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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Exodus 28:6 - 28:6
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The first part mentioned of Aaron's holy dress, i.e., of the official dress of the high priest, is the ephod. The etymology of this word is uncertain; the Sept. rendering is ἐπωμίς (Vulg. superhumerale, shoulder-dress; Luther, “body-coat”). It was to be made of gold, hyacinth, etc., artistically woven, - of the same material, therefore, as the inner drapery and curtain of the tabernacle; but instead of having the figures of cherubim woven into it, it was to be worked throughout with gold, i.e., with gold thread. According to Exo 39:3, the gold plates used for the purpose were beaten out, and then threads were cut (from them), to be worked into the hyacinth, purple, scarlet, and byssus. It follows from this, that gold threads were taken for every one of these four yearns, and woven with them.
(Note: The art of weaving fabrics with gold thread (cf. Plin. h. n. 33, c. 3, s. 19, “aurum netur ac texitur lanae modo et sine lana”), was known in ancient Egypt. “Among the coloured Egyptian costumes which are represented upon the monuments, there are some that are probably woven with gold thread.” - Wilkinson 3, 131. Hengstenberg, Egypt, etc., p. 140.)
Exo 28:7
“Two connecting shoulder-pieces shall it have for its two ends, that it may be bound together.” If we compare the statement in Exo 39:4, - “shoulder-pieces they made for it, connecting; at its two ends was it connected,” - there can hardly be any doubt that the ephod consisted of two pieces, which were connected together at the top upon (over) the shoulders; and that Knobel is wrong in supposing that it consisted of a single piece, with a hole cut on each side for the arms to be put through. If it had been a compact garment, which had to be drawn over the head like the robe (Exo 28:31, Exo 28:32), the opening for the head would certainly have been mentioned, as it is in the case of the latter (Exo 28:32). The words of the text point most decidedly to the rabbinical idea, that it consisted of two pieces reaching to about the hip, one hanging over the breast, the other down the back, and that it was constructed with two shoulder-pieces which joined the two together. These shoulder-pieces were not made separate, however, and then sewed upon one of the pieces; but they were woven along with the front piece, and that no merely at the top, so as to cover the shoulders when the ephod was worn, but according to Exo 28:25 (? 27), reaching down on both sides from the shoulders to the girdle (Exo 28:8).
Exo 28:8
“And the girdle of its putting on which (is) upon it, shall be of it, like its work, gold, etc.” There was to be a girdle upon the ephod, of the same material and the same artistic work as the ephod, and joined to it, not separated from it. The חֵשֶׁב mentioned along with the ephod cannot mean ὕφασμα, textura (lxx, Cler., etc.), but is to be traced to חָשַׁב = חָבַשׁ to bind, to fasten, and to be understood in the sense of cingulum, a girdle (compare Exo 29:5 with Lev 8:7, “he girded him with the girdle of the ephod”). אֲפֻדָּה is no doubt to be derived from אֵפֹד, and signifies the putting on of the ephod. In Isa 30:22 it is applied to the covering of a statue; at the same time, this does not warrant us in attributing to the verb, as used in Exo 9:5 and Lev 8:7, the meaning, to put on or clothe. This girdle, by which the two parts of the ephod were fastened tightly to the body, so as not to hang loose, was attached to the lower part or extremity of the ephod, so that it was fastened round the body below the breastplate (cf. Exo 28:27, Exo 28:28; Exo 39:20-21).
Exo 28:9-10
Upon the shoulder-piece of the ephod two beryls (previous stones) were to be placed, one upon each shoulder; and upon these the names of the sons of Israel were to be engraved, six names upon each “according to their generations,” i.e., according to their respective ages, or, as Josephus has correctly explained it, so that the names of the six elder sons were engraved upon the previous stone on the right shoulder, and those of the six younger sons upon that on the left.
Exo 28:11
“Work of the engraver in stone, of seal-cutting shalt thou engrave the two stones according to the names of the sons of Israel.” The engraver in stone: lit., one who works stones; here, one who cuts and polishes precious stones. The meaning is, that just as precious stones are cut, and seals engraved upon them, so these two stones were to be engraved according to the name of the sons of Israel, i.e., so that the engraving should answer to their names, or their names be cut into the stones. “Surrounded by gold-twist shalt thou make it.” זָהָב מִשְׁבְּצֹות, from שָׁבַץ to twist, is used in Exo 28:39 (cf. Psa 45:14) for a texture woven in checks; and here it denotes not merely a simple gold-setting, but, according to Exo 28:13, gold-twists or ornaments representing plaits, which surrounded the golden setting in which the stones were fixed, and not only served to fasten the stones upon the woven fabric, but formed at the same time clasps or brooches, by which the two parts of the ephod were fastened together. Thus Josephus says (Ant. iii. 7, 5) there were two sardonyxes upon the shoulders, to be used for clasps.
Exo 28:12
The precious stones were to be upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, stones of memorial for the sons of Israel; and Aaron was to bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial, i.e., that Jehovah might remember the sons of Israel when Aaron appeared before Him clothed with the ephod (cf. Exo 28:29). As a shoulder-dress, the ephod was par excellence the official dress of the high priest. The burden of the office rested upon the shoulder, and the insignia of the office were also worn upon it (Isa 22:22). The duty of the high priest was to enter into the presence of God and made atonement for the people as their mediator. To show that as mediator he brought the nation to God, the names of the twelve tribes were engraved upon precious stones on the shoulders of the ephod. The precious stones, with their richness and brilliancy, formed the most suitable earthly substratum to represent the glory into which Israel was to be transformed as the possession of Jehovah (Exo 19:5); whilst the colours and material of the ephod, answering to the colours and texture of the hangings of the sanctuary, indicated the service performed in the sanctuary by the person clothed with the ephod, and the gold with which the coloured fabric was worked, the glory of that service.
Exo 28:13-14
There were also to be made for the ephod two (see Exo 28:25) golden plaits, golden borders (probably small plaits in the form of rosettes), and two small chains of pure gold: “close shalt thou make them, corded” (lit., work of cords or strings), i.e., not formed of links, but of gold thread twisted into cords, which were to be placed upon the golden plaits or fastened to them. As these chains served to fasten the choshen to the ephod, a description of them forms a fitting introduction to the account of this most important ornament upon the state-dress of the high priest.