Exodus 28:11 Kommentar

Orders being given for the fitting up of the place of worship, in this and the following chapter care is taken about the priests that were to minister in this holy place, as the menial servants of the God of Israel. He hired servants, as a token of his purpose to reside among them. In this chapter, I. He pitches upon the persons who should be his servants (Exo 28:1). II. He appoints their livery; their work was holy, and so must their garments be, and unanswerable to the glory of the house which was now to be erected (Exo 28:2-5). 1. He appoints the garments of his head-servant, the high priest, which were very rich. (1.) An ephod and girdle, (Exo 28:6-14). (2.) A breast-plate of judgment (Exo 28:15-29), in which must be put the urim and thummim (Exo 28:30). (3.) The robe of the ephod (Exo 28:31-35). (4.) The mitre (Exo 28:36-39). 2. The garments of the inferior priests (Exo 28:40-43). And these also were shadows of good things to come.

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 28 This chapter informs us of the servants God would have to minister to him in the house, or tabernacle, he had ordered to be made, even Aaron and his sons, Exo 28:1 of the garments they were to wear in their service, Exo 28:2 and first of the garments of the high priest, and particularly of the ephod, with the girdle, on the shoulder pieces of which were to be two onyx stones, with the names of the children of Israel engraved on them, Exo 28:6, and that of the breastplate of judgment, with the Urim and Thummum in it, Exo 28:15 and of the robe of the ephod, Exo 28:31, and of the mitre, Exo 28:36 and then of the garments of the common priests, Exo 28:40.

With the work of an engraver in stone,.... Not in common but precious stones: Moses was not to do this himself, as it could not be supposed he should, but he was to employ an engraver, whose business it was, and one that was capable of doing it in a professional manner: like the engravings of a signet shall thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: as in signets or seals, by which impressions are made on wax, the letters or figures are cut deep, that they might on the wax stand out; so it seems the letters of the names of the children of Israel were cut in these stones: this shows that engraving on precious stones is very old, and the ancients indeed are said to excel in this art: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold; in beazils or sockets, such as precious stones in rings are set in; these with the stones in them served as buttons to fasten together the hinder and fore part of the ephod on the shoulder pieces of it.

Aaron and his sons are set apart for the priest's office, Exo 28:1. Garments to be provided for them, Exo 28:2, Exo 28:3. What these garments were, Exo 28:4, and of what made, Exo 28:5. The ephod, its shoulder-pieces, and girdle, Exo 28:6-8. The two onyx stones, on which the names of the twelve tribes were to be engraven, Exo 28:9-14. The breastplate of judgment; its twelve precious stones, engraving, rings, chains, and its use, Exo 28:15-29. The Urim and Thummim, Exo 28:30. The robe of the ephod, its border, bells, pomegranates, etc., and their use, Exo 28:31-35. The plate of pure gold and its motto, Exo 28:36, to be placed on Aaron's mitre, Exo 28:37, Exo 28:38. The embroidered coat for Aaron, Exo 28:39. Coats, girdles, and bonnets, Exo 28:40. Aaron and his sons to be anointed for the priest's office, Exo 28:41. Other articles of clothing and their use, Exo 28:42, Exo 28:43.

Like the engravings of a signet - So signets or seals were in use at this time, and engraving on precious stones was then an art, and this art, which was one of the most elegant and ornamental, was carried in ancient times to a very high pitch of perfection, and particularly among the ancient Greeks; such a pitch of perfection as has never been rivaled, and cannot now be even well imitated. And it is very likely that the Greeks themselves borrowed this art from the ancient Hebrews, as we know it flourished in Egypt and Palestine long before it was known in Greece.

APPOINTMENT TO THE PRIESTHOOD. (Exo. 28:1-43) take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him--Moses had hitherto discharged the priestly functions (Psa 99:6), and he evinced the piety as well as humility of his character, in readily complying with the command to invest his brother with the sacred office, though it involved the perpetual exclusion of his own family. The appointment was a special act of God's sovereignty, so that there could be no ground for popular umbrage by the selection of Aaron's family, with whom the office was inalienably established and continued in unbroken succession till the introduction of the Christian era.

(cf. Ex 39:1-31). Appointment and Clothing of the Priests. - Exo 28:1, Exo 28:5. "Let Aaron thy brother draw near to thee from among the children of Israel, and his sons with him, that he may be a priest to Me." Moses is distinguished from the people as the mediator of the covenant. Hence he was to cause Aaron and his sons to come to him, i.e., to separate them from the people, and install them as priests, or perpetual mediators between Jehovah and His people. The primary meaning of cohen, the priest, has been retained in the Arabic, where it signifies administrator alieni negotii, viz., to act as a mediator for a person, or as his plenipotentiary, from which it came to be employed chiefly in connection with priestly acts. Among the heathen Arabs it is used "maxime de hariolis vatibusque;" by the Hebrews it was mostly applied to the priests of Jehovah; and there are only a few placed in which it is used in connection with the higher officers of state, who stood next to the king, and acted as it were as mediators between the king and the nation (thus Sa2 8:18; Sa2 20:26; Kg1 4:5). For the duties of their office the priests were to receive "holy garments for glory and for honour." Before they could draw near to Jehovah the Holy One (Lev 11:45), it was necessary that their unholiness should be covered over with holy clothes, which were to be made by men endowed with wisdom, whom Jehovah had filled with the spirit of wisdom. "Wise-hearted," i.e., gifted with understanding and judgment; the heart being regarded as the birth-place of the thoughts. In the Old Testament wisdom is constantly used for practical intelligence in the affairs of life; here, for example, it is equivalent to artistic skill surpassing man's natural ability, which is therefore described as being filled with the divine spirit of wisdom. These clothes were to be used "to sanctify him (Aaron and his sons), that he might be a priest to Jehovah." Sanctification, as the indispensable condition of priestly service, was not merely the removal of the uncleanness which flowed from sin, but, as it were, the transformation of the natural into the glory of the image of God. In this sense the holy clothing served the priest for glory and ornament. The different portions of the priest's state-dress mentioned in Exo 28:4 are described more fully afterwards. For making them, the skilled artists were to take the gold, the hyacinth, etc. The definite article is sued before gold and the following words, because the particular materials, which would be presented by the people, are here referred to.