“Then bring near to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the people of Israel, to serve me as priests—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 You shall speak to all the skillful, whom I have filled with a spirit of skill, that they make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him for my priesthood. 4 These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons to serve me as priests. 5 They shall receive gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen.
6 “And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and of fine twined linen, skillfully worked. 7 It shall have two shoulder pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. 8 And the skillfully woven band on it shall be made like it and be of one piece with it, of gold, blue and purple and scarlet yarns, and fine twined linen. 9 You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, 10 six of their names on the one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. 11 As a jeweler engraves signets, so shall you engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall enclose them in settings of gold filigree. 12 And you shall set the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. And Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance. 13 You shall make settings of gold filigree, 14 and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings. (Exodus 28:1-14)
Holy Garments for Glory and for Beauty (v. 1-2)
We begin our consideration of the priest’s garments with this thesis statement, if you will, that they were to make “holy garments, for Aaron, for glory and for beauty.” In the same way that God has laid out in great detail the construction of the Tabernacle and all its materials, now God lays out in great detail the clothing that Aaron and his sons were to wear in their priestly service of the tabernacle. As the tabernacle and its service was a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, so also the clothing of the Levitical priesthood was a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as I pray we will see today.
I found it interesting that the garments themselves are called “holy garments.” This is not to say that there is morality in the linen cloth itself, but the garments were holy in the same way that the utensils and materials of the holy place were holy. The holy garments were holy in that they were set apart and consecrated for the specific service of the priesthood in the holy place. When Aaron was to enter the holy place, he had to be clothed with holy coverings, or else he would be unclean and out of place in the holy place. In this idea of holy garments, you can already begin to see the typology. For a man to enter a holy place, he has to be covered in holy covering.
We are sinners. And as sinners, we can’t enter into heaven, into God’s presence, without being covered with holy coverings. You’re a sinner, you’re unclean. The wages of sin against a holy God is death. You need holy garments to go to God. You need to be clothed by Jesus Christ, clothed in the robes of His righteousness in order to stand accepted before God. This is the beginning of what the priestly garments typify. Aaron needs holy garments to enter the holy place. If he enters improperly clothed, his service will not be accepted, and he will die.
As people who are not unaffected by the times and world in which we live, we often don’t think enough about the significance of clothing. Clothing indicates position and office. It’s a form of communication that communicates, oftentimes, the position or office, or lack thereof, of a person. Despite the times of cultural degradation in which we live, it is still all around us. Police officers or judges, or all kinds of other professions wear certain pieces of clothing or garments that indicate their authority, or office, or position. If you are not properly clothed, you can’t perform certain jobs, duties, or responsibilities. Certain offices require certain dress. For Aaron and the priests, if they were to serve in the “heavenly places” as it were, it required a certain dress.
In a moment, we will look at more of the specifics of what Aaron was to wear, but as we look at the garments, I want to point out to you that there is one piece of clothing that we will not find present, and it’s lack of mention is significant. You know what you won’t find among the priest’s garments? You won’t find shoes. The priests did not wear shoes in their priestly service. Why do you think that is? These are holy garments for priestly service in a holy, heavenly place. In the Old Testament, what happened when someone came to holy ground? They were commanded to take their sandals off. Moses at the burning bush and Joshua before the Angel of the Lord are two examples. Why were they to do that? Well they were commanded to remove their sandals because the ground they were on was holy ground, and their sandals tracked in all the unclean ground. When Adam fell, the ground itself was cursed. The dirt was a sign of the curse, of uncleanness, and their shoes tracked in the curse so to speak. So they had to take their shoes off, and then they could walk on their bare feet on holy ground, because the presence of God was there, and He’s holy. He’s the curse-reverser, He’s the redeemer, He’s the cleanser, so take off the old unclean sandals, and don’t track the dirt into God’s house. Think of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet. Peter thought it was beneath Christ to do such work of a servant, but it signified more than that, Jesus was washing off the curse, cleansing the unclean, so that being cleansed we can then go and trample the dragon under our feet, like Jesus. So there are no shoes in the priestly attire, they take off their unclean shoes and walk around with cleansed feet on holy ground. Some commentators even suggest it is as if they are symbolically flying around like angels in the holy place, which is patterned after the heavenly place. So the priests are like angels in the service of God, ministering in His presence. That’s why there is cherubim over the ark, cherubim embroidered in the curtains, and the priests symbolically flying around like ministering angels in the holy place. It’s a scene of heaven.
A Work of the Holy Spirit (v. 3)
Here in verse 3 we see how the making of the priestly garments is going to be accomplished. They weren’t just to go to the local tailor and get the garments sewed up. God says that He has filled certain ones with the spirit of this skill. I want you to see that these garments weren’t to be made by mere skill, but by those set apart for the task by the Holy Spirit. Just as God would move upon the hearts of the people to give the materials for the tabernacle, so God would equip the skilled to make these holy garments. So just as it was the Spirit of God who would ultimately build the tabernacle, so it is the Spirit of God that would ultimately clothe Aaron and the priests. God is building His house. God is clothing His ministers.
This is teaching us that what is required to stand in God’s presence, doesn’t come from the work of our own hands. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they tried to sew fig leaves together to cover themselves, but it wasn’t sufficient. Instead, how were they clothed? God clothed them. He sacrificed an animal and clothed them in the animal skins. That fact hasn’t changed. God clothed His priests. And what we need is God to clothe us, if we are to stand before Him. We can’t sew fig leaves together or even make the most luxurious clothing from the best of our efforts, we need to be clothed by God Himself. The good news is that God has provided what is required for us to stand before Him, and to come to Him in worship. He has provided what we cannot provide ourselves. His own Son as a sacrifice to cover our shame. His own righteousness to be our own. And His own Spirit to sanctify us and set us apart unto Him. If you want to come before God you have to set aside the works of your own hands, and receive His as your own.
God is building His house and God is clothing His people. And as verse two said, these priestly garments were for glory and for beauty. So God is clothing Aaron with glory and with beauty. These garments are not simply utilitarian. They aren’t just made to efficiently perform the functions necessary. There is a radiance and a beauty to them. God loves beautiful things. They please Him. He takes pleasure in beauty. The tabernacle was beautiful, the priestly garments were beautiful, because God and the heavenly places are beautiful, and these were a small display of that.
But think for a moment about the fact that these were made also for glory. There are a few different ways you can understand glory and what it is. In this context, I believe the closest meaning of glory is that it is a covering. Glory is a covering. We mentioned how Aaron was to be covered in the appropriate garments in the holy place. I think of 1 Corinthians 11 where it says that a woman’s long hair is given to her as a covering and it ALSO says that a woman’s long hair is her glory. It says if a woman has long hair “it is her glory. For her hair was given to her as a covering.” One of the things glory does is that it covers. That is what these garments do, but not only in a utilitarian way, but also in a beautiful way. Glory is a sign of maturity as well. It’s an extension of something. Think of long hair on a woman, it takes time to grow. Women aren’t born with long hair, over time it grows out and becomes her glory and covering. Just like beauty requires cultivation. So these priestly garments are a sign of more maturity than the garden, for example. It’s further along in redemptive history, closer in pointing to Christ than before.
What are we clothed with in New Testament times? The robes of Christ’s righteousness, that’s His FINISHED work. In our lives, the Spirit produces FRUIT in us. Fruit is the glory and covering of the vine or the branch, it’s maturation. What is the fruit of the Spirit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. These things take time to grow in us. We aren’t born with these things. They are signs of maturity. And these things which the Holy Spirit clothes us with are far more beautiful than any garment with fine twined linen, or any gold, jewels, or precious stones. A lack of physical priestly garments of fine materials isn’t a display of immaturity, but of greater maturity. What the Spirit clothes us with today is far more precious and valuable and mature. Speaking of feet and beauty, the Scripture says in the New Testament, “how BEAUTIFUL are the feet of those who bring good news.” And 1 Peter 3:3-4 says, “Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.” External beauty is good, but the imperishable beauty of a godly spirit is far more precious to God, and a far greater sign of covering and maturity. Outward beauty perishes and fades away, just like the outward beauty of the tabernacle and the priest’s garments, but there is an imperishable beauty wrought by the Holy Spirit in our lives. What’s on the outside should reflect what is on the inside, just like the outward priestly garments reflected the true spiritual nature of the Great High Priest and the work of the Spirit in the lives of His people.
The Ephod and Stones of Remembrance (v. 4-14)
So here we have the first piece of the priest’s garments mentioned, which is the ephod. The ephod was the outer garment that had shoulder pieces – so no sleeves – and it went down below his waist as one piece. You will notice that it is made with the same colors of linen as the curtains of the tabernacle: blue, scarlet, and purple. And there are gold pieces and precious stones as well that we will look at in a moment. So basically, the priest is wearing the tabernacle. He is a type of the living tabernacle, as it were. These are the colors of the holy and most holy place of the tabernacle, and thus the holy garments are made with the same colors. So if the holy and most holy place of the tabernacle is patterned after the “heavenly things,” and the priest is wearing the same holy garments, He is a type of the living Man of Heaven on earth. Aaron has to put on heavenly holy garments to minister in the holy heavenly place. But Jesus, the Heavenly Holy One, comes down and puts on flesh, but without sin, to minister to us. And in ministering to us, Jesus, by His Spirit clothes us and prepares us for heaven. And though our outward flesh wastes away and will die, one day we will be raised in glorified bodies, ready and fit for heaven as it were.
Now on this ephod, as we read, there were two shoulder pieces, where two onyx stones were to be placed, and they were to be set in place and enclosed by gold settings. Some scholars say that the onyx stones used here were not like onyx stones that we think of and know today. I am not sure about that. But it is interesting to note that the root of the Hebrew word for the onyx stones signifies a radiance, or brilliance like a flame of fire. Then on these onyx stones they were to engrave the names of the sons of Israel. Six on one stone, six on the other. Thus the names of Israel were enclosed in gold and placed upon the shoulders of the ephod of the High Priest. As the text says, just like an engraver would engrave a name on a signet, so the names of Israel engraved on these stones. Think of those days how a king, or other individuals would have their signet ring with their name or unique sign engraved in it, which is their signature or their authoritative use of it. It’s their word or guarantee.
So here the names of the sons of Israel are authoritatively and uniquely stamped and set on the shoulders of the ephod of the High Priest in these precious stones enclosed by gold settings. There is an imperishable quality to the precious stones and the gold. Gold is basically indestructible. Yes, it can be melted down at extreme temperatures, but it is imperishable.
So the picture that we have is that the names of the sons of Israel are engraved upon the shoulders of the High Priest so that he bore them on his shoulders while ministering in the “heavenly places” – in the holy places before God. The High Priest bore the names of God’s people on His shoulders while ministering before God, in this little picture of heaven on earth.
I hope you see how beautifully this typifies the work of Jesus Christ, who is our Great High Priest. He bears the names of His people on His shoulders before God. Jesus bears His people up on His shoulders into the Heavenly places. Isaiah 49:16 says, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.” This is God speaking to Zion. This is Christ to His people. Those who belong to Jesus Christ, who are His, elected from eternity, called, sanctified, justified, glorified, those who believe in Him, their names are engraved upon the palms of His hands – and hands are like the extensions of the shoulders. We are ever before Him, just as the names of Israel were ever before the Lord SO LONG as the High Priest was ministering. We have a Great High Priest who does not fail or cease to intercede for us and to be our advocate before the Father. We are ever before Heaven in the palms, on the shoulders of Jesus Christ. As Hebrews 7:23-25 says, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”
Just as the engraving stones set in gold were imperishable and indestructible, so are those who belong to Jesus Christ, who are in His hands and on His shoulders. You may feel that you are weak. You may feel that you are going to fail and fall. You may feel that you won’t make it, or that you cannot endure or persevere. You may have all the doubt in the world in yourself. But if you are engraved upon the hands of Jesus, He bears you up. You will not ultimately fail and fall away, for He brings you ever before the Father. And if Jesus is praying for you, interceding for you, advocating for you, bringing you before the throne, then you can be sure that it is surer than gold, surer than onyx stone, surer than sure.
Hebrews 9:24 says, “For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.” This is part of the High Priestly work of Jesus. He appears now in the presence of God on our behalf. Just as Aaron appeared in the presence of God on behalf of Israel, so Jesus for His Church. And not just for His Church in general, but specifically for each one who makes up the Church. Jesus has names.
In Exodus 28 it said these were to be stones of remembrance, not as if God forgets, for He forgets nothing, but as a pledge that God indeed does not forget. His people are ever brought before Him by the High Priest. So long as Jesus doesn’t fail, God does not forget. You’re going to fail. You’re going to sin. If it was up to you, you have already lost it all. Rebelled high-handedly in the face of the glory of God and His great mercy. But Jesus doesn’t fail. The accuser of the brethren would love to go to God and point out that “‘Jimmy’ sinned today a thousand times, knowing exactly what he was doing.” But Christ would say, “Here’s Jimmy’s name. Right here. Engraved. I’ve got His name.”
Jesus is more precious than any onyx stone. He is more indestructible than the purest gold. And the names of His people are engraved upon Him. He bears them on His shoulders, those strong shoulders, indestructible shoulders of salvation.
Maybe you don’t understand how Christ would bear you on His shoulders. Why would He want to? What does He like about you? You feel like you’re such a burden, such a wretch, so unworthy. Well, that last part is absolutely true, we are such unworthy wretches apart from Christ. But that’s why grace is so amazing. But if you feel you are just so much of a burden, you are thinking way too highly of yourself and far too low of Christ. After Christ has suffered and endured the severity of God’s wrath on the cross toward all the sins of His people without reserve, you think you are too much of a burden for Christ to bear? You are thinking too much of yourself and not enough of Christ. As a dad, don’t you dads love carrying your little children on your shoulders, while you can? It’s such a joy to do that. But then they get big and we get old, it doesn’t last long. Not so with Christ. What a small insufficient picture, but we don’t get too big for Him and He doesn’t grow too old. His shoulders are big enough for the whole world.
In the parable of the lost sheep, the man leaves the 99 to find the 1, and Luke 15:5 says, “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” When Jesus redeems an individual, He puts him on His shoulders, rejoicing. What an amazing thing that Jesus has joy in bearing us on His shoulders.
So we should read about the priest’s garments in Exodus, and be reminded that Jesus loves us. We should be reminded that Christ is more precious than gold or onyx stones or fine twined linen. We should be reminded that we are graven on His hand and born on His shoulders before God. We should be reminded that He has clothed and covered us. And we should be reminded that the Holy Spirit is making us more and more beautiful, with an imperishable beauty of a godly spirit. And thus we should live holy lives that are more precious than these holy garments of Aaron which are no more. So may our lives be beautiful because the Holy Spirit is making us so. In the thoughts we think, in the words we say, in the things we do, may such a glory and beauty come out of us that outshines Aaron’s garments.
Very good read