This chapter informs us of the servants God would have to minister to him in the house, or tabernacle, he had ordered to be made, even Aaron and his sons, Ex. 28:1 of the garments they were to wear in their service, Ex.

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” [[12]] 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…

And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy 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,…

And thou 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…

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…

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…

And they shall make the ephod This was the outermost garment of, all, and was put over the robe; it was a short garment, reaching to the loins, as Kimchi [[14]]; or to the buttocks, as Abarbinel [[15]]; and not to the heels or feet, as Jarchi [[16]], and Maimonides [[17]]; for Josephus [[18]] says…

It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof Which were two pieces that joined to the ephod, reaching from the arm holes to the shoulders both on the right and left, coming from before and behind; and meeting on the shoulders, were buttoned with two onyx stones, and covering the shoulders are…

And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it Which was worn along with it, and went out from it like two thongs, as Jarchi says, which girt the ephod close to the back and breast: shall be of the same; of the same matter as the ephod, and woven in the same manner, and together with it:…

And thou shall take two onyx stones called from the colour of a man’s nail, which they to resemble: the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan call them stones of beryl, and so the Syriac version; the Septuagint, stones of emerald, and the Arabic version, crystal stones: but, according to Josephus [[22]],…

Six of their names on one stone The names of the six eldest on the stone upon the right shoulder: and the other six names of the rest on the other stone: the names of the six youngest on the stone upon the left shoulder; for these stones, as afterwards said, were put on the shoulders of the…

With the work of an engraver in stone Not in common but precious stones: Moses was not to do this himself, as it could not be supposed he should, but he was to employ an engraver, whose business it was, and one that was capable of doing it in a professional manner: like the engravings of a signet…

And thou shall put the stones upon the shoulders of the ephod, &c.] That is, the shoulder pieces of it; these stones were put there, the names of the twelve sons of Israel being engraven on them, and they, set in rims or sockets of gold, and serving for buttons to the shoulder pieces: but chiefly…

And thou shalt make ouches of gold. ] Or sockets of gold, to put the two onyx stones in, for of other ouches we read not, excepting the enclosings, in which the twelve stones of the breastplate were set, and these are again mentioned because of the chains to be fastened to them, of which in the…

And two chains of pure gold at the ends The use of which was to hang the breast plate on, after described; one end of them was fastened to rings on the ouches in the shoulder pieces, and the other end to rings on the breastplate, and thus it hung: of wreathen work shall thou make them; these chains…

And thou shall make the breastplate of judgment Called a “breastplate”, because worn upon the breast of the high priest; and a breastplate “of judgment”, because it was to put him in mind that he should do justice and judgment in the execution of his office, and that he should have at heart the…

Four square it shall be, being doubled That is, when it was doubled; for the length of it, according to Maimonides [[2]], was a cubit, which is two spans, and so, when it was doubled, was but one, and its length and breadth being alike, as follows: a span shall be the length thereof, and a span…

And thou shalt set in it settings of stones Or “fill in it fillings of stones” [[3]]; which shows that there were in it ouches, or sockets of gold, the hollows of which were to be filled up with precious stones: even four rows of stones; making a four square, and so filling up the measure of the…

And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. ] The first of these stones is by both the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan rendered an “emerald”, as by us; and which is described by Pliny [[9]] as of a green colour, exceeding delightful and pleasant, and to which he gives the…

And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. ] The first of these stones, the ligure or lyncurius, is said to be so called from the congealed urine of the lynx [[12]], but rather from the spots of that creature; for, according to Danaeus [[13]], it is the same stone with that called…

And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper Whatever stone is meant by the first in this row, it must be of a sea green colour; for “tarshish”, the word used, signifies the sea; and so the beryl, as Pliny [[16]] says, imitates the greenness of the pure sea.

And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names And just so many are reckoned up in the preceding verses, each of which had one or other of the names of the children of Israel engraved on them, according to the order of their names in their birth.

And thou shall make upon the breastplate chains at the ends, &c.] One end of them to be put to the breastplate, and the other end to the ouches on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, by which the breastplate hung from thence: the Targum of Jonathan renders it, chains of a certain determined size, of…

And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, &c.] On the upper part of it, above, toward the two shoulder pieces of the ephod; these were to put one end of the chains into before mentioned: and shall put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate; the two upper ends or corners…

And thou shalt put two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings This expresses both how many chains were to be made, which is not before said, and the use of them, or where they were to be put, as well as the use of the rings: which are on the ends of the breastplate; the two uppermost ends or…

And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches In which the two onyx stones were set on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, and were as buttons to them; probably there were rings to those ouches, into which these ends of the wreathen chains of gold, reaching…

And thou shall make two rings of gold ] Two other rings besides those before mentioned: and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate; on the other two ends or corners of it: in the border thereof which is in the side of the ephod inward: these were at the two lower ends of the…

And two other rings of gold thou shalt make This is the third pair of rings ordered to be made, the two other pair were for the four ends or corners of the breastplate, but this pair was for the ephod: and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod; one on the right and the other on the left:…

And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof By the rings at the lower ends of it, as it was by the rings at the upper ends of it to the shoulder pieces of the ephod; or “lift it up”, so some interpret it [[21]] as if it was said, they shall lift up the breastplate to join it with the…

And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart Their names being engraven on the stones, and the stones put into the breastplate of judgment, and this breastplate hanging down upon the breast and heart of Aaron, he was a representative of the…

And thou shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim What these interpreters are at a loss about, both Jewish and Christian; some have confessed their ignorance of them, have conjectured they were only these two words and put in the duplicature of the breastplate; that the…

And thou shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. ] This was a different garment from the ephod, was longer than that, and was under it, and of different materials: that was made of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen; this only of linen, and wholly of a blue colour, without any…

And there shall be a hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof At the neck of it, for the high priest to put his head through when he put it on: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it; a large hem or selvage, perhaps of the same kind of woven stuff the robe itself was…

And beneath upon the hem of it Or the skirts of it, at the bottom of the robe: thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; these were figures made of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, in the form of pomegranates: Jarchi says they were round and…

A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate First a golden bell and then a pomegranate, then a bell and then a pomegranate again, and so on: upon the hem of the robe round about; all round the hem or skirts of the robe were they placed in this manner: the Targum of Jonathan…

And it shall be upon Aaron to minister That is, the robe before described shall be put upon him, that he might minister in the priest’s office, for without this, as well as the other garments, he might not: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place before the Lord, and when…

And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold It was, as Jarchi says, two fingers broad, and reached from ear to ear, and so Maimonides [[5]]; it is sometimes called the holy crown, and the plate of the holy crown, , this was a priestly crown, for priests were very honourable and dignified persons,…

And thou shalt put it on a blue lace The plate of gold: that it may be upon the mitre; either the plate or the lace; the lace is the nearest antecedent, but it seems by what follows it should be the plate: upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be; the plate of gold; the mitre was of linen, a…

And it shall be upon Aaron’s forehead That is, the plate of gold, with the inscription on it, holiness to the Lord, and so was very visible and legible.

And thou shall embroider the coat of fine linen Which was a distinct garment from the ephod, and from the robe of the ephod, and was the innermost of all; it was made of fine linen, curiously wrought in the weaving of it: according to some, it was full of a sort of eyelet holes; but as the word is…

And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats Of fine linen, of woven work, as in , these were different from the broidered coat of the high priest, and the blue robe of the ephod: and thou shall make for them girdles; linen ones, to gird up their linen coats, which were long, that they might the more…

And thou shall put them on Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him And this putting on of their garments by Moses, under the authority of God, was a solemn investiture of them with the priestly office also; for from henceforward they had a right to exercise it, having those garments on, without…

And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness Or “the flesh of nakedness” [[15]], that part of the body which ought not to be naked and exposed to view, and which, when it is, causes shame and ridicule; what part is designed is easily gathered from the next clause; great care was…

And they shall be upon Aaron and upon his sons Not the linen breeches only, but all the other garments: when they come into the tabernacle of the congregation; even into that part of it where the people assembled, the court of the tabernacle, and where stood the altar of burnt offering, on which…