The garments for the priests
28
📚“And bring near to yourself your brother Aaron and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, so that he may serve me as priests. I mean Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.28:1 Before the time of the Exodus from Egypt the heads of families acted as priests and offered sacrifices (Gen 8:20; 26:25; 31:54). In Exodus God chose a particular family to act as priests for the whole nation (Ex 29:9). Aaron was the High Priest. The priests were to offer sacrifices for the people, manage the work of the tabernacle, and represent the people before God. In the New Testament Church there is no special group among believers whom God chooses to be priests. All believers in Christ are priests (1 Pet 2:5, 9; Rev 1:6), and Christ is the only High Priest (Heb 4:14-16; 9:24; 10:19-22). Christ as High Priest offered himself as a sacrifice to God. This one sacrifice was perfect and complete and took away all the sins of God’s people forever.
Believers now as priests have no animal sacrifice to make and none is needed. But they still have something to offer – their bodies to live or die for God (Rom 12:1-2; Phil 2:17; 2 Tim 4:6; 1 John 3:16), praise to God (Heb 13:15), their possessions (Rom 12:13; Gal 6:6, 10; Titus 3:14; Heb 13:2, 16; 3 John 5-8), and their service (Heb 13:16). They all have direct access into God’s presence and their work as intercessors goes on much as that of Old Testament priests (Eph 6:18-20; 1 Tim 2:1-2).⚜
2 📚And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother for glory and for beauty. 3 📚And you shall speak to all who are wise in heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest. 4 📚And these are the garments which they are to make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and an embroidered tunic, a turban, and a sash. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. 5 📚And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, 6 📚and they shall make the ephod 📖 of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine woven linen, the work of a skillful craftsman. 7 📚It is to have its two shoulder pieces joined at its two ends. And so it is to be joined together. 8 📚And the skillfully woven waist band of the ephod, which is on it, is to be of the same workmanship and material, of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet, and fine woven linen.
9 📚“And you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel, 10 📚six of their names on one stone, and the remaining six names on the other stone, according to their time of birth. 11 📚Like an engraver in stones, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. You shall set them in gold filigree settings. 12 📚And you shall put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the children of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD 📖 on his two shoulders as a memorial. 13 And you shall make gold filigree settings, 14 📚and two chains of pure gold at the ends. You shall make them of braided work, and fasten the braided chains to the filigree settings.
15 📚“And you shall make the breastplate of judgment, the work of a skilled craftsman. You shall make it like the work of the ephod. You shall make it of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet; and you shall make it of fine woven linen. 16 It is to be square, folded double. Its length is to be a span, and its width is to be a span. 17 📚And you shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones 📖. The first row is to have a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle; this shall be the first row. 18 📚And the second row is to have an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond; 19 📚and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; 20 📚and the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold filigree. 21 📚And the stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. They shall be according to the twelve tribes, each one according to his name.
22 “And you shall make braided chains of pure gold for the breastplate, like a cord. 23 📚And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 24 And you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. 25 📚And you shall fasten the other two ends of the two braided chains to the two filigree settings, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, in the front. 26 And you shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two ends of the breastplate at its inside edge that is next to the ephod. 27 And you shall make two more rings of gold and shall put them on the two sides of the ephod at the bottom, toward its front part, close to the place where it is joined, above the waistband of the ephod. 28 📚And they shall tie the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it may be above the waistband of the ephod, and that the breastplate may not come loose from the ephod.
29 📚“And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart when he goes into the Holy Place, as a memorial before the LORD continually. 30 📚And you shall put the Urim and Thummim 📖 in the breastplate of judgment, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart when he goes into the presence of the LORD, and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before the LORD continually.
31 📚“And you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32 📚And there shall be an opening at the top of it, in its center. It shall have a binding of woven work around its opening, like the opening of a coat of mail, so that it will not tear. 33 📚And you shall make on its hem pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, all around its hem. And make golden bells between them all around, 34 📚a golden bell then a pomegranate, a golden bell then a pomegranate, all around on the hem of the robe. 35 📚And Aaron is to wear it when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place in the LORD’s presence, and when he comes out, so that he does not die 📖.
36 📚“And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and engrave it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 37 📚And you shall put it on a blue cord so that it may be on the turban. It is to be at the front of the turban. 38 📚And it is to be on Aaron’s forehead, so that Aaron may bear the guilt relating to the holy things that the children of Israel will consecrate, with regard to all their holy gifts. And it shall always be on his forehead 📖, so that they may be accepted in the LORD’s presence.
39 📚“And you shall make the embroidered tunic of fine linen, and shall make the turban of fine linen, and shall make the sash, the work of a weaver. 40 📚And you shall make tunics for Aaron’s sons, and you shall make for them sashes and caps, for glory and for beauty.
41 📚And you shall put them on Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, so that they may serve me as priests.
42 📚“And you shall make linen shorts for them to cover their nakedness. They are to reach from the waist to the thighs. 43 📚And they must be worn by Aaron, and by his sons, when they come into the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near the altar to serve in the Holy Place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. This shall be a permanent ordinance for him and his offspring after him.
28:43 Ex 20:26. The garments of the high priest were for glory and beauty (vs 2,40). These garments signify the glory and beauty of Christ’s activities in heaven as High Priest now. Believers on earth now, the priests of the new covenant, have no special garments. Their holy lives are to be their distinguishing mark, their glory and beauty.⚜