These are the garments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. They are to make these holy garments for your brother Aaron and his sons, so that they may serve Me as priests. These are the garments they are to makeThis phrase introduces the specific attire designated for the priesthood, emphasizing the divine command and the importance of each item. The Hebrew word for "garments" (בְּגָדִים, begadim) signifies clothing that is not merely functional but holds a sacred purpose. The making of these garments was an act of obedience to God's detailed instructions, reflecting His holiness and the sanctity of the priestly role. A breastpiece
The breastpiece, or "חֹשֶׁן" (choshen) in Hebrew, was a square, richly embroidered piece of cloth worn over the heart. It held the Urim and Thummim, tools for divine decision-making. This garment symbolizes the priest's role as a mediator between God and the people, carrying the tribes of Israel upon his heart in the presence of the Lord. An ephod
The ephod (אֵפוֹד, ephod) was a sleeveless garment, often made of fine linen and gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. It was worn over the robe and was integral to the high priest's attire. The ephod represents service and worship, as it was used in seeking God's will, highlighting the priest's duty to serve both God and the community. A robe
The robe (מְעִיל, meil) was a long, seamless garment worn under the ephod. It was typically blue, symbolizing the heavens and divine revelation. The robe's hem was adorned with pomegranates and bells, signifying fruitfulness and the priest's continual presence before God, as the sound of the bells indicated his movement within the Holy Place. A woven tunic
The woven tunic (כְּתֹנֶת תַּשְׁבֵּץ, ketonet tashbets) was a finely crafted linen garment worn next to the skin. Its intricate design reflects purity and righteousness, essential qualities for those serving in God's presence. The tunic's craftsmanship underscores the care and precision required in approaching the divine. A turban
The turban (מִצְנֶפֶת, mitznefet) was a headpiece made of fine linen, signifying holiness and dedication. It bore a gold plate inscribed with "Holy to the LORD," reminding the priest of his consecration and the need for a pure mind and heart in service to God. And a sash
The sash (אַבְנֵט, avnet) was a long, embroidered belt that secured the tunic and robe. It symbolizes readiness and strength for service, binding the priest's garments together as a sign of unity and commitment to God's work. They are to make these sacred garments
The repetition of the command to make these garments highlights their sanctity and the importance of following God's instructions precisely. The term "sacred" (קֹדֶשׁ, kodesh) denotes holiness, setting these garments apart for divine service. For your brother Aaron and his sons
This phrase specifies the intended wearers of the garments, Aaron and his sons, who were chosen by God to serve as priests. It emphasizes the familial and hereditary nature of the priesthood, as well as the responsibility passed down through generations. So that they may serve Me as priests
The ultimate purpose of these garments is revealed here: to enable Aaron and his sons to serve God as priests. The Hebrew word for "serve" (כָּהַן, kahan) implies ministering and mediating between God and the people. This service is a sacred duty, requiring the priests to be set apart, clothed in garments that reflect God's glory and holiness. Persons / Places / Events 1. AaronThe brother of Moses, chosen by God to be the first high priest of Israel. His role was to mediate between God and the Israelites. 2. PriestsAaron's sons, who were set apart to serve in the tabernacle, performing sacrifices and rituals as intermediaries between God and the people. 3. Sacred GarmentsSpecific clothing items designed for the priests, symbolizing their holy service and the dignity of their office. 4. TabernacleThe portable sanctuary where God dwelled among His people and where the priests performed their duties. 5. IsraelitesThe chosen people of God, for whom the priestly service was instituted to maintain a covenant relationship with God. Teaching Points The Significance of Sacred GarmentsThe garments were not just for physical adornment but symbolized the holiness and responsibility of the priestly office. They remind us of the importance of being clothed in righteousness as we serve God. The Role of the PriesthoodThe priests served as mediators between God and the people, pointing to the ultimate mediator, Jesus Christ. This highlights the importance of intercession and mediation in our spiritual lives. Holiness in ServiceThe detailed instructions for the priestly garments underscore the need for holiness and preparation in serving God. As believers, we are called to approach our service with reverence and dedication. God's Provision for WorshipThe provision of specific garments for the priests shows God's care in establishing a proper way to worship Him. It encourages us to seek God's guidance in how we worship and serve Him today. Bible Study Questions 1. What do the specific garments mentioned in Exodus 28:4 symbolize about the nature of the priestly office? 2. How does the role of Aaron as a high priest foreshadow the ministry of Jesus Christ as described in the book of Hebrews? 3. In what ways can we, as believers, fulfill the role of a "royal priesthood" in our daily lives, as mentioned in 1 Peter 2:9? 4. How does the concept of holiness in the priestly garments apply to our personal walk with God and our service in the church? 5. Reflect on a time when you felt called to serve God in a specific way. How did you prepare yourself spiritually and practically for that service? Connections to Other Scriptures Leviticus 8Describes the consecration of Aaron and his sons, emphasizing the importance of the priestly garments in their ordination. Hebrews 4:14-16Connects the role of the high priest in the Old Testament to Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, who intercedes for us. 1 Peter 2:9Speaks of believers as a royal priesthood, drawing a parallel between the Old Testament priesthood and the New Testament calling of all Christians. People Aaron, Abihu, Eleazar, Israelites, Ithamar, Moses, Nadab, ShohamPlaces Mount SinaiTopics Aaron, Bag, Band, Breastpiece, Breastplate, Breast-plate, Broidered, Brother, Checker, Checkered, Chequer, Cloak, Coat, Coloured, Embroidered, Ephod, Garments, Girdle, Head-dress, Holy, Linen, Minister, Miter, Mitre, Needlework, Office, Priest, Priests, Priest's, Robe, Robes, Sacred, Sash, Serve, Sons, Tunic, Turban, Upper, Vest, Woven, YeaDictionary of Bible Themes Exodus 28:4 5073 Aaron, priest
5158 head-covering
5177 robes
7352 ephod
7377 high priest, OT
7768 priests, OT function Exodus 28:1-5 5145 clothing Exodus 28:1-43 1065 God, holiness of Exodus 28:4-5 4333 gold
5399 luxury Library Three Inscriptions with one Meaning
'Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it ... HOLINESS TO THE LORD.'--EXODUS xxviii. 36. 'In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD.'--ZECH. xiv. 20. 'His name shall be in their foreheads.'--REV. xxii. 4. You will have perceived my purpose in putting these three widely separated texts together. They all speak of inscriptions, and they are all obviously connected with each other. The first of them comes from the ancient times of the institution …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy ScriptureThe Names on Aaron's Breastplate
Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord, upon his two shoulders, for a memorial.... And Aaron shall bear the names of the Children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the Holy Place.'--EXODUS xxviii. 12,29. Every part of the elaborately prescribed dress of the high priest was significant. But the significance of the whole was concentrated in the inscription upon his mitre, 'Holiness to the Lord,' and in those others upon his breastplate and his shoulder. …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture Ninth Day. Holiness and Mediation.
And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord.'--Ex. xxviii. 36, 38. God's house was to be the dwelling-place of His Holiness, the place where He was to reveal Himself; as the Holy One, not to be approached but with …
Andrew Murray—Holy in Christ Edwards -- Spiritual Light
Jonathan Edwards, the New England divine and metaphysician, was born at East Windsor, Connecticut, in 1703. He was graduated early from Yale College, where he had given much attention to philosophy, became tutor of his college, and at nineteen began to preach. His voice and manner did not lend themselves readily to pulpit oratory, but his clear, logical, and intense presentation of the truth produced a profound and permanent effect upon his hearers. He wrote what were considered the most important …
Grenville Kleiser—The world's great sermons, Volume 3 That the Ruler Should be Pure in Thought.
The ruler should always be pure in thought, inasmuch as no impurity ought to pollute him who has undertaken the office of wiping away the stains of pollution in the hearts of others also; for the hand that would cleanse from dirt must needs be clean, lest, being itself sordid with clinging mire, it soil whatever it touches all the more. For on this account it is said through the prophet, Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord (Isai. lii. 11). For they bear the vessels of the Lord who undertake, …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Sanctification
'For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.' I Thess 4:4. The word sanctification signifies to consecrate and set apart to a holy use: thus they are sanctified persons who are separated from the world, and set apart for God's service. Sanctification has a privative and a positive part. I. A privative part, which lies in the purging out of sin. Sin is compared to leaven, which sours; and to leprosy, which defiles. Sanctification purges out the old leaven.' I Cor 5:5. Though it takes not …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity That the Ruler Should be Always Chief in Action.
The ruler should always be chief in action, that by his living he may point out the way of life to those that are put under him, and that the flock, which follows the voice and manners of the shepherd, may learn how to walk better through example than through words. For he who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to exhibit the highest things. For that voice more readily penetrates the hearer's heart, which the speaker's life …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Thirtieth Lesson. An Holy Priesthood;'
An holy priesthood;' Or, The Ministry of Intercession. An holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.'--I Peter ii. 5. Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord.'--Isaiah lxi. 6. THE Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord hath anointed me.' These are the words of Jesus in Isaiah. As the fruit of His work all redeemed ones are priests, fellow-partakers with Him of His anointing with the Spirit as High Priest. Like the precious ointment upon …
Andrew Murray—With Christ in the School of Prayer That the Ruler Should be Discreet in Keeping Silence, Profitable in Speech.
The ruler should be discreet in keeping silence, profitable in speech; lest he either utter what ought to be suppressed or suppress what he ought to utter. For, as incautious speaking leads into error, so indiscreet silence leaves in error those who might have been instructed. For often improvident rulers, fearing to lose human favour, shrink timidly from speaking freely the things that are right; and, according to the voice of the Truth (Joh. x. 12), serve unto the custody of the flock by no means …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Text: Romans 13, 8-10. 8 Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is summed up in this word, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; love therefore is the fulfilment of the law. CHRISTIAN LOVE AND THE COMMAND TO LOVE. 1. This, like the two …
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. II The Covenant of Grace
Q-20: DID GOD LEAVE ALL MANKIND TO PERISH 1N THE ESTATE OF SIN AND MISERY? A: No! He entered into a covenant of grace to deliver the elect out of that state, and to bring them into a state of grace by a Redeemer. 'I will make an everlasting covenant with you.' Isa 55:5. Man being by his fall plunged into a labyrinth of misery, and having no way left to recover himself, God was pleased to enter into a new covenant with him, and to restore him to life by a Redeemer. The great proposition I shall go …
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity The Earliest Christian Preaching
1. THUS far we have confined ourselves to the words of Jesus. The divine necessity of His death, indicated in the Old Testament and forming the basis of all His teaching regarding it, is the primary truth; the nature of that necessity begins to be revealed as the death is set in relation to the ransoming of many, and to the institution of a new covenant -- that is, a new religion, having as its fundamental blessing the forgiveness of sins. I do not think this view of our Lord's mind as to His own …
James Denney—The Death of Christ Exodus
The book of Exodus--so named in the Greek version from the march of Israel out of Egypt--opens upon a scene of oppression very different from the prosperity and triumph in which Genesis had closed. Israel is being cruelly crushed by the new dynasty which has arisen in Egypt (i.) and the story of the book is the story of her redemption. Ultimately it is Israel's God that is her redeemer, but He operates largely by human means; and the first step is the preparation of a deliverer, Moses, whose parentage, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links Exodus 28:4 NIVExodus 28:4 NLTExodus 28:4 ESVExodus 28:4 NASBExodus 28:4 KJV
Exodus 28:4 Commentaries
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