Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 28

THE DESIGNATION OF AARON AND HIS SONS FOR THE PRIESTLY OFFICE, WITH DIRECTIONS FOR THEIR MINISTERIAL APPAREL.

Take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother. —Hebrew, make to draw near to you Aaron your brother. Until now, the position of Moses had been absolutely unique. He had been, from the time that Egypt was left, the one and only intermediary between God and the people—the one and only priest of the nation. Now this was to be changed.

Perhaps in consequence of his original reluctance and want of faith (Exodus 3:11; Exodus 4:10–13), or perhaps on account of Aaron’s elder birth (Exodus 7:7), it pleased God to commit the office of ministering to Him in the tabernacle, not to Moses and his descendants, but to Aaron and his descendants. In this way, Aaron and his sons were "drawn near" to Moses in respect of rank, position, and dignity.

That he may minister to me in the priest’s office. —Or, “that he may be priest to me.” The actual investiture of Aaron with the priestly office did not take place until some time after the tabernacle was completed. It is related in Leviticus 8; and his first priestly acts are recorded in the following chapter (Leviticus 9:8–22).

Nadab and Abihu. —On Nadab and Abihu, the two eldest sons of Aaron, see Exodus 6:23; Exodus 24:1.

Eleazar and Ithamar. —The priestly office was, in fact, continued in the families of these two. Eleazar became high priest at the death of Aaron (Numbers 20:28), and was succeeded by his son Phinehas, whom we find high priest in the time of Joshua (Joshua 22:13) and afterwards (Judges 20:28). At a later date, but under what circumstances is unknown, the high priesthood passed to the line of Ithamar, to which Eli belonged.

Holy garments. —Though holiness is, strictly speaking, a personal quality, yet all nations have felt it right to regard as “holy,” in a certain modified sense, all those material objects which are connected with religion and employed in the worship of God. Thus, we hear, both in Scripture and elsewhere, of “holy places,” “holy vessels,” “holy books,” “holy garments.” These last are required especially for the ministers in holy places, who need to be distinguished by some evident signs from the body of the worshippers.

In Egypt, the ministering priests in temples always wore distinctive attire; and probably there was no nation in the time of Moses which, if it possessed a class of priests, did not distinguish them by some special costume, at least when they were officiating. The natural instinct which thus exhibited itself received Divine sanction through the communications made to Moses on Sinai, by which special garments were appointed for both the high priest and the ordinary priests.

For glory and for beauty. —These words have great force. God intended His priests to be richly, as well as decently, clothed, for two objects:

1. For glory—to glorify them—to give them an exalted position in the eyes of the nation, to cause them to be respected, and their office to be highly regarded;
2. for beauty—to make the worship of the sanctuary more beautiful than it would otherwise have been, to establish a harmony between the richly-adorned tabernacle and those who ministered in it, to give the service of the sanctuary the highest artistic, as well as the highest spiritual, perfection.

The relation of art to religion is a subject on which volumes have been written, and which cannot be discussed here; but God’s regard for “beauty” is here brought prominently before us, and no honest exegesis can ignore the significant fact that when God was pleased to give directions for His worship on earth, they were made to serve not only utility and convenience, but also beauty. Beauty, it would seem, is not a thing despised by the Creator of the universe.

Thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted. —By “all that are wise hearted” we must understand all who had the special knowledge that would enable them to give effectual aid in the production of such garments as were about to be commanded. The Hebrews regarded the heart as the seat of knowledge, with perhaps neither more nor less scientific accuracy than underlies our own current modes of speech by which the heart is made the seat of the affections.

Whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom. —Few passages in the Bible are more antagonistic than this to the general current of modern thought. God speaks of Himself as having infused His Spirit into the hearts of men, in order to enable them to produce satisfactory priestly garments. People today suppose such things to be quite beneath the notice of the Creator of the universe.

But it has to be remembered, on the other hand:

1. That God is the fountain from which all knowledge is derived;
2. That He alone knows what is beneath Him and what is not beneath Him;
3. And that dress is not a wholly insignificant matter, or so much would not have been said in Scripture about it (Genesis 3:21; Genesis 37:3; Genesis 41:42; Leviticus 8:7–9; Leviticus 16:4; Numbers 15:38, and others).

Garments intended for glory and for beauty (Exodus 28:2) required artistic power in those who were to make them; and artistic power, like all other intellectual excellence, is the gift of God.

To consecrate him. —Investiture in the holy garments was a part of the ceremony of consecration (Leviticus 8:13).

1. These are the garments. —The garments specific to the high priest are considered first and described with great detail in thirty-six verses (Exodus 28:4–39). The most prominent was the breastplate, described in Exodus 28:13-30, and mentioned first here. Next to this came the special vestment called the “ephod,” a type of short coat or vest, on which the breastplate was worn .

   Under the ephod was the long blue robe called “the robe of the ephod,” which may be considered the main garment and is described in Exodus 28:31-35. On his head, the high priest wore a “mitre” or turban ; and inside his “robe,” he wore a linen shirt or tunic, secured by a girdle (Exodus 28:39). Underneath the tunic, he wore linen breeches (Exodus 28:42–43). Nothing is said about any covering for his feet, but they were probably protected by sandals.

They shall take gold, and blue. —Hebrew, the gold and the blue, etc.—i.e., they (the wise-hearted men of Exodus 28:3) shall receive (from Moses) the (necessary) gold, blue, etc., for the construction of the vestments. It is to be noted that the materials are the same as those employed for the veil and curtains of the sanctuary (Exodus 26:1; Exodus 26:31; Exodus 26:36), but with the further addition of gold and precious stones (Exodus 28:9; Exodus 28:17–21).