CHAPTER 28

(1491 B.C.)

THE PRIESTHOOD

¹And take thou unto thee Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the Children of Israel, that he may minister unto Me in the Priests office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aarons sons. (Five Priests were chosen from among the Tribe of Levi, headed up by Aaron as the High Priest. In fact, all High Priests were to succeed from Aaron. Five being the beginning, Grace is the foundation and energy of the Priesthood.)

²And you shall make Holy Garments for Aaron your brother for Glory and for Beauty. (These garments were designed solely by the Lord, and were designed to portray Christ in His High Priestly Ministry.)

³And you shall speak unto all who are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the Spirit of Wisdom (the Holy Spirit), that they may make Aarons garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto Me in the Priests office.

GARMENTS

⁴And 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 your brother, and his sons, that he may minister unto Me in the Priests office.

THE MATERIALS

⁵And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen (as stated, these colors do not vary).

THE EPHOD

⁶And they shall make the Ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. (This was the outer Robe worn by the High Priest. It was made of two parts, one covering the back, and the other covering the front, these being joined together at the shoulders by golden clasps, which formed the setting for the onyx stones.)

⁷It shall have the two shoulder-pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together.

⁸And the Curious Girdle of the Ephod, which is upon 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 Curious Girdle was a sash of sorts, tied around the waist. It speaks of preparation for service. He took a towel and girded Himself [Jn. 13:4].)

⁹And you shall take two onyx stones, and grave on them the names of the Children of Israel (these two onyx stones were a part of the Ephod, and were actually designed to join the back and the front of the Ephod together at the shoulders):

¹⁰Six of their names on one stone, and the other six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth. (These were worn on the shoulders of the High Priest, portraying strength, typifying Christ, Who protected Israel at all times. Pink says: The shoulder which sustains the universe [Heb. 1:3] upholds the feeblest and most obscure member of the Blood-bought congregation.)

¹¹With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the Children of Israel: you shall make them to be set in ouches of Gold. (The Gold declares the Deity of Christ, hence, the Power of Almighty God was available to all of Israel.)

¹²And you shall 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. (God doesnt forget, and that memorial will come to fruition at the Second Coming, when Jacob will come home.)

¹³And you shall make ouches of gold;

¹⁴And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shall you make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches. (These chains tie us to Christ!)

THE BREASTPLATE

¹⁵And you shall make the Breastplate of Judgment with cunning work (the Breastplate was attached to the front of the Ephod); after the work of the Ephod you shall make it: of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shall you make it. (Incidentally, the word curious simply means cunning, signifying that its design was extraordinary.)

¹⁶Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof (a span equaled about 8 inches).

¹⁷And you shall set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first two shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row.

¹⁸And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.

¹⁹And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.

²⁰And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. (There were twelve jewels in number, one for each Tribe, set in four rows of three each.)

²¹And the stones shall be with the names of the Children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the Twelve Tribes. (As the names of the Tribes of the Children of Israel were inscribed on the onyx stones on the shoulders of the High Priest, signifying strength, likewise, the same names were to be inscribed on the twelve stones worn over the heart of the High Priest, signifying the Love of God. So, this means that every single Believer, for we are spiritual Israel, is secured by both strength and love, all anchored in the Cross [Jn. 3:16].)

²²And you shall make upon the Breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold.

²³And you shall make upon the Breastplate two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the Breastplate.

²⁴And you shall put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the Breastplate.

²⁵And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains you shall fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the Ephod before it.

²⁶And you shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them upon the two ends of the Breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the Ephod inward.

²⁷And two other rings of gold you shall make, and shall put them on the two sides of the Ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the Curious Girdle of the Ephod.

²⁸And they shall bind the Breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the Ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the Curious Girdle of the Ephod, and that the Breastplate be not loosed from the Ephod.

²⁹And Aaron shall bear the names of the Children of Israel in the Breastplate of Judgment upon his heart, when he goes in unto the Holy Place, for a memorial before the LORD continually. (Thus, the people of God, as represented by our names, are chained to our Great High Priest.)

URIM AND THUMMIN

³⁰And you shall put in the Breastplate of Judgment the Urim and the Thummin (there was a pocket of sorts in the back of the Breastplate, next to Aarons heart, where was kept the Urim and the Thummin; the first word means Lights, while the second means Perfections; so we must conclude that the judgment rendered would be perfect; the Bible doesnt say exactly what these things were, but some believe they must have been material objects of some kind, possibly one stone with the word yes inscribed on it, and the second stone with the word no inscribed on it); and they shall be upon Aarons heart, when he goes in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the Children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually. (As wonderful as that was, due to the Cross, we today have much more. The Holy Spirit Himself abides continually within our hearts and lives, and is ready at all times to give us His Leading and Guidance [Jn. 14:16-17; 16:13-15].)

THE ROBE

³¹And you shall make the Robe of the Ephod all of blue. (This symbolizes Christ as our Great High Priest in Heaven [Heb. 8:4]. It was all of blue, signifying that Intercession would be, and, in fact, is, carried forth in Heaven [Heb. 7:25].)

³²And there shall be an hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent. (This Robe was worn beneath the Ephod and the Breastplate.)

³³And beneath upon the hem of it you shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof (the pomegranates were made like tassels, and signified the Fruit of the Spirit [Gal. 5:22-23]); and bells of gold between them round about (these represented the Gifts of the Spirit [I Cor. 12:7-10]):

³⁴A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.

³⁵And it shall be upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goes in unto the Holy Place before the LORD (on the Great Day of Atonement, the High Priest would wear this beautiful garment into the Holy Place, and then remove it, leaving only the linen undergarments, signifying that Christ redeemed us, not with glory and beauty, but rather with His spotless Righteousness, signified by His shed Blood, symbolized by the white linen; He would then offer up blood on the Mercy Seat, and come back into the Holy Place, where he would then put on the blue Robe once again), and when he comes out, that he die not. (When he put on the Robe, the bells would begin to ring, and the people then knew that the sacrificial blood had been accepted, because they could hear the ringing of the bells.)

THE HOLY CROWN

³⁶And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. (This Golden Plate was the symbol of the essential Holiness of the Lord Jesus. The Saints are represented by Him and accepted in Him. Because of our legal and vital union with Him, His Holiness is ours. So, what am I saying? Im saying that you as a Believer must look away from yourself, with your ten thousand failures, and put your eye on that Golden Plate. You can behold in the perfections of your Great High Priest the measure of your eternal acceptance with God. Christ is our Sanctification as well as our Righteousness.)

³⁷And you shall put it on a blue lace (signifies Heaven), that it may be upon the Mitre (a Turban); upon the forefront of the Mitre it shall be.

³⁸And it shall be upon Aarons 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. (Imperfection attaches to everything that man does; and even the Sacrifices that the people offered to God required to be atoned for and purified. It was granted to the High Priest in his official capacity to make the necessary Atonement, and so render the peoples gifts acceptable.)

THE GARMENTS

³⁹And you shall embroider the Coat of fine linen, and you shall make the Mitre of fine linen, and you shall make the Girdle of needlework. (The very fact of embroidery speaks of a Finished Work. The fact that the garments of Aarons sons contain no embroidery tells us that their work was never finished, which, in fact, it wasnt. They were continually offering up Sacrifices, simply because the blood of bulls and goats could not really take away sins. But Aaron being the more particular Type of Christ specified what the Work of Christ would be, which would be one Sacrifice, once and for all, the Sacrifice of Himself, which would suffice forever. The embroidery specified this [Heb. 10:12].)

⁴⁰And for Aarons sons you shall make coats, and you shall make for them girdles, and bonnets shall you make for them, for glory and for beauty. (This seems to imply that the attire of the Priests, other than the High Priest, was a dress of pure white, without anything ornamental, such as the colors on Aarons garments. Still, these snow-white garments, signifying the Righteousness of Christ, were still looked at as garments for glory and for beauty [Lev. 16:4; Mk. 9:3; Jn. 20:12; Acts 1:10; Rev. 4:4; 6:11; 7:9, 14].)

⁴¹And you shall put them upon Aaron your brother, and his sons with him; and shall anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto Me in the Priests office. (All of this which was done was only a representation in symbolic form of what Christ would do in reality [Heb. 8:6-7.])

⁴²And you shall make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach (the clothing covering the nakedness had as much, or more, to do with covering the Judgment of God than it did modesty):

⁴³And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the Altar to minister in the Holy Place; that they bear not iniquity, and die; it shall be a Statute for ever unto him and his seed after him. (This was to be taken so seriously that the Priests were warned, if they ignored any part of their garments, even those which were covered, such as the undergarments, they could be stricken that they die.)