated into a nation, and a tabernacle of the congregation was to be erected, as a visible centre of their unity, it was requisite there should be a public priesthood instituted. Moses, who had hitherto officiated, and is therefore reckoned among the priests of the Lord, (Psa 99:6,) had enough to do as their prophet, to consult the oracle for them, and as their prince, to judge among them. Nor was he desirous to engross all the honours to himself, or to entail that of the priesthood, which alone was hereditary, upon his own family; but was very well pleased to see his brother Aaron invested with this office, and his sons after him; while (how great soever he himself was) his sons after him would be but common Levites. It is an instance of the humility of that great man, and an evidence of his sincere regard to the glory of God, that he had so little regard to the preferment of his own family. Aaron, that had humbly served as a prophet to his younger brother Moses, and did not decline the office, is now advanced to be a priest to God. God had said to Israel in general, that they should be to him a kingdom of priests; but because it was requisite that those who ministered at the altar should give themselves wholly to the service of God, he had chosen from among them one to be a family of priests, the father and his four sons; and from Aaron’s loins descended all the priests of the Jewish Church, whom we read of both in the Old Testament and in the New.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 (Compare Exo. 39:1-31.) Moses is now commanded to commit…
(Compare Exo. 39:1-31.) Moses is now commanded to commit all that pertains to the offerings made to the Lord in the sanctuary to the exclusive charge of the members of a single family, who were to hold their office from generation to generation. In the patriarchal times, the external rites of worship had generally been conducted by the head of the tribe or family, in accordance with the principle involved in the dedication of the firstborn Exo 13:2; Num 3:12-13. Moses, as the divinely-appointed and acknowledged leader of the nation, had, on a special occasion, appointed those who were to offer sacrifice, and had himself sprinkled the consecrating blood of the victims on the people Exo 24:5-6, Exo 24:8. On the completion of the tabernacle, after Aaron and his sons had been called to the priesthood, he took chief part in the daily service of the sanctuary Exo 40:23-29, Exo 40:31-32 until the consecration of the family of Aaron, on which occasion he appears to have exercised the priest’s office for the last time (Lev. 8:14-29; compare Exo. 29:10-26). The setting apart of the whole tribe of Levi for the entire cycle of religious services is mentioned Num 3:5-13; 8:5-26; 18:1-32.
Exo 28:1
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Nadab and Abihu, the two older sons of Aaron, had accompanied their father and the seventy Elders when they went a part of the way with Moses up the mountain Exo 24:1, Exo 24:9. Soon after their consecration they were destroyed for offering “strange fire before the Lord” Lev 10:1-2. Eleazar and Ithamar are here mentioned for the first time, except in the genealogy, Exo 6:23. Eleazar succeeded his father in the High priesthood, and was himself succeeded by his son Phinehas Jdg 20:28. But Eli, the next high priest named in the history, was of the line of Ithamar. The representatives of both families held office at the same time in the days of David. See 1Ch 24:1-3; 2Sa 8:17.
Exo 28:3
The spirit of wisdom - See Exo 31:3 note. What may be especially noticed in this place is, that the spirit of wisdom given by the Lord is spoken of as conferring practical skill in the most general sense.
Garments to consecrate him - A solemn recognition of the significance of an appointed official dress. It expresses that the office is not created or defined by the man himself Heb 5:4, but that he is invested with it according to prescribed institution. The rite of anointing was essentially connected with investiture in the holy garments Exo 29:29-30; Exo 40:12-15. The history of all nations shows the importance of these forms.
Exo 28:5
With the exception of the gold, the materials were the same as those of the tabernacle-cloth, the veil of the tabernacle and the entrance-curtain of the tent Exo 26:1, Exo 26:31, Exo 26:36; Exo 25:4. The gold was made into thin flat wires which could either be woven with the woolen and linen threads, or worked with the needle. In regard to the mixture of linen and woollen threads in the High priest’s dress, see Lev 19:19.
Exo 28:6-12
The ephod - Exo 39:2-7. The Hebrew word has the same breadth of meaning as our word vestment. The garment was worn over the shoulders, and was the distinctive vestment of the High priest, to which “the breast-plate of judgment” was attached Exo 28:25-28.
Cunninq work - Skilled work, or work of a skilled man Exo 35:35.
Exo 28:7
Compare Exo 39:4. The ephod consisted of two principal pieces of cloth, one for the back and the other for the front, joined together by shoulder straps (see Exo 28:27 note). Below the arms, probably just above the hips, the two pieces were kept in place by a band attached to one of the pieces. On the respect in which the ephod of the High priest was held, see 1Sa 2:28; 1Sa 14:3; 1Sa 21:9; 1Sa 23:6-9; 1Sa 30:7. But an ephod made of linen appears to have been a recognized garment not only for the common priests 1Sa 22:18, but also for those who were even temporarily engaged in the service of the sanctuary 1Sa 2:18; 2Sa 6:14; 1Ch 15:27.
Exo 28:8
The curious girdle ... - Rather: the band for fastening it, which is upon it, shall be of the same work, of one piece with it. This band being woven on to one of the pieces of the ephod, was passed round the body, and fastened by buttons, or strings, or some other suitable contrivance.
Exo 28:11
Like the engravings of a signet - Compare Exo 28:21, Exo 28:36. These words probably refer to a special way of shaping the letters, adapted for engraving on a hard substance. Seal engraving on precious stones was practiced in Egypt from very remote times.
Ouches of gold - Gold settings formed not of solid pieces of metal, but of woven wire, wreathed round the stones in what is called cloisonnee work, a sort of filigree, often found in Egyptian ornaments. These stones, as well as those on the breastplate, were perhaps in the form of ovals, or rather ellipses, like the cartouches, containing proper names, in hieroglyphic inscriptions. The word “ouches” is used by Shakespeare, Spenser, and some of their contemporaries in the general sense of “jewels.”
Exo 28:12
Upon the shoulders - i. e. upon the shoulder pieces of the ephod. See Exo 28:7.
Upon his two shoulders - Compare Isa 9:6; Isa 22:22. The high priest had to represent the Twelve tribes in the presence of Yahweh; and the burden of his office could not be so aptly symbolized anywhere as on his shoulders, the parts of the body fittest for carrying burdens.
Verse 13-30
Compare Exo 39:8-21.
Exo 28:14
Rather, two chains of pure gold shalt thou make of wreathen work, twisted like cords. They were more like cords of twisted gold wire than chains in the ordinary sense of the word. Such chains have been found in Egyptian tombs.
Exo 28:15
The breastplate of judgment - The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered “breastplate,” appears to be simply “ornament”. The term breastplate relates merely to its place in the dress.
Exo 28:16
Doubled - To give it stability, or to form what was used as a bag for the Urim and Thummim: the latter appears to be the more likely.
Exo 28:17
Settings - Ouches of “cloisonnec” work, like those mentioned in Exo 28:11.
A sardius - i. e. “the red stone.” The Sardian stone, or sard, was much used by the ancients for seals; and it is perhaps the stone of all others the best for engraving.
Topaz - Not the stone now called the topaz: it may have been the chrysolite, a stone of a greenish hue.
A carbuncle - More probably the beryl, which is a kind of emerald.
Exo 28:18
An emerald - Rather the garnet, which when cut with a convex face is termed the carbuncle.
A sapphire - Not the stone now called the sapphire; the lapis-lazuli is most probably meant.
A diamond - There is no trace of evidence that the ancients ever acquired the skill to engrave on the diamond, or even that they were acquainted with the stone. The “diamond” here may possibly be some variety of chalcedony, or (perhaps) rock crystal.
Exo 28:19
A ligure - Amber, which came from Liguria.
Exo 28:20
A beryl - Supposed to be a brilliant yellow stone, identified with what is now nown as the Spanish topaz.
A jasper - Probably the green jasper.
Exo 28:22
Chains ... - See Exo 28:14.
Exo 28:23
On the two ends of the breastplate - The extremities spoken of here, and in the next verse, must have been the upper corners of the square. The chains attached to them Exo 28:25 suspended the breastplate from the ouches of the shoulder pieces Exo 28:9, Exo 28:11-12.
Exo 28:27
“And two rings of gold shalt thou make and put them on the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, low down in the front of it, near the joining, above the band for fastening it.” It would seem that the shoulder pieces were continued down the front of the ephod as far as the band (see Exo 28:8); the joining appears to have been the meeting of the extremities of the shoulder pieces with the band. These rings were attached to the shoulder pieces just above this joining.
Exo 28:28
The curious girdle of the ephod - The band for fastening it (see Exo 28:8 note).
Exo 28:29
See Exo 28:12; the same names engraved on the stones of the breastplate were worn over the heart, the seat of the affections, as well as of the intellect, to symbolize the relation of love and of personal interest which the Lord requires to exist between the priest and the people.
Exo 28:30
The Urim and the Thummim - “The Light and the Truth, or perfection.”
From the way in which they are spoken of here and in Lev 8:8, compared with Exo 28:15-21, it would appear that the Urim and the Thummim were some material things, previously existing and familiarly known, that they were separate from the breastplate itself, as well as from the gems that were set upon it, and were kept in the bag of the breastplate Exo 28:16.
By means of them the will of Yahweh, especially in what related to the wars in which His people were engaged, was made known. They were formally delivered by Moses to Aaron Lev 8:8, and subsequently passed on to Eleazar Num 20:28; Num 27:21. They were esteemed as the crowning glory of the tribe of Levi Deu 33:8. There is no instance on record of their being consulted after the time of David.
The opinion has prevailed to a great extent that the Urim and the Thummim were of Egyptian origin, and two small images of precious stone, and that the divine will was manifested through them by some physical effect addressed to the eye or the ear.
Others prefer the view that they were some means for casting lots. Appeals to lots were made under divine authority by the chosen people on the most solemn occasions Lev 16:8; Num 26:55; Jos 7:14-18; Jos 13:6; Jos 18:8; 1Sa 14:41-42; Act 1:26, and it must have been a truth commonly recognized by the people that though “the lot was cast into the lap, the whole disposing thereof was of the Lord” Pro 16:33.
Exo 28:31-35
The robe of the ephod - Exo 39:22-26. A frock or robe of the simplest form, woven without seam, wholly of blue. It was put on by being drawn over the head. It appears to have had no sleeves. It probably reached a little below the knees. It must have been visible above and below the ephod, the variegated texture of which it must have set off as a plain blue groundwork.
Exo 28:32
An habergeon - Corselets of linen, such as appear to be here referred to, were well known amongst the Egyptians.
Exo 28:35
His sound - Its sound, i. e. the sound of the robe, that the people, who stood without, when they heard the sound of the bells within the tabernacle, might have a sensible proof that the high priest was performing the sacred rite in their behalf, though he was out of their sight.
That he die not - The bells also bore witness that the high priest was, at the time of his ministration, duly attired in the dress of his office, and so was not incurring the sentence of death (see also Exo 28:43). An infraction of the laws for the service of the sanctuary was not merely an act of disobedience; it was a direct insult to the presence of Yahweh from His ordained minister, and justly incurred a sentence of capital punishment. Compare Exo 30:21; Lev 8:35; Lev 10:7.
Exo 28:36-43
Compare Exo 39:27-31.
Exo 28:36
Holiness to the Lord - This inscription testified in express words the holiness with which the high priest was invested in virtue of his sacred calling.
Exo 28:37
A blue lace - The plate was fastened upon a blue band or fillet, so tied round the mitre as to show the plate in front.
The mitre - A twisted band of linen Exo 28:39 coiled into a cap, to which the name mitre, in its original sense, closely answers, but which, in modern usage, would rather be called a turban.
Exo 28:38
Bear the iniquity of the holy things - The Hebrew expression “to bear iniquity” is applied either to one who suffers the penalty of sin (Exo 28:43; Lev 5:1, Lev 5:17; Lev 17:16; Lev 26:41, etc.), or to one who takes away the sin of others (Gen 50:17; Lev 10:17; Lev 16:22; Num 30:15; 1Sa 15:25, etc.). In several of these passages, the verb is rightly rendered to forgive. The iniquity which is spoken of in this place does not mean particular sins actually committed, but that condition of alienation from God in every earthly thing which makes reconciliation and consecration needful. Compare Num 18:1. It belonged to the high priest, as the chief atoning mediator between Yahweh and His people (see the note at Exo 28:36), to atone for the holy things that they might be “accepted before the Lord” (compare Lev 8:15, note; Lev 16:20, Lev 16:33, note): but the common priests also, in their proper functions, had to take their part in making atonement (Lev 4:20; Lev 5:10; Lev 10:17; Lev 22:16; Num 18:23, etc.).
Exo 28:39
The coat of fine linen - A long tunic, or cassock. Josephus says that it was worn next the skin, that it reached to the feet, and that it had closely fitting sleeves. The verb translated “embroider” appears rather to mean weave in diaper work. The tissue consisted of threads of one and the same color diapered in checkers, or in some small figure.
The girdle of needlework - The girdle of the work of the embroiderer Exo 26:1; Exo 35:35. The word translated “girdle” is different from that so rendered in Exo 28:8 (see the note), and is probably Egyptian. Josephus says that it was wound several times round the body, and that its ends ordinarily hung down to the feet, but were thrown over the shoulder when the priest was engaged in his work.
Exo 28:40
Bonnets - Caps of a simple construction which seem to have been cup-shaped.
Exo 28:41-43
The dress of white linen was the strictly sacerdotal dress common to the whole body of priests Eze 44:17-18. “These were for glory and for beauty” not less than “the golden garments” (as they were called by the Jews) which formed the high priest’s dress of state Exo 28:2. The linen suit which the high priest put on when he went into the most holy place on the day of atonement, appears to have been regarded with unique respect (Compare Exo 31:10; Lev 16:4, Lev 16:23), though it is nowhere stated that it was distinguished in its make or texture, except in having a girdle Exo 28:39 wholly of white linen, instead of a variegated one. The ancient Egyptian priests, like the Hebrew priests, wore nothing but white linen garments in the performance of their duties.
Exo 28:43
That they bear not iniquity and die - See Exo 28:35, note; Exo 28:38 note.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Take, &c. Priests must be called by God, as…
Take, &c. Priests must be called by God, as Aaron was, Hebrews v. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v2 holy garments--No inherent holiness belonged either to the material…
holy garments--No inherent holiness belonged either to the material or the workmanship. But they are called "holy" simply because they were not worn on ordinary occasions, but assumed in the discharge of the sacred functions (Eze 44:19).
for glory and for beauty--It was a grand and sumptuous attire. In material, elaborate embroidery, and color, it had an imposing splendor. The tabernacle being adapted to the infantine aid of the church, it was right and necessary that the priests' garments should be of such superb and dazzling appearance, that the people might be inspired with a due respect for the ministers as well as the rites of religion. But they had also a further meaning; for being all made of linen, they were symbolical of the truth, purity, and other qualities in Christ that rendered Him such a high priest as became us.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–4 THE HOLY GARMENTS OF THE PRIESTS, Exo_28:1-43.
THE HOLY GARMENTS OF THE PRIESTS, Exo_28:1-43.
The institution of the Aaronic priesthood and the ceremonials of their induction into office, their dress, and the duties of their office, are explicitly referred in this and following chapters to the time of Moses. The theory which maintains the post-exilian origin of this “priest code” is obliged to treat this entire narrative as unhistorical, and has gone to the extreme of teaching that the structure and cultus of the Mosaic tabernacle must all be relegated to the realm of fiction. How this reverses and revolutionizes all history and tradition, and introduces difficulties greater than those it seeks to explain, must be apparent to the un-biassed student of these sacred books. That the Levitical priesthood was instituted by Moses, and that Aaron and his sons were consecrated first for the holy services of the tabernacle, are facts most reasonable and supposable in themselves. No other period in all the history of Israel was so appropriate for the establishment of such a sacerdotal cultus, and no man, under God, could have been better qualified to set in order the offices and work of this ministry than Moses, whose Egyptian training must have made him familiar with the cultus and mysteries of the great temples of the Nile.
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1. Take thou unto thee Aaron — Or, Bring thou Aaron thy brother near to thee. Moses, as the divinely chosen minister and mediator between Jehovah and the people, is the proper person to formally institute a new law and order of priestly ministrations. Nadab and Abihu have been already mentioned, (Exo_24:1; Exo_24:9,) and in Lev_10:1-2, we read of their sudden destruction for offering “strange fire before Jehovah.” The four sons of Aaron are mentioned in the genealogy of chapter 6:23. Eleazar succeeded his father, and the priestly robes were transferred to him in Mount Hor. Num_20:24-28. He in turn was succeeded by his son Phinehas. Compare Exo_6:25, and Jos_24:33; Jdg_20:28. The descendants of Ithamar subsequently attained precedence, (see note on 1Sa_1:9,) and representatives of both these sons of Aaron appear to have held office in David’s time, (see note on 2Sa_6:17; 2Sa_8:17,) but the deposition of Abiathar by Solomon (2 Kings 2:35, note) restored the line of Eleazar.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1. And thou, bring thou near, &c.] as Exo_27:20.…
1. And thou, bring thou near, &c.] as Exo_27:20. hikrib (‘bring near’) has here the special, sacred sense of present, or, of a sacrifice, offer, as very often in P; cf. Exo_29:3-4; Exo_29:8; Exo_29:10; Exo_40:12; Exo_40:14; and DB. iii. 587b.
and his sons with him] the addition of ‘with him,’ as often in P: v. 41, Exo_29:21 (twice), Gen_6:18; Gen_7:7; Gen_7:13 &c. (see LOT. p. 132, No. 10). Aaron’s ‘sons,’ as already explained, represent in this and the next ch., the ordinary priests.
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minister … in the priest’s office] in the Heb., one word, be (or act as priest. The Heb. for ‘priest’ is kôhen, a word of which the etym. sense is unknown: the supposition that it denotes ‘one who stands’ (to serve God) is most precarious: there is no Semitic root kâhan, or even kûn, meaning to ‘stand’: kûn, in Arab., Eth., and Phoen. is the common word for ‘to be’; in Ass. it means to be firm; derivatives in Heb. also mean to be or to make firm, but this is not the same thing as to ‘stand.’ In Arabic the corresponding word, kâhin, means a seer—an important man in a tribe, who was consulted before an undertaking, esp. a war, or to settle a dispute, or other difficulty, the organ of a deity, or, mostly, of a jinn (Wellh. Arab. Heid. 130–4, 167; 2131–8, 143): the older Isr. kôhçn also habitually gave answers, by the Urim and Thummim, on questions submitted to him, and divine decisions upon legal cases (see on Exo_18:15). The common name, and the kindred functions, justify the inference that the kôhçn and the kâhin were originally identical: both will have been originally guardians of an oracle at a sanctuary: but their functions diverged: the kâhin sank to be a mere diviner; the kôhçn acquired gradually more and more of the sacrificial functions which we commonly attach to the idea of a ‘priest.’
Nadab and Abihu] see in J Exo_24:1; Exo_24:9; in P Exo_6:23, Lev_10:1-2.
Eleazar and Ithamar] Eleazar is mentioned in Deu_10:6 as Aaron’s successor in the priesthood, and in Jos_24:33 (E) his death is recorded. See further on Exo_6:23.
1–5. Sacred vestments to be made for the priests.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 (1) Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother.—Heb., make…
XXVIII.
THE DESIGNATION OF AARON AND HIS SONS FOR THE PRIESTLY OFFICE, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR MINISTERIAL APPAREL.
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(1) Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother.—Heb., make to draw near to thee Aaron thy brother. Hitherto the position of Moses had been absolutely unique. He had been, from the time that Egypt was quitted, the one and only intermediary between God and the people—the one and only priest of the nation. Now this was to be changed. Perhaps in consequence of his original reluctance and want of faith (Exo_3:11; Exo_4:10-13), perhaps on account of Aaron’s elder birth (Exo_7:7), it pleased God to commit the office of ministering to Him in the tabernacle, not to Moses and his descendants, but to Aaron and those sprung from his loins. In this way Aaron and his sons were “drawn near” to Moses in respect of rank, position, and dignity.
That he may minister to me in the priest’s office.—Or, “that he may be priest to me.” The actual investiture of Aaron with the priestly office did not take place until some time after the tabernacle was completed. It is related in Leviticus 8; and his first priestly acts are recorded in the following chapter (Lev_9:8-22).
Nadab and Abihu.—On Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest sons of Aaron, see Exo_6:23; Exo_24:1.
Eleazar and Ithamar.—The priestly office was, in fact, continued in the families of these two. Eleazar became high priest at the death of Aaron (Num_20:28), and was succeeded by his son Phinehas, whom we find high priest in the time of Joshua (Jos_22:13) and afterwards (Jdg_20:28). At a later date, but under what circumstances is unknown, the high priesthood passed to the line of Ithamar, to which Eli belonged.
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The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Vers. 1-12. THE HOLY GARMENTS. The special object of…
Vers. 1-12. THE HOLY GARMENTS. The special object of the present chapter is to prescribe the form, materials, colour, etc., of the holy garments or the attire of those who were to minister in the tabernacle at the time of their ministration. As the service of the tabernacle was about to be committed to Aaron and his sons, their selection for this office is mentioned in verse 1, and their investiture and consecration briefly touched in verse 41. Otherwise the whole chapter is concerned with the attire That of Aaron is first prescribed (vers. 4-39). It consists of an ephod (vers. 612); a breastplate (vers. 13-30); a robe (vers. 31-35); a mitre (vers 36-38); a coat, or tunic; and a girdle (ver. 39). The dress of his sons follows. It comprises drawers (ver. 42), tunics, girdles, and caps or turbans (ver. 40). Incidentally it is mentioned in verse 43, that drawers are also to be worn by Aaron; and, in conclusion, the neglect of this ordinance in the case of either Aaron or his sons is forbidden under penalty of death
Take thou unto thee. Literally, "Make to draw near to thee." Moses had hitherto been of all the people the one nearest to God, the medium of communication. He was now to abdicate a portion of his functions, transferring them to his brother and his brother"s sons. By this act he would draw them nearer to him than they were before. It is worthy of remark that he makes no remonstrance or opposition, but carries out God"s will in this matter as readily and willingly as in all others. (see Lev_8:4-30) From among the children of Israel. The LXX react "And from among the children of Israel," as if others besides the family of Aaron had been admitted to the priesthood. But this is contrary to the entire tenor of the later narrative. The existing Hebrew text is correct. Nadab and Abihu, and again, Eleazar and Ithamar, are always coupled together in the Pentateuch (Exo_24:1; Lev_10:1, Lev_10:12; etc.) while a marked division is made between the two pairs of brothers. It is probably the sin and early death of the two elder (Lev_10:1-2) that causes the separation. Of Ithamar after the death of his brothers, nothing is known. Eleazar became high priest. (Num_34:17; Jos_4:1; Jos_16:4; etc.)
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Vers. 1-5. The glory of holy garments.
garments garments appropriated to the service of God in his sanctuary will always be "glorious," however simple they are:
1. As the dress of office for those whose office is of an exalted andglorious character, who are "ambassadors for God," and "stewards of his mysteries.
2. As associated with rites, which show forth, and help forward, theglorious work of redemption: and
3. As typical of the glorious robes which will be worn by the saints inheaven. The garments assigned by the will of God to the Levitical priesthood were, further, glorious in themselves, i.e. , splendid, magnificent, of rich and beautiful materials. They thus harmonised with the richness and magnificence of the tabernacle, and afterwards of the temple, and taught the people, by the eye, that whatever is rich and rare should be devoted to the service of God. But the highest glory of holy garments is to be found in those "robes of righteousness," which the set apparel of priests is intended to suggest and signify. (Psa_132:9; Isa_61:10) The white linenof priestly robes tells of purity and innocence gold and jewels, of precious gifts and graces azure, the hue of heaven, speaks of heavenly thoughts and aspirations the scarlet and the purple are signs of the martyr spirit, which is willing to" resist unto blood". (Heb_12:4) If the priest or the Levite have no other adorning but that of the outward apparel, if they are not "clothed with the garments of salvation", and robed with righteousness, "holy garments" will little avail either themselves, or those to whom they minister. The "marriage garment" required of each Christian in Holy Scripture is purity of life and conduct; and certainly without this, "holy garments" are vain, and lose both their "glory" and their "beauty.
HOMILIES BY D. YOUNG
Vers. 1-4. The priests" garments.
I OBSERVE HOW THE INDIVIDUAL IS HERE SUBORDINATED TO THE OFFICE. Jehovah tells Moses here, amid the solemnities of the mount, that his brother Aaron and Aaron"s sons are to be taken for service in the priest"s office; but no word is said concerning the characters of any of these men, not even Aaron himself. There is a demand that those who made the priestly garments should be wise-hearted, men with a spirit of wisdom which Jehovah himself would put into them; but nothing is said as to Aaron himself being wise-hearted. Nor is there any indication given beforehand of any personal fitness that he had for the office. We gather much as to the way in which God had been training Moses; but Aaron so far as we can see, seems to have been led by a way that he knew not. All the commandment to Moses is, "take to thee Aaron thy brother." He is indicated by a natural relation, and not by anything that suggests spiritual fitness. It is interesting to compare the utter absence of any reference here to personal character with the minute details of what constitutes fitness for bishop and deacon, as we find these details in the epistles to Timothy and Titus. In the old dispensation where there was but the shadow of good things to come, the trappings of the official and the ceremonies of the office were of more importance than the character of any individual holder. The purpose of Jehovah was best served, in proportion as the people, beholding Aaron, forgot that it was Aaron, and were chiefly impressed by the fact that they were looking on the appointed priest of the Most High.
II OBSERVE WHAT WAS AIMED AT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS. They were to be for glory and for beauty. Not only different from the garments of the common people, but much more splendid. Gold was worked into the very substance of these garments; precious stones glittered upon them; and everything was done to make them beautiful and impressive. Nor was the splendour of these garments for a mere occasional revelation. Though not worn constantly, yet they had to be assumed for some part of every day; and thus all eyes were continually directed to symbols of the glory, beauty, and perfection which God was aiming to produce in the character of his people. There was as yet no finding of these things in human nature. The gold of human nature could not yet be purified from its debasing dross; but here for a symbol of the refined and perfected man, was gold, pure and bright, we may imagine, as ever came out of the furnace; and here were these precious stones, inestimably more precious since the tribal names were graven on them, and with the preciousness crowned when they took their place on the shoulders and breasts of the priest. Thus, whenever these stones flashed in the light, they spoke forth afresh the great truth, that this priest so gloriously attired, was the representative of the people before God; not a representative whom they had elected for themselves, and who would therefore go to God on a peradventure, but one who, because God himself had chosen him, could not fail to be acceptable. The principle underlying the direction to make these splendid garments is that which underlies the use of all trappings by government and authority. The outward shows of kingly state, the crown, the sceptre, the throne, the royal robes these may not be impressive now as once they were; but they have been very serviceable once, and may still serve an important purpose, even though it be not easily perceived. It might make a difference in the administration of justice, if the garb of those who are the chief administrators were to differ nothing in public from what it is in private.
III OBSERVE THAT TO SHOW FURTHER THE IMPORTANCE ATTACHED TO THESE GARMENTS, GOD HIMSELF PROVIDED SKILL FOR THE MAKING OF THEM. Much skill might be needed, far more than could be guessed by the observer, to make these garments graceful and impressive. What was all the richness of the material unless there was also dextrous, tasteful, and sympathetic workmanship? The gold, and the blue, and the purple, and all the rest of the promising materials would have availed nothing in some hands to avert a clumsy and cumbrous result. The people provided all they could, and it was a great deal; but God had to provide the craftsmen in order to make full use of the people"s gift. Y.
HOMILIES BY G. A. GOODHART Vers. 1, 2Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?
The tabernacle (cf. outline on Exo_26:30) shows through what steps a man must pass who would approach God. The high priest shows what the man must be like who would attempt to take those steps. The dress of the high priest is usually said to have consisted of eight pieces, viz.: breastplate, ephod with its girdle, robe of the ephod, mitre, gold plate or holy crown, broidered robe, drawers, girdle. Such a dress is meant to be characteristic , to shadow forth what ought to be the character of the man who wears it. As the high priest represents the people in their relation to God, the character required in him must be the character required in all would-be worshippers. Take a few points:
I THE WORSHIPPER MUST BE IN HARMONY WITH HIS SURROUNDINGS. The colours and materials of the garments are the same as those of the tabernacle with its veil and entrance curtain gold, blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen. So, too, the character of the worshipper must match with the character of the sanctuary. What can a man do in heaven if he be not heavenly-minded? Every one, in the end, like Judas, must go to his own place; the character of the individual must decide the character of his surroundings. (cf. Mat_22:11-13)
II HE MUST BE CAPABLE OF REFLECTING THE LIGHT AMID WHICH HE WALKS AND THE GLORY WHICH HE IS APPROACHING. The breast-plate is, amongst the garments of the high priest, what the mercy seat is amongst the furniture of the sanctuary. In some sort, also, the two are related; the mercy seat is the throne of glory, the resting-place of the shechinah, whilst the breast-plate reflects the same glory, and glorifies the wearer by reflecting it.
1. Man is glorified by reflecting the glory of God. The more he can reflect, the more manifold the ways in which he can reflect it, the more perfect is the glory which is revealed on him. We may note, however, that the high priest representing the nation, the breast-plate which he wears suggests rather the national than the individual reflecting power. The one grows out of the other, but amongst individuals some may reflect as the sardius, some as the topaz, etc. The great thing is that they do reflect, though each may reflect differently to others. Remember, too, that the glory of each helps to make and to intensify the glory of the whole.
2. The reflector is the breastplate. The breast-plate covers and symbolises the heart or the affections. "God is love," and the glory of God is the glory of love made manifest. Only love can reflect love; the loving heart is the enlightened and the enlightening heart.
III PROGRESS MUST NOT BE SILENT BUT MUSICAL. The robe of the ephod with its border of embroidered pomegranates, blue, red, and crimson; bells of gold alternating with the pomegranates. The music of the priest"s movement is associated with fruitfulness; look whence the sound comes and you see the varicoloured pomegranates. So, too, the melody of a holy life rings out from amongst good deeds; deeds which like the varicoloured pomegranates are all one fruit, "the fruit of the Spirit" (cf. Gal_5:22) Such fruit advertises to his fellows a man"s progress along the way of holiness; (cf. RAPC Sir 45:9, "a memorial to the children of his people yet specially is it required by God for his own pleasure and satisfaction: (cf. Exo_28:35) whether men hear or no, the golden bells must not be silent.
IV THE WORSHIPPER MUST BE HELMETED AND CROWNED WITH HOLINESS. (cf. Exo_28:36) The golden plate with its inscription.
1. Generally, it may be said, that they who approach a holy place mustapproach it as a holy people. We have safeguards against unseemliness and impurity. (Exo_28:42)
2. Specially does the head, associated with the intellect, need consecration.Unless the head be protected the heart must soon cease to reflect. He who lays aside the helmet of holiness cannot retain the breast-plate of glory.
Conclusion. We want to draw nigh to God. The tabernacle shows us by what successive stages we must approach him; the high priest shows us how in character and conduct we must be prepared for those successive stages. As we should put it now-a-days, to get to heaven a man must be like Christ; the journey thither can only be achieved by those who are in communion with the great High Priest. In and through him we may draw nigh; growing daily more heavenly-minded, and therefore more fit for heaven; reflecting more and more of the light and glory which shines out upon us; making life musical with the melody of good works, a sweet sound in God"s ears and a sign to direct men"s attention God-wards; consecrated wholly to God"s service, hallowed now by outward dedication; at length like the great High Priest himself, to be not merely hallowed but altogether holy. G.
HOMILIES BY J. ORR Vers. 1-43. The priests and their garments.
From instructions about inanimate things, we come now to persons. Aaron and his four sons were to be set apart for the office of the priesthood, and garments were to be made for them, "for glory and for beauty." Aaron was to be high priest (" the priest who is higher than his brethren, upon whose head the anointing oil was poured,"; (Lev_21:16) his sons were to be ordinary priests. The high priest was a very especial type of Christ.
I THE INSTITUTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD (ver. 1). Hitherto there had been no distinct class invested with the office of the priesthood. The need for a separate priesthood arose with the giving of the law, with the entrance of Israel into covenant relationship with God, and with the founding of a sanctuary.
1. With the giving of the law. A distinct revelation had been made of God"s holiness. But God"s holiness had as its correlative the unholiness of the people. By the law came the knowledge of sin. A priesthood, specially sanctified to God"s service, became necessary to mediate between an unholy people and a holy God.
2. With the establishment of a covenant relationship between Israel and Jehovah. In virtue of the covenant, Israel became to God "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation". (Exo_19:5) It was this priestly calling of the nation which found official expression in the priesthood of the house of Aaron. The priests were "vicars," in the sense of the following passage truly vicarious act does not supersede the principal"s duty of performance, but rather implies and acknowledges it...In the old monastic times, when the revenues of a cathedral or cure fell to the lot of a monastery, it became the duty of that monastery to perform the religious services of the cure. But inasmuch as the monastery was a corporate body, they appointed one of their number, whom they denominated their vicar, to discharge those duties for them. His service did not supersede theirs, but was a perpetual and standing acknowledgment that they, as a whole and individually, were under the obligation to perform it" (Robertson of Brighton, Sermons, vol. 2. p. 92). That is to say, the priests stood in a representative relation to the body of the people. They acted in the name of the community.
3. With the founding of a sanctuary. "The groundwork of this new form of religion stood in the erection of the tabernacle, which God chose for his peculiar dwelling-place, and through which he meant to keep up a close and lively intercourse with his people. But this intercourse would inevitably have grown on their part into too great familiarity, and would thus have failed to produce proper and salutary impressions upon the minds of the worshippers, unless something of a counteracting tendency had been introduced, fitted to beget feelings of profound and reverential awe toward the God who condescended to come so near to them. This could no otherwise be effectually done than by the institution of a separate priesthood, whose prerogative alone it should be to enter within the sacred precincts of God"s house, and perform the ministrations of his worship" (Fairbairn). The Aaronic priesthood had thus a twofold function to discharge in relation to the people.
1. Representative. It represented the nation in its priestly standing and vocation. It performed sacerdotal acts in the name of the tribes. The representative character culminated in the person of the high priest.
2. Mediatory. The priesthood mediated between the people and Jehovah. It was the link of communion between the holy and the unholy. Gifts and. offerings, which otherwise, on account of the unholiness of the people, would not have been accepted, were accepted at the hands of the priests. The high priest transacted with God on behalf of his constituents as well as in their name. It pertained to him, and to the other priests, "to make reconciliation for the sins of the people". (Heb_2:17) The priesthood, and especially the high priest, thus typifies Christ
1. in his Divine appointment to his office; (Heb_5:5, Heb_5:6)
2. in his personal and official holiness; (Heb_4:15 Heb_7:26)
3. in his representative relations to his people; (Heb_6:20)
4. in his work of mediation and intercession; (Heb_9:11, Heb_9:12, Heb_9:24)
5. in his heavenly glory. (Heb_2:9)
Note, however, the following point of difference (one among many) between the high priest and Christ. The Jewish high priest embodied priestly rights already existing in the nation. Believers, on the contrary, derive their priestly rights from Christ. They are admitted to a share in his priestly standing. Their priesthood, unlike that of the old covenant, is purely spiritual. It includes privileges formerly possessed only by the official classes, e.g. , the right of direct access to God. (Eph_2:18; Heb_10:19)
II THE PRIESTLY GARMENTS (vers. 2-43). Having chosen his priests, God next proceeds to clothe them. As the office was of his appointment, so must the garments be which are to be the insignia of it. Nothing is left to individual taste. The articles of attire; their shape, material, coour, workmanship; the manner of their ornamentation; everything is fixed after a Divine pattern. The garments are to be "for glory and for beauty" (vers. 2, 40), indicative of the official dignity, of the sacred character, and of the honourable prerogatives of the wearers of them. Men are even to be inspired with "the spirit of wisdom" (ver. 3), for the purpose of making them, so entirely are they to be garments of Divine origin. Look
(1) at what these garments were, and
(2) at the functions and privileges of the priesthood as shadowed forth in them.
1. The parts of the priestly dress. The dress of the ordinary priests, with the exception of the girdle of needlework, (cf. Exo_39:29) was to be of fine white linen. It consisted of an embroidered coat, a cap, and plain white linen drawers. The high priest"s garments were of a much richer order. They embraced
(1) the ephod, with its curious girdle (vers. 6-15).
(2) The breast-plate, in which were to be placed "the Urim and Thummim" (vers. 15-31).
(3) The robe of the ephod, "all of blue," and embroidered along the hem with pomegranates. Alternating with the pomegranates were to be little golden bells, which should give a sound when the priest went into the holy place, and when he came out (vers. 31-36).
(4) The mitre, on which was to be a plate of gold, fastened with blue lace, and engraved with the words to the Lord" (vers. 36-39).
(5) A broidered coat, girdle, and drawers, similar to those of the ordinary priests (ver. 39).
2. The symbolism of the dress. The blue of the robe of the ephod denoted the heavenly origin of the priest"s office; the shining whiteness of the ordinary garments, the purity required in those who served before Jehovah; the gold, the diversified colours, the rich embroidery and gems, in the other articles of attire, the exalted honour of those whom Jehovah had chosen, and caused to approach to him, that they might dwell in his courts. (Psa_65:4) More specifically, the garments bore testimony
(1) to the fundamental requirement of holiness in the priesthood. This requirement found its most distinct expression in the engraved plate on the high priest"s mitre. Holiness was to be the characteristic of the people as a whole. Most of all was it required in those who stood in so peculiarly near a relation to Jehovah, and on whom it devolved to make atonement for the others. The requirement is perfectly fulfilled in Christ, whose people, in turn, are called to holy living.
(2) To the representative character of the priesthood. This was beautifully imaged by the fact that, both on his shoulders and on his breast, the high priest bore precious stones engraved with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (vers. 9-13; 17-23). Another indication of this representative character is found in the order to place bells upon the hem of the robe of the ephod, that the people might hear the sound of his movements as he went in and out of the holy place (ver. 35). Conscious that he was transacting in God"s presence in their name, they were to follow him with their thoughts and prayers in the different parts of his sacerdotal task. It was, however, the wearing of "the breast-plate of judgment" (ver. 29), which most specially declared that the high priest appeared before God as the people"s representative. His function, as clothed with the breast-plate, was to sustain the "right" of the children of Israel before Jehovah (ver. 30). The "right" included whatever claims were given them on the justice and mercy of Jehovah by the stipulations of the covenant, it was a "right" derived, not from unfailing obedience to the law, but from Jehovah"s goodness. It was connected with atonement. Our "right," in like manner, is embodied in Christ, who bears us on his heart continually in presence of his Father.
(3) To the priestly function of mediation. The onyx stones on the shoulders of the high priest, each having engraved on it six of the names of the tribes of Israel (ver. 12), indicated that on him rested the burden or responsibility of the entire congregation. A more distinct expression of this idea is given in ver. 38, in connection with the gold plate of the mitre, engraved with HOLINESS TO THE LORD shall be upon Aaron"s forehead, that Aaron. may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord." A shadow of the higher mediation. Our persons, gifts, and works find acceptance only in Christ.
(4) To the need of sympathy in the priest, as a qualification for his office. The high priest was to bear the names of the children of Israel upon his heart, graven on the stones of the breast-plate (ver. 23). Christ has perfect sympathy. (Heb_2:14-18 Heb_4:14 Heb_4:16) The people also, as is hinted in ver. 35, were to have sympathy with their priest.
(5) To the function of the priest, as revealer of God"s will (ver. 30). Urim and Thummim whatever these were are now superseded by the external word, and the inward illumination of Christ"s Spirit. Christ gives forth unerring revelations of the will of the Father. "Lights and perfections" is not too high a name to bestow upon the Scriptures. J.O. (Psa_19:7-12; 2Ti_3:15, 2Ti_3:16)
HOMILIES BY J. URQUHART Vers. 1-38. Aaron in his priesthood the type of Jesus.
I IN HIS APPOINTMENT (ver. 1).
1. He is chosen of God, (Heb_5:4) and therefore our accepted intercessor.
2. He is taken from among his brethren; "from among the children ofIsrael, that he may minister unto me." The priest who ministers before God for us must go up with a brother"s heart and with experience of human infirmity. (Heb_4:15)
II IN HIS ARRAY. The holy garments were "for glory and for beauty," the symbol of the perfect humanity of Jesus; "holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners.
III IN HIS SYMPATHY.
1. The names of the tribes were engraved upon and identified with thechoicest jewels. Christ not only remembers, us; we are loved, honoured, treasured by him.
2. The name of each tribe was engraved upon a separate, and different kindof jewel. We are not grasped by our high priest in a mass; we are individually known, loved, cared for.
3. The names were borne upon Aaron"s heart whenever he went into theholy place (ver. 29), for a memorial before the Lord con-tin,ally. We are held in perpetual remembrance before God.
IV IN HIS VICARIOUSNESS.
1. That remembrance was burden-bearing; he went in for them, his heart was bowed before God in the consciousness of their sin and need. For us in our sin and need Christ"s entreaties ascend day and night.
2. In his zeal for holiness (vers. 36-38). Christ, sin"s sacrifice, shall also besifts destruction. U.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–2 The priests office.
Exo_28:1
The priests office.
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Interpretation of the priesthood
The Hebrew priesthood was instituted because the people were not qualified to draw near to God in person. By virtue of their election, the people of Jehovah were entitled to dwell in His habitation, but their consciousness of sin made them afraid of Him: therefore, in condescension to their inability to understand the greatness of His love, He provided a class of persons who, as the representatives of His elect, might in their stead enter the Tabernacle. To draw near to God, and to be a priest, are equivalent expressions. Aaron drew near in behalf of those who were elected to have spiritual communion with God, but were not yet delivered from bondage to fear; and his admission within the habitation signified that they were entitled to a corresponding access in spirit, that they were called a kingdom of priests for the reason that they might thus draw near to God in spiritual fellowship. By his office he was qualified to do outwardly and symbolically what all might do in spirit and in truth. But, before Aaron could enter the holy habitation in behalf of the people, he must officiate at the altar of sacrifice, and expiate sin; for his constituents were sinful, and the representation of their approach to God as members of His household must be preceded by signs that their sin was taken away: otherwise it might be inferred that Jehovah was indifferent whether His people were holy or unholy. The Hebrew priesthood therefore symbolized in general, the expiation of sin, and the admission to filial intercourse with God effected thereby. (E. E. Atwater.)
The priests
I. Qualifications. Every applicant for the priesthood had to prove his descent from Aaron, and had to be free from bodily defect or blemish (see Lev_21:1-24). This restriction pointed to the dignity and holy character of the position occupied by a priest, and to the inward purity requisite for the proper discharge of his sacred duties.
II. Duties. The chief duty of the priests was to offer or present offerings and sacrifices to God. They had sometimes to kill the victims (Lev_16:1-34) and always to sprinkle and pour out their blood, and also to burn their carcases, or part of them, on the altar. They had the charge of the altar and the sanctuary; they had to see that the fire was ever burning on the altar; they made loaves of shewbread, trimmed and lighted the lamps of the golden candlestick, and evening and morning burned incense on the golden altar, and, in general, conducted the sacred services of the Tabernacle worship. Their duties were not, however, confined to the performance of the rites and ceremonies of that worship; for the law being committed to their custody, they, with the Levites, were intrusted with the religious instruction of the nation (Deu_33:10); and the people were exhorted to seek knowledge at the priests lips.
III. Maintenance. The priests were not permitted to follow any secular calling. Their time was entirely devoted to their sacred work; hence it was necessary and just that their maintenance should be provided for at the expense of those for whose spiritual and temporal welfare they ministered. The remuneration consisted principally of the redemption money paid for the first-born Israelites, the first-fruits of the field, the fruit of trees in the fourth year, parts of various of the offerings, and a tenth of the tithes which fell to the Levites. They were not able, of course, to reap all these dues till they reached the promised land. (W. Brown.)
The priesthood
Previous to this time, there was probably no separate order of priesthood in the Church of God; but every father was the priest of his family, as in killing the lamb of the passover and sprinkling the blood, or each worshipper had been at liberty to transact the business of sacrifice as he pleased. So far, in the history of Israel as redeemed from Egypt, Moses seems to have officiated occasionally as priest, as in the case of offering the sacrifice and sprinkling the blood of the covenant; or he selected young men as temporary priests. But the erection of a special place of worship, most notably carried with it the setting up an order of priesthood, with ritual of worship. The very name cohen, which we translate priest, is supposed to denote the idea of a familiar friend of God. The distinctive function of the office was to receive and present to God, as His nearest friend and associate, that which belonged to Him. The three great elements entering into the idea of their position and office were:
1. That they are chosen by Jehovah Himself to be His.
2. That they are officially holy in a pre-eminent sense.
3. That they have, by reason of their election and holiness, the privilege of drawing near to God, as holding a position intermediate between man and God, and therefore of mediators. (S. Robinson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Exodus 28
CHAPTER XXVIII
"THE HOLY GARMENTS."
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Exodus 28
The tabernacle being complete, the priesthood has to be provided for. Its dignity is intimated by the command to Moses to bring his brother Aaron and his sons near to himself (clearly in rank, because the object is defined, "that he may minister unto Me"), and also by the direction to make "holy garments for glory and for beauty." But just as the furniture is treated before the shrine, and again before the courtyard, so the vestments are provided before the priesthood is itself discussed.
The holiness of the raiment implies that separation to office can be expressed by official robes in the Church as well as in the state; and their glory and beauty show that God, Who has clothed His creation with splendour and with loveliness, does not dissever religious feeling from artistic expression.
All that are wise-hearted in such work, being inspired by God as really, though not as profoundly, as if their task were to foretell the advent of Messiah, are to unite their labours upon these garments.
The order in the twenty-eighth chapter is perhaps that of their visible importance. But it will be clearer to describe them in the order in which they were put on.
Next the flesh all the priests were clad from the loins to the thighs in close-fitting linen: the indecency of many pagan rituals must be far from them, and this was a perpetual ordinance, "that they bear not iniquity and die" (Exo_28:42-43).
Over this was a tight-fitting "coat" (a shirt rather) of fine linen, white, but woven in a chequered pattern, without seam, like the robe of Jesus, and bound together with a girdle (Exo_28:39-43).
These garments were common to all the priests; but their "head-tires" differed from the impressive mitre of the high priest. The rest of the vestments in this chapter belong to him alone.
Over the "coat" he wore the flowing "robe of the ephod," all blue, little seen from the waist up, but uncovered thence to the feet, and surrounded at the hem with golden pomegranates, the emblem of fruitfulness, and with bells to enable the worshippers outside to follow the movements of their representative. He should die if this expression of his vicarious function were neglected (Exo_28:31-35).
Above this robe was the ephod itself--a kind of gorgeous jacket, made in two pieces which were joined at the shoulders, and bound together at the waist by a cunningly woven band, which was of the same piece. This ephod, like the curtains of the tabernacle, was of blue and purple and scarlet and fine-twined linen; but added to these were threads of gold, and we read, as if this were a novelty which needed to be explained, that they beat the gold into thin plates and then cut it into threads (Exo_39:3, Exo_28:6-8).
Upon the shoulders were two stones, rightly perhaps called onyx, and set in "ouches"--of filagree work, as the word seems to say. Upon them were engraven the names of the twelve tribes, the burden of whose sins and sorrows he should bear into the presence of his God, "for a memorial" (Exo_28:9-12).
Upon the ephod was the breastplate, fastened to it by rings and chains of twisted gold, made to fold over into a square, a span in measurement, and blazing with twelve gems, upon which were engraved, as upon the onyxes on the shoulders, the names of the twelve tribes. All attempts to derive edification from the nature of these jewels must be governed by the commonplace reflection that we cannot identify them; and many of the present names are incorrect. It is almost certain that neither topaz, sapphire nor diamond could have been engraved, as these stones were, with the name of one of the twelve tribes (Exo_28:13-30).
"In the breastplate" (that is, evidently, between the folds as it was doubled), were placed those mysterious means of ascertaining the will of God, the Urim and the Thummim, the Lights and the Perfections; but of their nature, or of the manner in which they became significant, nothing can be said that is not pure conjecture (Exo_28:30).
Lastly, there was a mitre of white linen, and upon it was laced with blue cords a gold plate bearing the inscription "HOLY TO JEHOVAH" (Exo_28:36-37).
No mention is made of shoes or sandals; and both from the commandment to Moses at the burning bush, and from history, it is certain that the priests officiated with their feet bare.
The picture thus completed has the clearest ethical significance. There is modesty, reverence, purity, innocence typified by whiteness, the grandeur of the office of intercession displayed in the rich colours and precious jewels by which that whiteness was relieved, sympathy expressed by the names of the people in the breastplate that heaved with every throb of his heart, responsibility confessed by the same names upon the shoulder, where the government was said to press like a load (Isa_9:6); and over all, at once the condition and the explanation of the rest, upon the seat of intelligence itself, the golden inscription on the forehead, "Holy to Jehovah."
Such was the import of the raiment of the high priest: let us see how it agrees with the nature of his office.
THE PRIESTHOOD.
What, then, are the central ideas connected with the institution of a priesthood?
Regarding it in the broadest way, and as a purely human institution, we may trace it back to the eternal conflict in the breast of man between two mighty tendencies--the thirst for God and the dread of Him, a strong instinct of approach and a repelling sense of unworthiness.
In every age and climate, man prays. If any curious inquirer into savage habits can point to the doubtful exception of a tribe seemingly without a ritual, he will not really show that religion is one with superstition; for they who are said to have escaped its grasp are never the most advanced and civilised among their fellows upon that account,--they are the most savage and debased, they are to humanity what the only people which has formally renounced God is fast becoming among the European races.
Certainly history cannot exhibit one community, progressive, energetic and civilised, which did not feel that more was needful and might be had than its own resources could supply, and stretch aloft to a Supreme Being the hands which were so deft to handle the weapon and the tool. Certainly all experience proves that the foundations of national greatness are laid in national piety, so that the practical result of worship, and of the belief that God responds, has not been to dull the energies of man, but to inspire him with the self-respect befitting a confidant of deity, and to brace him for labours worthy of one who draws, from the sense of Divine favour, the hope of an infinite advance.
And yet, side by side with this spiritual gravitation, there has always been recoil and dread, such as was expressed when Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look upon God.
Now, it is not this apprehension, taken alone, which proves man to be a fallen creature: it is the combination of the dread of God with the desire of Him. Why should we shrink from our supreme Good, except as a sick man turns away from his natural food? He is in an unnatural and morbid state of body, and we of soul.
Thus divided between fear and attraction, man has fallen upon the device of commissioning some one to represent him before God. The priest on earth has come by the same road with so many other mediators--angel and demigod, saint and virgin.
At first it has been the secular chief of the family, tribe or nation, who has seemed least unworthy to negotiate as well with heaven as with centres of interest upon earth. But by degrees the duty has everywhere been transferred into professional hands, patriarch and king recoiling, feeling the inconsistency of his earthly duties with these sacred ones, finding his hands to be too soiled and his heart too heavily weighted with sin for the tremendous Presence into which the family or the tribe would press him. And yet the union of the two functions might be the ideal; and the sigh of all truly enlightened hearts might be for a priest sitting upon his throne, a priest after the order of Melchizedek. But thus it came to pass that an official, a clique, perhaps a family, was chosen from among men in things pertaining to God, and the institution of the priesthood was perfected.
Now, this is the very process which is recognised in Scripture; for these two conflicting forces were altogether sound and right. Man ought to desire God, for Whom he was created, and Whose voice in the garden was once so welcome: but also he ought to shrink back from Him, afraid now, because he is conscious of his own nakedness, because he has eaten of the forbidden fruit.
Accordingly, as the nation is led out from Egypt, we find that its intercourse with heaven is at once real and indirect. The leader is virtually the priest as well, at whose intercession Amalek is vanquished and the sin of the golden calf is pardoned, who entered the presence of God and received the law upon their behalf, when they feared to hear His voice lest they should die, and by whose hand the blood of the covenant was sprinkled upon the people, when they had sworn to obey all that the Lord had said (Exo_17:11, Exo_32:30, Exo_20:19, Exo_24:8).
Soon, however, the express command of God provided for an orthodox and edifying transfer of the priestly function from Moses to his brother Aaron. Some such division of duties between the secular chief and the religious priest would no doubt have come, in Israel as elsewhere, as soon as Moses disappeared; but it might have come after a very different fashion, associated with heresy and schism. Especially would it have been demanded why the family of Moses, if the chieftainship must pass away from it, could not retain the religious leadership. We know how cogent such a plea would have appeared; for, although the transfer was made publicly and by his own act, yet no sooner did the nation begin to split into tribal subdivisions, amid the confused efforts of each to conquer its own share of the inheritance, than we find the grandson of Moses securely establishing himself and his posterity in the apostate and semi-idolatrous worship of Shechem (Jdg_18:30, R.V.).
And why should not this illustrious family have been chosen?
Perhaps because it was so illustrious. A priesthood of that great line might seem to have earned its office, and to claim special access to God, like the heathen priests, by virtue of some special desert. Therefore the honour was transferred to the far less eminent line of Aaron, and that in the very hour when he was lending his help to the first great apostacy, the type of the many idolatries into which Israel was yet to fall. So, too, the whole tribe of Levi was in some sense consecrated, not for its merit, but because, through the sin of its founder, it lacked a place and share among its brethren, being divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel by reason of the massacre of Shechem (Gen_49:7).
Thus the nation, conscious of its failure to enjoy intercourse with heaven, found an authorised expression for its various and conflicting emotions. It was not worthy to commune with God, and yet it could not rest without Him. Therefore a spokesman, a representative, an ambassador, was given to it. But he was chosen after such a fashion as to shut out any suspicion that the merit of Levi had prevailed where that of Israel at large had failed. It was not because Levi executed vengeance on the idolaters that he was chosen, for the choice was already made, and made in the person of Aaron, who was so far from blameless in that offence.
And perhaps this is the distinguishing peculiarity of the Jewish priest among others: that he was chosen from among his brethren, and simply as one of them; so that while his office was a proof of their exclusion, it was also a kind of sacrament of their future admission, because he was their brother and their envoy, and entered not as outshining but as representing them, their forerunner for them entering. The almond rod of Aaron was dry and barren as the rest, until the miraculous power of God invested it with blossoms and fruit.
Throughout the ritual, the utmost care was taken to inculcate this double lesson of the ministry. Into the Holy Place, whence the people were excluded, a whole family could enter. But there was an inner shrine, whither only the high priest might penetrate, thus reducing the family to a level with the nation; "the Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the Holy Place hath not yet been made manifest, while as the first tabernacle (the outer shrine-- Exo_28:6) was yet standing" (Heb_9:8).
Thus the people felt a deeper awe, a broader separation. And yet, when the sole and only representative who was left to them entered that "shrine, remote, occult, untrod," they saw that the way was not wholly barred against human footsteps: the lesson suggested was far from being that of absolute despair,--it was, as the Epistle to the Hebrews said, "Not yet." The prophet Zechariah foresaw a time when the bells of the horses should bear the same consecrating legend that shone upon the forehead of the priest: HOLY UNTO THE LORD (Zec_14:20).
It is important to observe that the only book of the New Testament in which the priesthood is discussed dwells quite as largely upon the difference as upon the likeness between the Aaronic and the Messianic priest. The latter offered but one Sacrifice for sins, the former offered for himself before doing so for the people (Heb_10:12). The latter was a royal Priest, and of the order of a Canaanite (Heb_7:1-4), thus breaking down all the old system at one long-predicted blow--for if He were on earth He could not so much as be a priest at all (Heb_8:4)--and with it all the old racial monopolies, all class distinctions, being Himself of a tribe as to which Moses spake nothing concerning priests (Heb_7:14). Every priest standeth, but this priest hath for ever sat down, and even at the right hand of God (Heb_10:11-12).
In one sense this priesthood belongs to Christ alone. In another sense it belongs to all who are made one with Him, and therefore a kingly priesthood unto God. But nowhere in the New Testament is the name by which He is designated bestowed upon any earthly minister by virtue of his office. The presbyter is never called sacerdos. And perhaps the heaviest blow ever dealt to popular theology was the misapplying of the New Testament epithet (elder, presbyter or priest) to designate the sacerdotal functions of the Old Testament, and those of Christ which they foreshadowed. It is not the word "priest" that is at fault, but some other word for the Old Testament official which is lacking, and cannot now be supplied.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Exo_28:5. And they (the workmen) shall take] = Vehem…
CRITICAL NOTES.—
Exo_28:5. And they (the workmen) shall take] = Vehem yikchuh. These words imply that the workmen received all the costly materials for the priestly robes directly from the people. Thus those filled with the “spirit of wisdom” (Exo_28:3) were eminently trustworthy as men of God, and as such possessed the unlimited confidence of the people.
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Exo_28:15. The breast-plate] = Choshen was of the same “cunning work,” mââsey chosheb, as the ephod, and of like costly materials; being smaller than the ephod, and intended only to cover a span square “on the heart.” It was also doubled in order to bear the weight of the twelve inserted precious stones arranged in four equal rows, and on each of which was engraven one of the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There can be little doubt that the precious stones were types of the character and destiny of the individual tribes respectively, the interpretation, however, of which has been kept from human scrutiny. We find the same precious stones enumerated in the Apocalypse on “the foundation of the walls” of the celestial city (Rev_21:19). This correspondence is deserving of attention, and shows how the Old and New Testaments unite in their teaching respecting the glorious and encouraging fact of God holding His people in high honour, and of the manner in which He will beautify them.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Exo_28:6-15
THE EPHOD: THE INTERCESSORSHIP OF THE HIGH PRIEST
The Lord Jesus is the Great High Priest, and this portion of the raiment of the Levitical high priest is full of suggestion concerning the Divine Mediator. It suggests—
I. The immediateness of His advocacy. “The ephod was made of the work of the skilful weaver, and is thus, at once, discernible as appertaining to the Holy of Holies, the vail of which was of the same distinguished workmanship. The high priest alone was allowed to enter into the immediate presence of the Ark of the Testimony; to the representative of the theocratical community alone could the privilege be granted of communing with the invisible King.”—Kalisch. So Christ has “entered into the presence of God for us.” Our great representative is in the Eternal presence. The vast distance between God and sinful man, exists no more between God and the Perfect Man who represents humanity. The moral perfection, the essential dignity of Christ, qualifies Him to sit down at the right hand of the Majesty on High. Christ brings us into the immediate presence. In the Aaronic high priest all Israel was brought into the presence of the Holy One, and Christ brings us into the heavenly place. In prayer it is so: we need no human priest; He brings us to God. In the whole Christian life it is so. “Our life is hid with Christ in God.” In death it is so. We see God’s face through Christ for ever.
II. The comprehensiveness of His advocacy. “And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel: six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth,” Exo_28:9-10. The whole of the tribes were thus brought before God. And Christ the great High Priest represents the whole race—not Israel only, but all nations, tribes and people, and tongues. What a consolation to think, that for ignorant ages and generations He is pleading: “Father; forgive them; for they know not what they do.” What a consolation to know that we who have transgressed against clearer light have an interest in His intercession! “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1Jn_2:1-2). None of us need hesitate to come before God with our sins and our sorrows. “My name is written on His hands.”
III. The power of His advocacy. “And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial,” Exo_28:12. Is there not the idea here of the priestly power carrying Israel and Israel’s cause? This representation is full of the idea of the strength and sovereignty of the priest. “Besides the materials used for the vail of the Holy of Holies, gold threads were applied in the ephod, which, like the golden plate on the mitre, point to the sovereignty of the high priest, who was the spiritual king of the nation; for gold is generally the emblem of regal power. The garments of the high priest in general are called the “golden garments;” and, indeed, no part of them was without this metal.”—Kalisch. Christ is a King as well as a Priest. His Priesthood is full of power and efficacy. Full of power as it is related to God; full of power as it stands related to the Church and the world. “He shall build the Temple of the Lord … and He shall be a Priest upon His throne” (Zeck. Exo_6:13). The whole of His Divine strength and majesty are engaged in the task of reconciling the world to God.
ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
REV. WILLIAM ADAMSON
Scripture-Secrets! Exo_28:1-43. “The Bible can never be exhausted. The most learned commentators and eloquent preachers have but crossed the threshold of the magnificent temple. As in Nature, so in Revelation: the materials of every steam-engine, telegraph, microscope, and other mechanical and scientific contrivances, have been lying for countless ages under the dust of the earth undisturbed until a comparatively recent date.… And what yet may be fashioned out of the materials of nature no sagacity can prognosticate. Our present conquests form the starting-points of more dazzling victories. So, in reference to Revelation: generations yet unborn will group around its pages, and gather from them more sublime and radiant truths than those which have flashed on our intellect and cheered our heart—from the harps of the Hebrew bards they will hear a more elevating melody than ever charmed our spirits, and in the living words of the Divine Man perceive a depth, a grandeur, and a significance of which no conception can be formed. The ancient prophets have yet more to relate. Isaiah will reveal glories surpassing imagination, and Ezekiel unfold splendours which would overpower our visual organs. Intellectual perception will be quickened so as to penetrate the clouds which intercept man’s vision of the truth. No NEW Revelation, however, will be granted; but from the present Bible will stream ‘a light above the brightness of the sun.’ Never need we fear an exhaustion of the truth. It is sempiternal as God, and perennial as the springs of immortality.”
“The Book of God! a well of streams divine!
But who would wish the riches of that mine
To make his own, his thirst to satisfy
From that pure well, must ear, eye, soul apply.”
—Mant.
Priest-Prefigurings! Exo_28:1.
(1.) The Mosaic Ritual was figurative throughout of the Gospel Dispensation yet to come. It typified, more or less directly, in all its parts, the person and the work of the Great High Priest of our profession.
(2.) This was especially true of the Jewish High Priest, who in his, 1, Person, 2, Priestly robes, and, 3, Priesthood functions, stood to all the other officials and offerings of the tabernacle as the Holy of Holies stood to all other portions of the material fabric.
(3.) In his duties and official dress Aaron and his successors pictured to the eye of faith the Redeemer Christ. He was to the Jewish devout worshipper a picture of One whom they might one day see, just as a portrait of the Queen or archbishop to an Indian subject or New Zealand Christian.
“See Aaron, God’s anointed priest,
Within the veil appear,
In robes of mystic meaning dressed,
Presenting Israel’s prayer.”
—Newton.
Holy Garments! Exo_28:2. Griffin notes that these were three in number, and symbolised the excellencies, merits, and grace of the Lord Jesus.
(1.) Snow-white! a vestment of fine linen, emblematic of Christ’s purity. Some think that it also indicated penitence as well as purity, at least apparently so, when worn alone on the Day of Atonement.
(2.) Sapphire! an ephod of a light azure hue, reaching only to the knees, and adorned with bells and fruits—especially was it incumbent to wear this in the Holy Place.
(3.) Scarlet! This was a robe of magnificence, embroidered with gold and purple, and blue and scarlet, and fine twined linen. It was the garment of (a) Gladness and (b) Greatness. It prefigured the excellency and unequalled beauty of the Lord our Righteousness in the sight of Jehovah. Farr remarks that “If ever eyes beheld an object in which splendour shone, it was Aaron thus arrayed.” God planned each part for glory and for beauty. Every brilliant colour sparkled, richest jewels cast back their dazzling rays, and the varied hues of the rainbow blended with the sun’s meridian light.
“Lord of all that’s fair to see,
Come, reveal Thyself to me;
Let me, ’mid Thy radiant light,
See Thine unveiled glories bright.”
—Silesius.
Art-Inspiration! Exo_28:3. In the Pacific Ocean there are lovely islands built entirely by coral zoophytes out of the profound depths of the ocean. Raised above the waves, floating germs of vegetation light on them, and speedily cover them with a fair clothing of verdure. Man comes and takes up his abode on these Edens, and makes their resources subservient to the purposes of human life. By and by the missionary appears, and by the preaching of the Gospel changes the moral wilderness into a garden of the Lord. The last great result is thus but the completion of a process begun by a tiny creature in the depths of ocean. Even so here are we told that Jehovah influenced certain to make Aaron’s robes. Then followed the ministry of the Gospel, proclaiming those truths symbolised by the Spirit-inspired garments for the moral regeneration of humanity. The final issue is the accomplishment of a work begun in symbolic-raiment.
“Man hath his daily work of body or mind,
Appointed, which declares his dignity,
And the regard of Heaven on all his ways.”
—Milton.
Art-Aim! Exo_28:3. Most men look upon their work merely as the means by which they may earn money to buy the necessaries or luxuries of life. A day’s labour is given solely for the purpose of getting a day’s pay. Men value their work exclusively at its money-worth. Did these men so work? or was it to glorify God? When, asks a writer, shall men learn the great truth that the money which their labours earn is not the true reward of it? No workman can be paid by mere money. The money that is paid is only the means of living. The reward of the work lies in the moral good that it does to us and to others around. We need the inspiration of God’s Spirit to rescue our work from the degradation into which it so easily slides, and make it what God meant it to be—conducive to His glory and human good. The motto which these labourers of God placed on the High Priest’s mitre was only the reflection of the motive in their own hearts which prompted the labour. So should we work as labourers or lawyers, fishermen or farmers, engravers or engineers, ministers or miners—for GOD.
“Their bright example I pursue;
To THEE in all things rise;
And all I think, or speak, or do,
Is one great sacrifice.”
—Wesley.
Girdle-Glory! Exo_28:4. St. John tells us that on the day commemorative of his Lord’s resurrection he was startled with a great voice as of a trumpet. He turned round, awestruck and astonished. It was no phantasy, no ideal voice, but the Living Presence of one clothed with a garment down to the foot. Macduff points out that the long flowing robe—partly sacerdotal, partly regal—suggests the first of many resemblances to the visions of Daniel, when on the banks of the Hiddekel he saw the man clothed in the long linen robe. In both cases they pointed to the Royal Priest—the Priest upon His throne, the God-man Intercessor—and He was girt with a golden girdle. This was the symbol alike of His Truth, His Unchangeableness, and His Love. Righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and Faithfulness the girdle of His reins.
“Majesty combined with meekness,
Righteousness and peace unite
To insure Thy blessed conquests,
Take possession of the right;
Reign triumphant,
Decked in robes of perfect white.”
Golden Girdles! Exo_28:8.
(1.) After the Vision of the Sea of Glass mingled with fire in Revelation 15—a vision which has most remarkable resemblances to the Morning Scene, when Israel’s redeemed host stood on the borders of the Red Sea shore, in Exodus 14—the apocalyptic seer beholds the Holy of Holies opened, wherein, enshrined between the cherubim above the mercy-seat and ark of the covenant, was the Shekinah Pillar-Presence of God. Seven angels come forth. Like priests of the Most High, they were all clad in linen pure and white, and they had also golden girdles like that of their Lord.
(2.) The period just before 1792 was remarkable. The mighty spiritual movement of the Reformation (as depicted in the Vision of the Glassy Sea) appeared to have spent its force. The great lights which had irradiated the seventeenth century had sunk beneath the horizon. The eighteenth century rose, and passed on comparatively starless. Meteor lights of infidelity gleamed luridly. Over Christendom hung damp, chill November fogs. Everything living was dying, and every ray of light was fading. The Church herself was locked in slumbers deep, when
“The seven last angels seen by John in Patmos,
From heaven’s sanctuary came forth
Arrayed in priestly robes of white, girdled with gold,
And bearing in their hands the Mystic Vials
Of the wrath of God.”
—Bickersteth.
Shoulder-Sardonyx! Exo_28:12.
(1.) The shoulders were the strongest part of the body.
1. Strictly! Aaron, as the representative of the Israelites, was to bear up the host before God mightily.
2. Symbolically! The True Aaron, as the forerunner of His redeemed Church, bears up with His mighty strength all who are His people.
(2.) If the onyx is really the sardonyx, it is a dark stone, variegated with bluish white, black, and red, lying in circles, as if inlaid by art. It appears in Rev_21:20 as the fifth row of stones on which the apocalyptic city was seen to rest.
(3.) Thus, in mineral meaning, its use here for the shoulders, with the names of the twelve tribes, would indicate the heavenly and earthly natures of God’s people—the admixture of the pure and impure: i.e., of the new man and old man, as in Romans
7. Though weak and unworthy, the offspring of clay, yet, borne up by Christ, believers soar above all peril, and sit as more than conquerors on eminence of almightiness.
“O Holy Saviour, Friend unseen,
Since on Thy arm Thou bidst me lean,
Help me through life’s varying scene,
By faith to rest on THEE.”
—Elliott.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 The garments peculiar to the high-priest were four: the…
Exo 28:2
The garments peculiar to the high-priest were four: the ephod, with its "curious girdle," the breastplate, the robe of the ephod, and the mitre. (1) The garments were made of linen, typical of the human nature which Christ wears still in His glorified state. (2) They were carefully fastened together, signifying the complete unity which there is in all Christ’s work for His people. (3) They were robes, not of war, but of peace, indicating that our Saviour’s warfare is accomplished, and that He is now set down in the calm and quiet of His holy, peaceful functions. (4) The robe of the ephod represents the perfect robe of the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. (5) Aaron bearing the names of the people before the Lord on his ephod is a picture of Christ bearing the names of His people in holy remembrance before God. (6) The breastplate teaches that Christ not only bears His people on His shoulders for strength, but lays them separately on His heart for love. (7) The high-priest wore a mitre with this inscription graven upon it, "Holiness to the Lord." Jesus Christ, in His very character and being, as our Representative, is standing before God, and emblazoned upon His front is His own proper title: "Holiness to the Lord." Not for Himself—He needs it not—but for us! He bears the iniquity of our holy things. For us the golden letters run "for glory and for beauty" upon the mitre of Jesus.
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J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 10th series, p. 299.
References: Exo 28:1-29.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 494. Exo 28:29.—J. Wells, The Surrey Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 67 and No. 68.
Exo 28:30
A great mystery hangs over these two words, "the Urim and the Thummim," commonly translated "light and perfection," in the Septuagint version "manifestation and truth," and in the Vulgate "doctrine and truth."
I. The stones representing the Church that were borne upon the high-priest’s breast and the high-priest’s shoulders connect themselves with the Urim and Thummim. In some way or other God was pleased to reveal His will in connection with these twelve stones, in what way it is very difficult to determine. There are these possible interpretations: (1) It may be that it pleased God at certain times to throw a miraculous light upon these twelve different coloured stones, which did in some way write His mind; either by the initiatory letters, or by some signs which were familiar to the high-priest, He conveyed His will to the high-priest, that he in turn might convey it to the people. (2) It has been supposed that the stones were not made themselves the channels or media by which God conveyed His will, but that they accredited and, as it were, empowered the high-priest when he was before God, so that God, seeing him in the fulness of his priesthood, was pleased to convey His will to his mind.
II. Consider what we have that answers to Urim and Thummim, and how we should consult God and obtain our answers. (1) In prayer we should pray consultingly, in reading read consultingly. (2) In consulting God we must honestly make up our minds to follow God’s guidance. (3) If we are to attain Urim and Thummim in our consultations with God, we must do it through priesthood—in the recognition of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
III. There are many ways in which God may give us the Urim and Thummim to direct our steps: (1) by a light breaking on some passage of the Bible; (2) by the Spirit of God illumining our own minds.
J. Vaughan, Meditations in Exodus, p. 54.
Reference: Exo 28:30.—J. Irons, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 167.
Exo 28:36
This plate of pure gold was fastened by blue lace to the mitre, or turban, or tiara, or linen which was upon the head of the high priest. With the plate of pure gold upon his forehead, he went in before God to present the inscription graven there like the engraving of a signet, "Holiness to the Lord," to take away the iniquity of the holy things of Israel and to make those holy things, purged from their iniquity, acceptable to God. Consider the subject of holiness.
I. The word is used in three senses in the Bible. (1) Sometimes the word "holy" means that which is set apart, consecrated. In that sense the vessels of the Temple were holy. (2) Sometimes the word signifies the indwelling of the Spirit, with His gradually sanctifying processes. In this sense the Church is holy. (3) There is a still higher sense in which man is perfectly holy. Christ perfects them that are sanctified.
II. The true definition of holiness is the likeness of God. But we cannot conceive of the likeness of God but through a medium, and that medium must be the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever traits we find characterising the life of Jesus, these make up holiness. (1) The life of Christ was a separate life. (2) He always carried about an inner sanctuary in His own soul. (3) The life of Christ had a subdued tone. (4) It was a life consecrated to an object. (5) It was a life of praise.
III. Look upon holiness as an end to be obtained. Do not seek holiness as a means to happiness, but happiness as a means to holiness. Be more careful about the holiness of little things than of great things.
J. Vaughan, Meditations in Exodus, p. 68.
References: Exo 28:38.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 8. 28—Parker, vol. ii., p. 229. 28, 29,—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., pp. 409, 410. Exo 29:1.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1203, Exo 29:12.—Parker, vol. ii., p. 237.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Priestly Garments
The Priestly Garments
1. All Israel is a 'kingdom of priests' (see on Exo_19:6), but for the special service of the sanetuary Aaron and his descendants are selected and solemnly consecrated: see Leviticus 8, 9. Nadab and Abihu died (Leviticus 10) and the priesthood was continued in the descendants of Eleazar and Ithamar: see 1Ch_24:1-6, and on Num_25:12.
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2. Holy garments] The garments are holy because they are specially set apart and consecrated for use in the sanctuary.
3. Whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom] God is the source not only of all spiritual grace, but of every intellectual faculty and artistic gift: cp. Isa_28:23-29; Jam_1:17, and see on Exo_31:4
6-12. The Ephod.
This is a kind of waistcoat, made of variegated material, supported by straps passing over the shoulders and bound round the waist with a girdle. On each of the shoulder-straps is an onyx stone engraved with the names of six tribes of Israel. On the front of the ephod and attached to it by means of gold chains and rings is a pouch called the 'breastplate '(Exo_28:15.).
6. The gold was in the form of threads worked into the pattern; see on Exo_39:3. Cunning work is again embroidery as in Exo_26:1.
8. Cunous girdle] RV 'cunningly woven band': i.e. embroidered.
9-12. The engraving of gems was an art well known to the Egyptians. The names were those of the twelve tribes. In Exo_28:12 the stones are called stones of memorial unto the children of Israel. The high priest wore these stones when he ministered before the Lord, as the representative of the people. They served as a kind of visible supplication of His gracious remembrance.
13. Ouches] The word, which is properly 'nouche,' means a rosette or button of gold filigree in which the stone is set.
14. The chains are for attaching the breastplate to the ephod: see Exo_28:22-25.
15-30. The breastplate] This is really a pouch, one span, or half a cubit, square, made of the same material as the ephod, and ornamented on the outside with twelve jewels set in four rows, each stone being engraved with the name of a tribe. The pouch is intended to hold the Urim and Thummim, by means of which God's judgments are declared (see on Exo_28:30), and is therefore here called the breast-plate of judgment.
16. Doubled] so as to form a pouch.
17-21. It is not easy to identify the stones mentioned in this and the following vv., the meaning of the Hebrew words being doubtful. The stones in the first row are probably a red jasper, a yellowish green serpentine, and an emerald. In the second row a red garnet, a lapis lazuli, and an onyx. In the third row a yellow agate, a black and white agate, and an amethyst. In the fourth row a yellow jasper, a beryl, and a dark green jasper. With this list of stones may be compared that in Eze_28:13, and that in Rev_21:19-20 (the foundations of the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem).
22. Chains at the ends of wreathen work] RV 'chains like cords, of wreathen work.'
30. The Urim and the Thummim] The literal meaning of these words is given in RM, 'the Lights and the Perfections.' The Urim and Thummim are nowhere described, but there can be no doubt that they were material objects, as they are said to be put in the breastplate, which was a pocket: cp. also Lev_8:8. From 1Sa_28:6 we learn that the Urim (and Thummim) served as one of three ways by means of which the divine will might be ascertained: cp. Num_27:21. In all probability they were two images or jewels, engraved with distinguishing characters, used in casting lots. In this connexion 1Sa_14:38-42 is instructive. 1Sa_14:41 in our Hebrew text there is evidently mutilated. The Gk. and Lat. versions read, 'If the iniquity be in me or Jonathan my son, give Urim; and if the iniquity be in the people, give Thummim.' On the casting of lots see on Num_26:55, and cp. Lev_16:8; 1Sa_23:9-12; 1Sa_30:7-8; Act_1:26.
31. The robe of the ephod] This is a frock or cassock, woven entirely of blue, without sleeves, drawn over the head, and worn under the ephod. Its chief characteristic is a row of golden bells attached to the skirt which sounded when the high priest moved, and enabled the people to follow him with their thoughts and prayers when he went into the Holy Place as their representative before God.
32. Habergeon] A sleeveless jacket.
33. Hem] RV 'skirts.' The pomegranate is a tree with a fruit like an apple, with a juicy pulp and full of seeds (hence the name, which means grained or seeded apple), extensively cultivated and highly prized in the East. The Heb. name is rimmon, which enters into many place-names. The pomegranates here are embroidered on the skirt of the robe. The bells are hung upon it.
35. His sound] i.e. its sound: see on Lev_25:5. That he die not] To enter God's presence carelessly is profanation and punishable with death.
36-38. The mitre] This is made of fine linen, and is in the form of a turban. Fastened in front of it is a plate of pure gold with the inscription Holiness to the lord
(RV 'Holy to the Lord').
38. The iniquity of the holy things] The 'holy things' are the offerings of the people. As no offerings are ever worthy of God, their acceptance by Him is an act of grace. The high priest, when he enters the divine presence in the manner prescribed by God Himself, 'bears the iniquity of the holy things,' which are accepted in spite of the unworthiness necessarily attaching to them. For the lofty ideal of the sanctification, not only of what is used in divine service in the narrower sense of the term, but in every department of what is called secular life, see Zec_14:20, Zec_14:21.
39. The coat is different from the robe (see Exo_29:5). It is an undergarment or shirt of fine linen fastened with an embroidered girdle.
40. Bonnets] RV 'headtires': close fitting caps, probably of a different shape from the turban of the high priest.
41. Anoint them] see on Exo_29:7. Consecrate] lit. 'fill the hand.' The expression probably refers to some symbolic action indicating the giving of authority at a ceremony of installation to a sacred office: cp. Exo_29:24.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Type of Christ, our High Priest. Christ is a…
Aaron
Type of Christ, our High Priest. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, but He executes his priestly office after the pattern of Aaron. Hebrews 7. gives the order; Hebrews 9, the pattern.
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(See Scofield "Gen 14:18").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 CHAPTER 28 The Priesthood
CHAPTER 28 The Priesthood
1. Aaron and his sons (Exo 28:1)
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2. The garments mentioned (Exo 28:2-4)
3. The ephod (Exo 28:5-14)
4. The breastplate (Exo 28:15-30)
5. The robe of the ephod (Exo 28:31-35)
6. The mitre (Exo 28:35-38)
7. The ordinary garments (Exo 28:39-43)
This chapter is still richer in typical lessons, a very few of them we can notice. Two chapters are devoted to the priesthood. Aaron is the type of Christ. The sons of Aaron are types of Christians representing false worshippers (Nadab and Abihu) and true worshippers (Eleazar and Ithamar.) The holy garments are mentioned first, but not in the order as they were put on. The correct order is found in Lev 8:7-9. The garments were for glory and beauty, typifying Him who is altogether lovely. The ephod stands first. Ephod in Hebrew means “to bind on”; it held the breastplate in position. It was of gold, blue, purple, of scarlet, fine twined linen, with cunning work. How beautifully it was wrought we read in Exo 39:3. The same material as in the curtains was used in the ephod; gold is added and the figures of the cherubim are absent. It all tells us of Himself and His priestly service in behalf of His people. The two onyx stones Aaron wore on his shoulders with the names of the twelve tribes engraven, are the type of Christ, carrying His people upon His shoulders. The shoulder is the symbol of power. From the moment He puts His sheep He has found upon His shoulder (Luk 15:5) to the blessed day, when He gathers His own, He carries them in His power.
Read Exo 28:11 how these names were put into the stones. They were ineffaceable and could not be blotted out. It speaks of our security in Christ. The breastplate consisted of twelve stones. Every one of these stones has a meaning, which we cannot follow here, and the names of the twelve tribes were engraved upon these precious stones. The breastplate was “upon his heart when he goeth in unto the holy place.” The words “upon his heart” are twice repeated in Exo 28:30. Here we have the blessed type that Christ carries all His people upon His heart of love. That the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod (verses 26-28) blue lace was attached. There was no possibility that the breastplate could shift; there is no possibility that His love for His own can ever grow less. His power and His love go together. In the breastplate there were also placed “Urim and Thummim,” which means “lights and perfections.” Seven times they are mentioned: Exo 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; Deu 33:8; 1Sa 28:6; Ezr 2:63; Neh 7:65. In two of these passages only Urim is mentioned and in Deu 33:8 Thummim stands first. It is not certain in what the Urim and Thummim consisted. Some think they were two costly stones drawn as a lot in difficult questions. Others think it was one stone which by various scintillations gave an answer from the Lord. Israel did not need to be in darkness about any matter. We possess as believers a gift in us to guide and direct our steps; it is the Holy Spirit. He is our Urim and Thummim. The robe of the ephod was entirely blue. Christ is our heavenly highpriest. Bells and pomegranates, the types of testimony and fruit, were around the robe. “His sound shall be heard when he goeth in.” That happened when He as a priest went in to God and Holy Spirit came and the gospel bells began to ring. And fruit in the conversion of souls ever followed. The bells also rang when Aaron came out from the presence of God. Even so when our Lord comes again a fresh testimony in power will be heard yielding wonderful fruit.
The “holy crown” Aaron wore is equally suggestive. “Holiness unto the Lord” was on the golden plate. So He is our holy Priest and we are holy priests with Him. Read Zec 14:20-21.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Materials and the Ephod
The Materials and the Ephod
v. 1. And take thou unto thee Aaron, thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, a man out of their own midst, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office, as the high priest of the people, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons, who were Aaron’s assistants in the capacity of priests.
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v. 2. And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron, thy brother, such as were separated from all ordinary use and to be employed in the service of the Tabernacle only, for glory and for beauty, expressive of the high dignity and excellence of the office.
v. 3. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom (to the natural skill of the craftsman was added special artistic understanding and ability for this particular work), that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office. For consecration the garments were to serve, to set Aaron apart in the functions of his office, and for the service of the priest’s work, all this latter being designated by a single verb in the Hebrew.
v. 4. And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a miter, and a girdle, all these garments being described in this connection and in later ordinances. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron, thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto Me in the priest’s office.
v. 5. And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. In addition to the fine materials which were used in making the precious hangings of the Tabernacle, the artisans were to weave gold threads into the cloth for the priest’s garments.
v. 6. And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work, a masterpiece of the weaver’s art.
v. 7. It shall have the two shoulder-pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together, thus forming a kind of vest, but with the two parts distinct.
v. 8. And the curious girdle of the ephod, the girdle of the fastening, which is upon it, firmly attached to it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the ephod with its girdle forming practically a single garment, for the girdle was crossed over the stomach and carried around the waist, to hold the ephod firmly in place.
v. 9. And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the children of Israel;
v. 10. six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth, according to their respective ages, as the twelve sons of Jacob succeeded one another.
v. 11. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, thou shalt engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel, the ancestors of the twelve tribes; thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold, in settings which held them firmly all around.
v. 12. And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the children of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. The two stones with the names of the tribes of Israel engraved upon them, in their golden setting, which was continued in the form of a buckle, or clasp, were to bring the remembrance of the people before the Lord whenever the high priest wore this garment. The entire paragraph is typical, foreshadowing the office of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ. Clothed with incomparable dignity and glory, Christ performed the work of sacrifice for us, and, by virtue of His atonement, brings our names into remembrance before God, commends us to the Lord’s grace.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 4 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues telling Moses what the people must do. (See: Exodus 25:1)
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Call to yourself
Here "yourself" refers to Moses. (See: Forms of You)
Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar
These are names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)
You must make
Here "you" refers to the people. (See: Forms of You)
garments that are set apart to me
This can be stated in active form. AT: "garments that you will set apart to me" (See: Active or Passive)
translationWords
Aaron
Israel
servant
priest
set apart
honor
splendor
filled with the Holy Spirit
wise
set apart
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 28:1-43 These glorious and beautiful (28:2) garments for Aaron…
28:1-43 These glorious and beautiful (28:2) garments for Aaron were to distinguish him as a priest set apart (Hebrew qadash, “consecrated”) for [the Lord’s] service (28:3). The magnificence of these garments is in keeping with the grandeur of the Tabernacle, which functioned as a portable earthly palace for God. There would come a day when Jesus Christ, the true High Priest, would enter the Most Holy Place once for all, and the distinction between priests and people would fade away (Heb 10:11-22). Until that time, human mediators were needed to symbolize the wonderful thing that God was planning to do in the hearts, lives, and behaviors of those with whom he shared his presence.
28:1-2 The garments described in this chapter are primarily those for Aaron, the first high priest. The clothing for Aaron’s sons, who functioned as his assistants, is described in 28:40-43.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.