_A.M. 2513. B.C. 1491._ In this and the following chapter care is taken about the priests that were to minister in this holy place. In this chapter, (1,) _ God pitcheth upon the persons who should be his servants, Exodus 28:1._ (2,) He appoints their livery; their work was holy, and so must their... [ Continue Reading ]
_Aaron and his sons_ Hitherto every master of a family was priest to his own family. But now, as the families of Israel began to be incorporated into a nation, and a _tabernacle of the congregation_ was to be erected, as a visible centre of their unity, it was requisite there should be a public prie... [ Continue Reading ]
The priests' garments were made _for glory and beauty_ Some of the richest materials were to be provided, and the best artists employed in making them, whose skill God, by a _special gift_, would improve to a very high degree. Eminence, even in common arts, is a gift of God; it comes _from him_, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_They shall make the ephod of gold_ This was the outmost garment of the high-priest. Linen ephods were worn by the inferior priests; but this which the high-priest wore was called a _golden ephod_, because there was a great deal of gold woven into it. It was a short linen coat without sleeves, of va... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ouches_ Hollow places, such as are made in gold rings, to receive and hold the precious stones.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The breast-plate of judgment_ The most considerable of the ornaments of the high-priest was this breast-plate, termed the _breast-plate of judgment_, because the high-priest wore it upon his breast when he went to ask counsel or judgment of God. The Seventy render the word λογειον, _oracle_, becaus... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Urim and Thummim_ By which the will of God was made known in doubtful cases, was put in this breast-plate, which is therefore called the breast-plate of judgment. _Urim_ and _Thummim_ signify _light_ and _integrity_, or lights and perfections: many conjectures there are among the learned what t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The robe of the ephod_ This was next under the _ephod_, and reached down to the knees, without sleeves, and was put on over the head, having holes on the sides to put the arms through, or, as Maimonides describes it, was not sewed together on the sides at all. The hole on the top, through which the... [ Continue Reading ]
_An habergeon_ A coat of armour. _Pomegranates_ The figures of pomegranates, but flat and embroidered.... [ Continue Reading ]
On the _golden plate_ fixed upon Aaron's forehead, like a half coronet, reaching, as the Jews say, from ear to ear, must be engraved, _Holiness to the Lord_ Aaron must hereby be reminded, that God _is holy_, and that his priests must be holy. The high-priest must be consecrated to God, and so must a... [ Continue Reading ]
Aaron must have this upon his _forehead_, that he may _bear the iniquity of the holy things_, and that _they may be accepted before the Lord _ Herein he was a type of Christ, the great Mediator between God and man. Through him, what is amiss in our services, is pardoned: even this would be our ruin,... [ Continue Reading ]
The _embroidered coat of fine linen_ Was the innermost of the priestly garments, it reached to the feet, and the sleeves to the wrists, and was bound to the body with a girdle or sash of needle-work. The _mitre_ or diadem was of linen, such as kings anciently wore in the East, typifying the kingly o... [ Continue Reading ]
_And shalt anoint them_ He anointed Aaron by pouring the holy oil upon his head, Leviticus 8:12; but his sons only by sprinkling some of it upon their garments, as he did upon Aaron's also, together with some blood of the sacrifice, Exodus 29:21; Leviticus 8:30. _And consecrate them_ In the Hebrew i... [ Continue Reading ]
_It shall be a statute for ever_ That is, it is to continue as long as the priesthood continues. And it is to have its perpetuity in the substance of which these things were the shadow.... [ Continue Reading ]