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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Exodus 28:1 - 28:12
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
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.
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.