John Gill Commentary Exodus 28

And take to you Aaron your brother, and his sons with
him
Moses is told to fetch or send for Aaron and his sons to him: or "cause" them to "draw near" ^F14 tohim, and stand before him, that he might in the name of the Lord, and by his authority, distinguish andseparate 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 to 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 theIsraelites were a kingdom of priests; and Moses, as Aben Ezra calls him, was "a priest of priests"; but nowit 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 hisfamily; and a great honour this was that was conferred on him, and to which he was called of God, as in (Hebrews 5:4) and it is greatly in the favour of Moses, and which shows him to be an upright and undesigningman, that did not seek to aggrandize himself and his family; that though he had so much honour and powerhimself, he did not seek to entail any upon his posterity. It is hinted in the latter part of the precedingchapter, that Aaron and his sons should minister in the sanctuary, and look after the candlestick, and itslamps; and here the design of God concerning them is more fully opened, which was that they should be hispeculiar ministers and servants in his house, to do all the business appertaining to it:

even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons :
who were all the sons that Aaron had that we read of; though Aben Ezra thinks it probable that he might haveother sons, and therefore the names of those are particularly mentioned, who were to be taken into thepriest's office with him; the two first of these died very quickly after this, in a very awful manner, as thesacred story relates; and from the other two sprang all the priests that were in all successivegenerations.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: (brqh) "appropinquare fac", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus.

And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother Called so, because in these he was to minister in the holy place, and perform holy service; and because typical of the holy human nature of Christ our great High Priest, and of his spotless righteousness, and of the garments of sanctification, both outward and inward, that all believers in him, who are made priests unto God, are arrayed with: Aaron and his sons being appointed priests, their garments are first described before their work and even before their consecration to their office; and there were some peculiar to Aaron, or the high priest, and different from those of his sons, or the common priests; and which are first treated of, as the breastplate, the robe of ephod, and the plate of gold; besides these, there were four more, common to all the priests, as the coat, the breeches, the girdle, and bonnet.

Now whereas some of the Heathen priests performed their office, and offered their sacrifices, naked, which was very shameful and abominable, as Braunius

for glory and beauty; that is, with glorious and beautiful ones, and which would make his priests look so: and this was done, partly to point out the dignity of their office to themselves, that they might take care to behave suitable to it, and keep up the honour and credit of it; and partly to make them respectable unto men, and be honoured by them, none being clothed as they were, as Aben Ezra observes;

but chiefly because they were typical of the glory and beauty of Christ's human nature, which was as a garment put on, and put off, and on again, and in which he officiated as a priest, and still does; and which is now very glorious, and in which he is fairer than any of the children of men; and of the garments of salvation, and robe of righteousness, in which all his people, his priests, appear exceeding glorious and beautiful, even in a perfection of beauty.

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: from various authors has shown, though this was not done by them all: in opposition to such a filthy practice, and to show his detestation of it, the Lord orders his priests to be clothed, and that in a very splendid manner, with garments. De Vestitu Sacerdot. Heb. l. 1. c. 1. sect. 5. p. 11.

And you shall speak unto all that are wise hearted
That have knowledge and understanding in mechanic arts, particularly in making garments; and it required men of more than ordinary skill to be employed in making these, because they were uncommon ones, and required a good deal of thought and judgment, and care and application, to make them exactly as they should be:

whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom ;
for besides a common understanding of things, these required a peculiar gift from God, which some men, as Bezaleel and Aholiab had:

that they may make Aaron's garments, to consecrate him
to put upon him at the time of his consecration; and indeed this was one way, by which, as well as by sacrifices, that he was consecrated, see (Exodus 29:1Exodus 29:5Exodus 29:6) ,

that he may minister unto me in the priest's office
for the priests, without having these garments on, might not minister in their office; for when these garments were off, as they were when they were out of their service, they were as other men, as laymen, (See Gill on Ezekiel 42:14).

And these are the garments which they shall make
Some for Aaron and some for his sons, some peculiar to the high priest, and others in common to him and other priests:

a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a mitre,
and a girdle ;
of each of which, with others, there is a more particular account in this chapter, and will be observed in their order:

and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons :
as those before mentioned, with some others not mentioned; some for Aaron only, and others that were to be worn by his sons also:

that he may minister unto me in the priest's office ;
these were absolutely necessary to the execution of the priestly office, and an essential qualification for it, and without which it was not lawful to serve in it.

And they shall take
The Targum of Jonathan adds, out of their substance; that is, those that were wise hearted, and had knowledge and skill in making such garments; these were to take, not out of their own personal substance, but they were to take or receive from Moses what the people freely offered for such service, (Exodus 36:3) ,

gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen ;
pieces of gold, which they beat into thin plates, and drew into wires, and which they worked into stuffs, woollen or linen, or both, of the colours here mentioned; all which were made use of in the ephod, girdle, breastplate see (Exodus 39:3) and had a mystical significance in them.