Exodus Chapter 28

1  “Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

1. Again, what was a priest?

The priest represented people before God. He was their spokesperson. He acted on their behalf. His main purpose would simply be to become the middle man between God and his people. God, at that time, generally did not deal with people on an individual basis. He had to be a person set apart by God, called to this ministry. So God chose Aaron and his sons.

2. Does God choose them to be priests because they are perfect?

No because we will see shortly that Nadab and Abihu died under God’s judgment (Lev. 10:1-2) so that the Aaronic priesthood continued through his two younger sons Eleazar who succeeded his father as high priest (Num. 3:4) and Ithamar.

Prior to this time the heads of families, the eldest sons were the priests, and offered sacrifices on behalf of the family. Now this office was given to Aaron’s family alone; and it continued there until the age of grace ushered in by Jesus Christ.

2  And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. 3  So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest.

3. Why would the priest be dressed so eloquently?

 Their adornment typified the glory, Divine majesty, the beauty and complete holiness to come, which found completion in Jesus Christ our great High Priest.On each shoulder was placed a precious stone inscribed with the names of six tribes .Lost sheep. In the OT priestly system for the nation of Israel, such dress maintained the priest-laity distinction.

All the priestly garments typified the righteousness of Christ. The Hebrew word for holy means “set apart.” These garments were set apart for the service of God. Anything that is set apart for God is holy. 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.

 4  And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest. 5 “They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, 

4. Where did we see these colors before?

Gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns. These are the same colors as the materials and yarns used in the tabernacle. These materials imply that the priests are close to God and act as his representatives to the people (e.g., in overseeing sacrifices, in pronouncing blessings, in teaching God’s word, in administering justice, and in their example of holiness). We have seen that every thread, color, and chord in the tabernacle suggest the person and work of Christ.

 5  “They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, 6  and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple,and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, artistically worked. 7  It shall have two shoulder straps joined at its two edges, and so it shall be joined together. 8  And the intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship, made ofgold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. 9  Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel: 10  six of their names on one stone, and six names on the other stone, in order of their birth. 11  With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold.12  And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial. 13 You shall also make settings of gold, 14  and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings.

5. What was an ephod and what did it represent? 

This was the outmost garment of the high priest; plain linen ephods were worn by the inferior priests. Christ, our High Priest, presents his people, more than the selected 12 tribes of the first covenant, before God for a memorial. Christ’s coat also had no seam, but was woven from the top throughout, so it was with the ephod. The “ephod” was a kind of vest consisting of two pieces, one to cover the chest and the other the back, joined by a seam at the shoulder and by a band at the waist. The ephod is difficult to describe. It was worn over the linen garment. Two long pieces of cloth were brought together and fastened by a stone on one shoulder and a stone on the other shoulder. The material was gathered in the middle with a girdle. Six of the names of the children of Israel were engraved on one onyx stone and six names were engraved on the other. When the high priest went into the presence of God, he carried the children of Israel on his shoulders. That speaks of the strength and power of the high priest.

Hebrews 7:25 tells us about Jesus Christ our High Priest: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Christ is able to save us, you see. He has strength and power.

 15  “You shall make the breastplate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, you shall make it. 16  It shall be doubled into a square: a span shall be its length, and a span shall be its width. 17  And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones: The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; this shall be the first row;18  the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond; 19  the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20  and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold settings. 21  And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name; they shall be according to the twelve tribes. 22  “You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure gold. 23  And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 24 Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate; 25  and the other two ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front. 26 “You shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which is on the inner side of the ephod. 27  And two other rings of gold you shall make, and put them on the two shoulder straps, underneath the ephod toward its front, right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ephod. 28  They shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod. 29  So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the LORD continually. 

6. What does the breastpiece represent?

The chief ornament of the high priest, was the breastplate, a rich piece of cloth, curiously worked. The name of each tribe was graven in a precious stone, fixed in the breastplate, to signify how precious, in God’s sight, believers are, and how honorable.

It did not matter to God how small and poor the tribe was, it was as a precious stone in the breastplate of the high priest. So are all the saints dear to Christ. No matter what men might think of them, they are precious in HIS sight.The high priest had the names of the tribes, both on his shoulders and on his breast, which reminds us of the power and the love with which our Lord Jesus carries us on HIS shoulders and loves us in HIS greater love. HE bears them up in HIS almighty strength, and carries them in his heart with tender affection. . The 12 precious stones, each engraved with a tribe’s name, colorfully and ornately displayed Aaron’s representative role of intercession for the tribes before the Lord. The breastpiece was to be securely fastened to the ephod so as not to come loose from it (v. 28 and 39:21). Thus, to speak of the ephod after this was done would be to speak of the whole ensemble.The best way to describe the breastplate is to call it a vest — but a very beautiful one — that went over the garment. It was a breastplate of judgment. The breastplate was, in a way, part of the ephod. The ephod and the breastplate went together and was a thing of beauty.These stones are also found in the Book of Revelation where we are told that they form the foundation of the New Jerusalem. Each stone was a different color and together they formed a flashing and beautiful display.

 30  And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually.

7. What were the Urim and the Thummim?

The Urim and Thummim, or “Light and Integrity” by which the will of God was made known in to man, were put in this breastplate. The Urim and the Thummim are to be placed in the breastpiece of judgment and carried before the Lord, but their function is not fully explained. From several contexts where they are referred to in the OT, it appears that the Urim and Thummim, whatever they were, were used in seeking the Lord’s decision on particular matters the Urim and the Thummim. The Hebrew for this phrase

probably means “the curses [traditionally ‘lights’] and the perfections.” The Hebrew word Urim begins with the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet (aleph) and Thummim begins with the last letter (taw ). They were sacred lots and were often used in times of crisis to determine the will of God (see Nu 27:21). It has been suggested that if Urim (“curses”) dominated when the lots were cast the answer was “no,” but if Thummim (“perfections”) dominated it was “yes.”

In any event, their “every decision” was “from the LORD”) that these two objects represented the right of the High-Priest to request guidance for the acknowledged leader who could not approach God directly, as Moses had done, but had to come via the God-ordained priestly structure, and 2) that the revelation then received gave specific direction for an immediate problem or crisis, and went beyond what could be associated with some sort of sacred lots providing merely a wordless “yes” and “no” response.

 31  “You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32  There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear. 33  “And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around: 34  a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around. 35  And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the LORD and when he comes out, that he may not die.

8. What were the bells and pomegranates represent?

The golden bells on this ephod, by their preciousness and pleasant sound, well represent the good profession (our testimony heard and witnessed in the world) that the saints make, and the pomegranates or representative of the fruit we are tasked to bring forth.. The sound of the tinkling bells sewn on the hem of the High-Priest’s robe signaled those waiting outside the Holy Place that their representative ministering before the Lord was still alive and moving about, fulfilling his duties.According to Jewish tradition, one end of a length of rope was tied to the high priest’s ankle and the other end remained outside the tabernacle. If the bells on his robe stopped tinkling while he was in the Holy Place, the assumption that he had died could be tested by pulling gently on the rope. The bells were hung between the pomegranates, which were said to have amounted to seventy-two. It had a hole through which the head was thrust, and was formed carefully of one piece, such as was the robe of Christ (John 19:23). The high priest’s was of a sky-blue color.

  36  “You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet: HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 37  And you shall put it on a blue cord, that it may be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban. 38  So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.

9. What did the plate “Holy to the Lord” represent?

The headdress carried the declaration essential to worship and priestly representation, namely the holiness of the Lord, and in so doing reminded the High-Priest and all others that their approach to God must be done with reverence.

 39  “You shall skillfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread, you shall make the turban of fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work. 40  “For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them. And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty. 41  So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests. 42  And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs. 43  They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holyplace, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.

10. Why linen undergarments?

The requirement related to the linen undergarments (v. 42) so that Aaron and his sons will not bear guilt and die (v. 43) expounds the rule in 20:26 about not approaching God’s altar naked. This again links up with the Eden imagery. Adam and Eve had to wear clothes in God’s presence after the fall. So must the priests in the tabernacle.
God wanted no nudity in the service for Him (and we should keep this in mind for today). God wanted no display of the flesh. These garments were a covering over any work of the flesh.

11. What about the other priests?

The rest of the priests also had distinctive dress to wear, visually setting them apart from the ordinary citizen. Failure to comply with the dress regulations when serving in the sanctuary brought death. Such a severe consequence stressed the importance of their duties and should have motivated the priests not to consider their priestly role as a mundane, routine, and thankless task.

          ESVN………….ESV Study Bible Notes

·         MSBN…….MacArthur NASB Study Notes

·         NIVSN…..NIV Study Notes.

·         JVM ……………..J Vernon McGee,

·         ACC ……………. Adam Clarke’s Commentary

·         BN ……………..Barnes Notes

·         WBC…………….   Wycliffe Bible Commentary

·         CN …… …………..Constables Notes

·         IC………………….Ironside Commentary

·         NET……………….Net Bible Study Notes.

·         JFB…………..Jamieson  Fausset  Brown Commentary

·         VWS……………..Vincent Word Studies

·         CMM………….Commentary on Matthew and Mark

·         BDB………….. Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

·         Darby………..John Darby’s Synopsis of the OT and NT

·         Johnson………Johnson’s Notes on the New Testament.

·         NTCMM…………..The New Testament Commentary:  Matthew and Mark.

·         EHS………………….Expositions of the Holy Scriptures

·         CPP…………………The Complete Pulpit Commentary

·         SBC…………………Sermon Bible Commentary

·         K&D……………….Keil and Deilitzsch Commentary on the OT

·         EBC…………………Expositors Bible Commentary

·         CBSC……………….Cambridge Bible for Schools and College

·         GC……………………Guzik Commentary

·         RD…………………….Robert  Deffinbaugh

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