Clothing/Investiture
Exodus 28:1-43 MKJV And you shall take to yourself Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the sons of Israel, so that he may minister to Me in the priest’s office: Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. 2 And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. 3 And you shall speak to all the wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him, so that he may minister to Me in the priest’s office. 4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breast-pocket, and an ephod, and a robe, and an embroidered coat, a miter, and a girdle. And they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, so that he may minister to Me in the priest’s office. 5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and bleached linen. 6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, scarlet, and fine twined bleached linen, skilled work. 7 It shall have the two shoulder-pieces of it joined at the two edges of it. And so it shall be joined together. 8 And the embroidered girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work of it: of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined bleached linen. 9 And you shall take two onyx stones, and you shall engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel. 10 Six of their names shall be on one stone, and six of the remaining names on the other stone, according to 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 make them to be set in settings of gold. 12 And you shall put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial to the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial. 13 And you shall make plaited work of gold, 14 and two chains of pure gold at the ends. You shall make them of woven work, a work of cord, and fasten the woven chains to the plaited work. 15 And you shall make the breast-pocket of judgment with embroidered work. After the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined bleached linen, you shall make it. 16 It shall be square, doubled; a span the length of it, and a span the breadth of it. 17 And you shall set in it settings of stones, four rows of stones. The first row shall be a ruby, topaz, and carbuncle in the row. 18 And the second row: an emerald, a sapphire. and a diamond. 19 And the third row: an jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. 20 And the fourth row: a chrysolite, and an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold in their fillings. 21 And the stones shall be with the names of the sons of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet. They shall be each one with his name according to the twelve tribes. 22 And you shall make chains upon the breast-pocket, work of cords, in pure gold. 23 And you shall make upon the breast-pocket two rings of gold, and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breast-pocket. 24 And you shall put the two woven chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breast-pocket. 25 And the two ends of the two cords you shall fasten on the two plaitings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod before it. 26 And you shall make two rings of gold, and you shall put them upon the two ends of the breast-pocket in the border of it, which is in the side of the ephod inward. 27 And you shall make two rings of gold, and shall put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the front of it, near its joining, above the band of the ephod. 28 And they shall bind the breast-pocket by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the band of the ephod, and so that the breast-pocket may not be loosed from the ephod. 29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breast-pocket of judgment upon his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before Jehovah continually. 30 And you shall put in the breast-pocket of judgment the Urim and the Thummim. And they shall be upon Aaron’s heart, when he goes in before Jehovah. And Aaron shall bear the judgment of the sons of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually. 31 And you shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32 And there shall be a hole in the top of it, in its middle; a binding shall be all around its mouth, of woven work. It shall be like the mouth of a corselet; it may not be torn. 33 And on its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, all around its hem. And bells of gold shall be amidst them all around. 34 There shall be 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 on Aaron to serve. And his sound shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before Jehovah, and when he comes out, so that he will not die. 36 And you shall make a plate of pure gold, and carve on it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH. 37 And you shall put a ribbon on it, and it shall be on the miter; to the front of the miter it shall be. 38 And it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, so that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which will sanctify the sons of Israel in all their holy gifts. And it shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be accepted before Jehovah. 39 And you shall weave the tunic of bleached linen, and you shall make the miter of bleached linen, and you shall make the girdle of needlework. 40 And you shall make tunics for Aaron’s sons, and you shall make for them girdles, and turbans you shall make for them, for glory and for beauty. 41 And you shall clothe Aaron your brother with them, and his sons with him. And you shall anoint them, and you shall consecrate them, and you shall sanctify them, so that they may minister to Me in the priest’s office. 42 And you shall make them linen breeches to cover the naked flesh; from the loins even to the thighs they shall reach. 43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in to the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place; so that they do not bear iniquity, and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his seed after him.
Leviticus 8:7-9 MKJV And he put on him the tunic, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him, and girded him with the embroidered girdle of the ephod, and bound it to him with it. 8 And he put the breast-pocket on him. Also he put in the breast-pocket the Urim and the Thummim. 9 And he put the miter on his head. Also he put the golden plate, the holy crown, on the miter, on his forehead, even as Jehovah commanded Moses.
Verse 7 is where Moses put the woven shirt on Aaron. This was the white linen undergarment that was next to the skin (Exodus 28:39). No mention of the linen breeches but Aaron probably put that on before appearing, for decency’s sake. The belt/girdle that held this linen shirt/coat on was described in Exodus 28:39 and is not the same as the one that holds the ephod on.
Next Moses puts the “robe of the ephod” on (Exodus 28:31). This robe was blue and had the golden bells and faux pomegranates on the hem. This blue robe was girdled with a 2nd belt that was embroidered.
Next came the ephod which was of linen and was gold, blue, and purple, scarlet and embroidered with gold, blue, purple and scarlet with two shoulder pieces joined at the two edges, joining together at the shoulders. Two onyx stones with the names of 6 tribes on one and 6 tribes on the other were set in gold and they were upon the shoulders of the ephod. Aaron, the High Priest, bears the weight of the Israelites upon his shoulders before God (Exodus 28:12). Gold plaits and chains hold the ephod into position. The ephod had 12 precious stones with the names of the tribes on the stones. This ephod sat on the chest of the priest, indicating that Aaron, the High Priest, carried the 12 tribes over his heart (Exodus 28:29) when he goes before God.
“The shoulders are a place of work; therefore in the priest’s ministry unto the LORD, he also worked for and with the people. It was not enough that the High Priest work for the people (having them on his shoulders). He must also love the people – that is, bear them on his heart. It isn’t enough for a priest to have a heart for God. He must also have a heart for the people, and bear them on his heart in his entire ministry unto the LORD.” – David Guzik’s Enduring Word Commentary
Next, Moses puts the breast pocket containing the Urim and Thummim behind the ephod. It is not known what the Urim and Thummim were but it was a means of determining God’s Will.
He then places the fine linen turban, or miter, on his head and attached the gold crown that was inscribed, “Holiness to Jehovah”. (Exodus 28:36). It was attached with blue.
“But we must not forget that we are not, in all this, dealing merely with matters of antiquarian or archaeological interest. Nothing is plainer than the teaching of the New Testament, that Aaron, as the high priest, not by accident, but by Divine intention, prefigured Christ. In all the directions given concerning his investiture with his office, and the work which, as high priest, he had to do, the Holy Ghost intended to prefigure, directly or indirectly, something concerning the person, office, and work of Jesus Christ, as our heavenly High Priest, the Fulfiller of all these types. As Aaron appears in his fourfold high priestly garments of four colours, which represented him as the minister, on the one hand, of the tabernacle, and, on the other, of the God of Israel, the Inhabitant of the tabernacle, so are we reminded how Christ is appointed as the ‘Minister of the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,’ (Hebrews 9:11) the earth, the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, to reconcile, by the offering of His blood, ‘both the things which are on earth and those which are in the heavens’. (Colossians 1:20) We look upon the blue robe of the ephod, and remember how Christ is made a minister of ‘a better covenant, enacted upon better promises,’ (Hebrews 8:6) representing, as that old covenant did not, the fulness of the revelation of God’s condescending love and saving mercy. So also the inwoven scarlet reminds us how Christ, again, as the great High Priest, is the minister of the God of life, and is also Himself life and the Giver of life to all His people. We look upon the high priest’s purple and gold, and are reminded again that Christ, the High Priest, is also invested with regal power and dominion, all authority being given unto Him in heaven and on earth. (Mattew 28:18)
Again, we look on the ephod of fine linen, inwoven with blue, and scarlet, and purple, and gold, with its girdle, symbolising service, and its pendant breastplate of judgment, and are reminded how Christ in all the relations thus pertaining to Him as High Priest, is the Ruler and the Judge of His people, who, as the bearer of the true Urim and Thummim, is not only Priest, and King, and Judge, but also, and in order to the salvation of His people, their Prophet, continually revealing unto those who seek Him, the will of God for their direction and guidance in every emergency of life. The girdle, the symbol of service, brings to mind, again, how in all this He is the Servant of the Lord, serving the Father in Saving us.
The symbolism of the pomegranates and the golden bells reminds us, for the strengthening of our faith, how our exalted High Priest, who appears before God in our behalf in the Holiest, appears there as the great Preserver and Fulfiller of the Divine law, supremely qualified, no less by His supreme merit than by Divine appointment, to urge our needs with prevalence before God, His very presence in the heavenly sanctuary vocal with sweet music. Did Aaron bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on his shoulders and on his breast before God continually? Even so, does his great Antitype bear continually all His people before God, as He executes His high priestly office; and this, too, not merely in a vague and general way, but tribe by tribe, community by community, each with its peculiar case and special need; nay, we may say even more; each individual, as such, is thus borne continually on the shoulders and the breast of the heavenly Priest; on His shoulders He bears them, to support them by His power; on His heart, in tenderest love and sympathy. And so often as we are distressed and discouraged by the consciousness of defilement still pertaining even to the holiest of our holy things, consecration ever imperfect at the best, we may bethink ourselves of the golden crown which Aaron wore, and its inscription, and remember how the Lord Jesus is in fullest reality ‘holy to the Lord’; so that we may take heart of grace as, with full reason and right, we apply to Him what is said of this crown of holiness on Aaron’s brow: ‘The crown of holiness is ever on His forehead, and He shall bear the iniquity of the holy things which we shall hallow in all our holy gifts; it is always on His forehead, that our works may be accepted before the Lord.’ And so we are taught by this symbolism ever to look away from all conscious defilement and sin to the infinite holiness of the person of the Lord Jesus, as He continually appears before God as High Priest in our behalf, the all-sufficient Surety for the acceptance of our persons and of our imperfect works, for His own sake.” – Expositor’s Bible Commentary
Washing signified the necessity and importance of moral purity or holiness (Isaiah 52:11; John 13:10; 2 Corinthians 7:1; 1 Peter 3:21). In the same manner, the investiture with the holy garments signified their being clothed with righteousness (Revelation 19:8), and equipped as men active and prepared for the service of God. The process is washing by repentance and baptism. Followed by separation to God’s purposes and putting on the righteousness of Christ. The Priest had to put on garments given by God. The “uniform” was provided for them. They could not buy them or make them for themselves. Like these ancient priests, every believer is clothed in Jesus Christ and in his righteousness (Revelation 3:5). These are clothes that are given freely by Jesus, but received and “worn” by faith.
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