John Gill Commentary Exodus 39
John Gill Commentary
Exodus 39
John Gill Commentary
Exodus 39
"And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made finely wrought garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as Jehovah commanded Moses." — Exodus 39:1 (ASV)
And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths
of service
Jarchi observes that there is no mention made of linen, because these were not the priestly garments in which there was linen; but these were they with which they covered the vessels of the sanctuary when they journeyed; and so says Aben Ezra; and those were covered with cloths of blue, purple, and scarlet, (Numbers 4:5–15) though some think these were clothes wore by the priests:
to do service in the holy place :
and which they only wore when in it, and employed in the service of it; and therefore what follows must be by way of explanation:
and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord commanded Moses ;
the particulars of which are given in the following verses.
"And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen." — Exodus 39:2 (ASV)
Ver. 2-31. And he made the ephod of gold From hence to the end of verse thirty one we have a very particular account of the making of the priest's garments exactly according to the directions given to Moses, (See Gill on Exodus 28:1) &c. to end of chapter twenty eight; only it may be observed, that here in (Exodus 39:3) an account is given of the manner in which they made the gold fit to be worked along with the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; they beat the gold into thin plates, and then cut them into wires, and then twisted them together with the yarn: the gold that was used in the weaving of the ephod and the breastplate, spoken of in the law, was wrought after this manner; the workman took one thread of pure gold, and put it with six threads of blue, and twisted the seven threads as one, and so he wrought a thread of gold with six of purple, and another thread with six of scarlet, and another with six of linen or flax, so that there were four threads of gold, and all the threads were twenty eight, as it is said; "they did beat" or spread out "the gold" "to work in the midst of blue" from whence is learnt that the thread of gold was twisted in the midst of them F25.
And it may be further observed, that after the enumeration of the stones in the breastplate, (Exodus 39:10–13) no mention is made of the Urim and Thummim, which seems to confirm the opinion of many, and which is my own, that they are the same with the stones.
Moreover, in (Exodus 39:28) , it may be observed, that what the coats for the common priests were made of is expressed, which is not before, which was linen; expressive of their purity and holiness, and in which they ought always to appear before God and man, and in which apparel they have been imitated among the Heathens: the priests of Hercules are said to be clothed with linen F26 , and the Egyptian priests wore only a linen garment F1 ; hence the priests of Isis, with whom she is represented as surrounded by Juvenal F2 , are called by him "grex liniger", and by Martial, "linigeri" F3.
FOOTNOTES:
- F25: Maimon. Cele Hamikdash, c. 9. sect. 5.
- F26: Silius Ital. de Bell. Punic. l. 3.
- F1: Herodot. Euterpe sive, l. 2. c. 38.
- F2: Satyr. 6.
- F3: L. 12. Epigram. 26.
"And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skilful workman." — Exodus 39:3 (ASV)
(See Gill on Exodus 39:2).
"They made shoulder-pieces for it, joined together; at the two ends was it joined together." — Exodus 39:4 (ASV)
(See Gill on Exodus 39:2).
"And the skilfully woven band, that was upon it, wherewith to gird it on, was of the same piece [and] like the work thereof; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as Jehovah commanded Moses." — Exodus 39:5 (ASV)
(See Gill on Exodus 39:2).
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