Temple Clothing - Exodus 28

One thing that I have absolutely just loved about these last few chapters has been being able to link the ancient gospel as established among the Hebrews to the gospel that we have today and this chapter is one of the best that for in that way that I have come across. Chapter 28 deals with the temple clothing that Aaron and his descendants were to wear while officiating in the temple. TB notes that one reason why specific temple clothes might have been required was because “many of the pagan religions of that day had their priests serve their gods naked or they wore something very sensual and erotic.” That makes sense, that there would be a sexual component to a lot of religious expressions, and this would make it VERY not sexy. Here and Here are a couple of really good links to describe the temple clothes in better detail.

TB speaks on the clothing from the inside out, which is what I’ll do because it makes sense and it’s easier for me to follow him that way:

- Breeches – this is like long underwear that went from the waist to the knees. It was made of white linen and might have been used to create a sense of modesty. I would imagine that there was also the purpose of providing some protection to the “private area” from the abrasive materials that were on the other parts of the uniform. Additionally, the breeches were protective of the other clothing from, as TB puts it “conditions of the flesh, normal of abnormal.” Temple worship for these men was quite messy, hot, and sweaty so best keep the other, more intricate clothing clean from that sort of stuff.

- Tunic – TB suggests that the common biblical translation of “coat” is misleading and this is more of a white linen, tight fitting, long sleeved tunic that they wore over the breeches but under the other stuff.

- Blue robe – seamless. This is a blue robe that covered the tunic, but not totally, it was just kind of a superficial covering. Interestingly, it was required to have 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 an pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.” I did not understand what this was talking about until I saw a picture and then it made sense, I’m attaching a picture here. Second, I thought that it was really cute that the Lord was like “I want pomegranates and bells on the hem, alternating, like pomegranate, bell, pomegranate, bell.” I just thought it was cute.

- Ephod – there are two things called the Ephod here and they are both distinct, the referenced here is the two sided garment with one side covering the chest and one side covering the back. TB explains, “it was embroidered with blue, purple, and red linen yarns. The front and the back were separate pieces, which were held together by a braided strap that lay over the shoulders.” There were also to be two onyx stones fastened to each of the golden braided strap, each containing six of the names of the tribes of Israel so the priest would be symbolically shouldering the weight of all the tribes of Israel. Additionally there was a sash or “girdle” tied in the front of the of the priest, on top of ephod.

- Breastplate – the breastplate is actually attached to the ephod, I’m not exactly sure how but it is. It is also called the breastplate of justice or judgment. The breastplate was to have twelve different stones adhered to the front of it to represent the twelve individual tribes of Israel TB notes that the Hebrew word used is “mishpat” or more accurately translated as “breastplate of God’s will” which is interesting because of there was to be a little pouch with two stones placed directly over Aaron’s heart which was called… the Urim and the Thummim and that will be discussed tomorrow.

- Head plate – this is described as a “plate of pure gold” upon which was engraved with “Holiness of the Lord,” which is fascinating. On top of that was “a blue lace mitre” which has a footnote to mean “turban or cap.”

This was the temple clothing that Aaron and his fellow officiators were to wear while working in the temple and it’s fascinating to me the similarities between the ancient Hebrew temple worship and clothing as described in these chapters and what we currently wear and do in our temples today. It really helps bring home to me that this is an eternal work that God is doing and has been the plan the whole time.