Exodus 28:1

_AND TAKE THOU UNTO THEE AARON THY BROTHER, AND HIS SONS WITH HIM, FROM AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, THAT HE MAY MINISTER UNTO ME IN THE PRIEST'S OFFICE, EVEN AARON, NADAB AND ABIHU, ELEAZAR AND ITHAMAR, AARON'S SONS._ Take thou ... Aaron thy brother. Moses had hitherto discharged the priestly functions (Psalms 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 until the introduction of the Christian era....

1._And take thou unto thee Aaron. _The calling of God is here alleged to prove the importance and dignity of the priesthood, and this too the Apostle has well weighed in the words: "And no man taketh the honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.” (Hebrews 5:4.) Among heathen nations the priests were appointed by popular election, so that ambition alone governed their appointment; but God would only have those accounted lawful priests whom He had selected at His own sole will; and surely the whole human race together had no power to obtrude any one on God, who should interpose himself to obtain pardon and peace; nay, not even Christ Himself would have been sufficient to propitiate God, unless He had undertaken the office by the decree and appointment of His Father. To which refers the famous oath, whereby His heavenly Father appointed Him to be priest;

1-5 Hitherto the heads of families were the priests, and offered sacrifices; but now this office was confined to the family of Aaron only; and so continued till the gospel dispensation. The holy garments not only distinguished the priests from the people, but were emblems of that holy conduct which should ever be the glory and beauty, the mark of the ministers of religion, without which their persons and ministrations will be had in contempt. They also typified the glory of the Divine majesty, and the beauty of complete holiness, which rendered Jesus Christ the great High Priest. But our adorning under the gospel, is not to be of gold and costly array, but the garments of salvation, the robe of righteousness....

CHAPTER XXVIII Aaron _and his_ sons _are set apart for the priest's office_, 1. Garments _to be provided for them_, 2, 3. _What these garments were_, 4, _and of what made_, 5. _The_ ephod, _its shoulder-pieces, and girdle_, 6-8. _The two_ onyx stones, _on which the names of the twelve tribes_ _were to be engraven_, 9-14. _The_ breastplate _of judgment; its twelve precious stones_, _engraving, rings, chains, and its use_, 15-29. _The_ Urim _and_ Thummim, 30. _The_

(Compare Exodus 39:1.) Moses is now commanded to commit all that pertains to the offerings made to the Lord in the sanctuary to the exclusive charge of the members of a single family, who were to hold their office from generation to generation. In the patriarchal times, the external rites of worship had generally been conducted by the head of the tribe or family, in accordance with the principle involved in the dedication of the firstborn Exodus 13:2; Numbers 3:12. Moses, as the divinely-appointed and acknowledged leader of the nation, had, on a special occasion, appointed those who were to offer sacrifice, and had himself sprinkled the consecrating blood of the victims on the people...

EXPOSITION THE HOLY GARMENTS. The special object of the present chapter is to prescribe the form, materials, colour, etc; of the holy garments—or the attire of those who were to minister in the tabernacle at the time of their ministration. As the service of the tabernacle was about to be committed to Aaron and his sons, their selection for this office is mentioned in Exodus 28:1, and their investiture and consecration briefly touched in Exodus 28:41. Otherwise the whole chapter is concerned with the attire That of Aaron is first prescribed (Exodus 28:4-2). It consists of an ephod ...

AND TAKE THOU UNTO THEE AARON THY BROTHER, AND HIS SONS WITH HIM,.... Moses is bid to fetch or send for Aaron and his sons to him: or "cause" them to "draw near" n to him, and stand before him, that he might in the name of the Lord, and by his authority, distinguish and separate them FROM AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: and before them all invest them with the office of priesthood, as it follows: THAT THEY MAY MINISTER UNTO ME IN THE PRIEST'S OFFICE, before this time every master of a family was a priest, and might and did offer sacrifice, and all the Israelites were a kingdom of priests; and Moses, as Aben Ezra calls him, was "a priest of priests"; but now it being enough for him to be the political ruler of the people, and the prophet of the Lord, the priestly office is bestowed on Aaron and his sons; nor might any afterwards officiate in it but such as were of his family; and a great...

AARON Type of Christ, our High Priest. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, but He executes his priestly office after the pattern of Aaron. Hebrew, 7. gives the order; Hebrew, 9, the pattern. (_ See Scofield) - (Genesis 14:18). _...

CHAPTER 28 THE PRIESTHOOD _ 1. Aaron and his sons (Exodus 28:1)_ 2. The garments mentioned (Exodus 28:2) 3. The ephod (Exodus 28:5) 4. The breastplate (Exodus 28:15) 5. The robe of the ephod (Exodus 28:31) 6. The mitre (Exodus 28:35) 7. The ordinary garments (Exodus 28:39) This chapter is still richer in typical lessons, a ver

EXODUS 28. P (Exodus 28:26; Exodus 28:41 later). PRIESTLY VESTMENTS. After the sanctuary and its fittings have been ordered, the vestments for the priesthood come up for mention. For the strange story of the development of the priest-hood in Israel, _see_ pp. 106f. Here we find, no doubt, a simple assumption that Aaron and his sons wore the same vestments as were worn by the Zadokite High Priest and his assistants in the Temple of Zerub- babel. Sir_45:9-22; Sir_50:1-21 are a complete proof that the splendour of the Temple ritual and its religious value were fully appreciated by the Hebrew sages, cultivated men of the world who cared deeply for religion as well as for morality. Of Aaron's four sons, Nadab and Abihu are named in...