For glory and for beauty (Exo 28)
In Exo 28, Moses recounts for us the commissioning of Aaron
and his sons as the highest order of Levitical priests. Special attention is
given to the special clothes of these priests. Lengthy descriptions are
carefully made by Moses. Certainly there would be no need to go into such detail
unless the dress of Aaron and his sons had an exceptional
significance.
Types of us
So often in God's plans we get a glimpse of a dominant
principle, which is this: the small and imperfect precedes and foreshadows the
great and the perfect. This is true of first natural and then spiritual Israel.
If it is true of nations, it is true of individuals. Therefore, the Jew of
Moses' time is a prophetic type of a believer today. And since Jesus has taught
all of his followers how to approach God in prayer and has brought them all into
contact with his sacrifice, then we are all, in effect, priests: "Ye are a
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that
ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into
His marvelous light" (1Pe 2:9).
As the spiritual heirs of the Mosaic priests, we should study
our predecessors and understand their responsibilities and privileges, for we
also are spiritual "priests" (1Pe 2:9). If we take this attitude, then the study
of the law that vanished away after Christ's advent will become alive and
exciting again.
The significance of clothing
Many passages in the Scriptures refer to clothing as a
symbol:
"Let Thy priests be clothed with righteousness..." (Psa 132:9).
"I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a
diadem" (Job 29:14).
"Put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness" (Eph 4:24).
"Be clothed with humility" (1Pe 5:5).
"Put on the whole armor of God... Stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod
with the preparation of the gospel of peace... And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God..." (Eph
6:11,13-15,17).
"And righteousness shall be the girdle of his (Christ's) loins, and faithfulness
the girdle of his reins" (Isa 11:5).
In Bible terms, our clothing is a fitting symbol of our way of
life. As with natural clothing, our walk in the truth should be kept clean -- in
anticipation of our acceptance by Christ.
God told Moses to "make holy garments for Aaron thy brother
for GLORY and for BEAUTY" (Exo 28:2). The clothes of Aaron would certainly be
glorious and beautiful. But outward beauty and extravagance may be a
characteristic of the most evil and sinful persons. Unless there is an inner
beauty that God can see, then what is pleasing merely on the outside will fit
Jesus' descriptions of the pious hypocrites of his day: pure and white on the
outside but inside full of death and corruption -- "dead men's bones" (Mat
23:25-28). The priests that condemned Christ wore basically the same outfit, and
stood in the same relation to God, as Aaron did.
The ephod
The ephod (Exo 28:6) was a coat that reached about to the
thigh. It was interwoven of many different colors: gold, blue, scarlet (or red),
purple, upon white linen. Jacob loved his son Joseph very much and gave him a
coat of many colors (probably to signify Joseph's priestly office). Our Father
in heaven gives us a "coat" also. When we enter into covenant relationship with
Christ, we are symbolically given a cloak of righteousness. We are morally
clean. But it is our duty to keep our robe pure and spotless and to add to its
beauty by acceptable service to God. If we fail, we fall under the condemnation
which Jesus pronounced upon those who came to the wedding without the proper
garment (Mat 22:11-13).
Each of the colors of the ephod symbolizes some characteristic
to be found in our coats. By studying Aaron's clothes we learn to fashion our
garments in the same way:
Gold
Gold represents a tried faith -- "tried with fire" (1Pe 1:7).
Gold is one of the most precious metals. It is very flexible and can be drawn
into thin wire without breaking. It can withstand much pounding. Jesus said that
only a little faith is very great. Gold is a fitting symbol of faith, "without
(which) it is impossible to please [God]" (Heb 11:6).
The color blue
Under the ephod, the priest wore a long blue robe which was
visible below the ephod. Blue also appeared in the ephod itself. The Jews have
always worn blue upon ceremonial garments, feeling that it had a special
significance. Yahweh commanded Israel to "make fringes in the borders of their
garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the
borders a ribband of blue... that ye may look upon it, and remember all the
commandments of the Lord, and do them" (Num 15:37-40).
The fringe itself represented a law, because it encircled the
wearer and restricted him within it. Its blue color reminded him of the sky
above, and thus of the heavenly origin of the law. He could not go anywhere
without seeing the heavens, God's dwelling place, stretched out above. His
clothes were all blue; his laws were all divine; and his only hope was to
remember and meditate upon them always. Blue therefore represents the Divine, or
heavenly, element in our garments. We are to manifest God's love and mercy
always. We must try to follow Christ's footsteps. Christ so perfectly imitated
God's character that those who saw him, saw God (John 14:9). God told the
Israelites that they were to be His witnesses to the Gentiles. The same holds
true for us. Blue is a color which should increase in our garments.
The color red
As blue represents God, so red represents man. The word for
man in Hebrew is practically the same as the word for blood and the word for
red. Red is the color of flesh and the color of the blood that flows through it.
Both flesh and blood are reminders of the imperfections of sinful dying nature.
Red is included in our garment or body, as it was in Christ's also:
"Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and
blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver
them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb
2:14,15).
So that Christ would undergo real trials, he had to be
subjected to the temptations and lusts of the flesh. Only by suppressing the
natural self could he remain sinless. We must have the weakness of mortality now
-- so that we may learn to rely only upon God and not upon our own strength. Man
is as a flower of the field that fades away; we must learn that "to God alone be
glory and honor..."
The color purple
Purple is the color of kings. Jesus was mockingly arrayed in a
purple robe -- along with a crown of thorns. However, few realized at the time
the rightness of doing such a thing. Purple is a mixture of the blue of God and
the red of man. It was only by showing a God-like character in the weak body of
a man that Jesus triumphed over sin and opened a way for us to do the same. The
only right to any form of kingship is through submission to God as the only true
ruler. This is what Jesus did, and what we must do. The climax of the process is
foreseen in Rev 5:10: "Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we
shall reign on the earth."
White linen
The white linen is the foundation fabric of the ephod. Its
significance is simply explained in Rev 19:7,8: "And to her [the Bride] was
granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints."
In the end, it will be the only color in the garments of
immortality. It will be a whiteness and a purity, both moral and physical. The
flesh will be totally forsaken and forgotten:
"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as
scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they
shall be as wool" (Isa 1:18).
The girdle
The ephod had a girdle, or a belt (Exo 28:8). The girdle drew
the other garments together and allowed freedom for moving about without
stumbling. In the same way we must gird ourselves spiritually. We must put aside
all things which hamper us and concentrate on the one goal -- attaining to life
everlasting. The girdle shows an active, working righteousness:
"Let your loins be girded about... and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for
their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and
knocketh, they may open unto him immediately" (Luke 12:35,36).
"Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ" (1Pe
1:13).
Stones and names
On the shoulders of the ephod there were two onyx stones with
the names of the TWELVE tribes engraved upon them. Also, on the priest's
breastplate there were another TWELVE stones arranged in four rows (suggesting
the encampment of the twelve tribes around the tabernacle in the wilderness).
Both sets of stones plainly symbolize the tribes of Israel. The fact that Aaron
wore them shows a connection between himself and his countrymen.
All these precious stones were worn by Aaron when he went
inside the temple to offer sacrifice (Exo 28:29,30).
As Aaron sacrificed on behalf of the Jews, so did Jesus offer
himself so that we might be saved: "But Christ being come an high priest of good
things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building; Neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption [for himself as well as for us]" (Heb 9:11,12).
Bells and pomegranates
"Beneath upon the hem of it [the ephod] thou shalt make pomegranates of blue,
and of purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof: and bells of gold
between them round about. A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a
pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. And it shall be upon Aaron to
minister; and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the holy place
before the Lord, and when he cometh out, that he die not" (Exo
28:33-35).
Pomegranates are a beautiful symbol of the righteous.
Pomegranates are a fruit and Jesus has said, "By their fruits ye shall know
them."
What fruits reveal true saints to be what they are? The answer
is... "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance" (Gal 5:22,23).
The pomegranate is full of many seeds. It symbolizes the
multitudinous Christ -- many saints joined together in Christ, their leader.
Each seed, like each saint, is complete in itself; but together they form an
even more perfect whole.
The fruit also points to the inheritance of the saints: the
land of promise is called a "land of pomegranates" (Deu 8:8).
The bells were worn alongside the pomegranates. They made a
pleasing sound and remind us that our words, as well as our works -- or fruits
-- must be righteous. As the priest went about his work, the bells were
constantly heard. In the same way, we are told always to "make a joyful noise
unto the Lord".
The crown
Finally, Aaron was to wear a crown, or miter. Upon this miter
was a golden plate upon which was written "Holiness to Yahweh". In everything,
the priest, as well as the ordinary man, was to remember God's laws;
"And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart; and
thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou
liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon
thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt
write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates" (Deu
6:6-9).
For the present, there are many problems in our world. We may
be ridiculed and feel discouraged because we sometimes fail to maintain our
"holiness to Yahweh". But if we constantly look to the end, we may be uplifted
in thinking of that time when ungodliness will be turned from Jacob, and from
all of the world: "And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all
the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to
worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles... In
that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD;
and the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yes,
every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts"
(Zec 14:16,20,21).
The partial and imperfect of both the Mosaic era and the
present time will be submerged by the completeness of the declaration:
"But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the
Lord" (Num 14:21).
May our "garments" be found acceptable at that time.
