خروج ٢٨:٤٠

The official dress of the sons of Aaron, i.e., of the ordinary priests, was to consist of just the same articles as Aaron's priestly costume (Exo 28:39). But their body-coat is called weavers' work in Exo 39:27, and was therefore quite a plain cloth, of white byssus or cotton yarn, though it was whole throughout, ἀῤῥαφος without seam, like the robe of Christ (Joh 19:23). It was worn close to the body, and, according to Jewish tradition, reached down to the ankles (cf. Josephus, iii. 7, 2). The head-dress of an ordinary priest is called מגבּעה, related to גּביע a basin or cup, and therefore seems to have been in the form of an inverted cup, and to have been a plain white cotton cap. The girdle, according to Exo 39:29, was of the same material and work for Aaron and his sons. This dress was to be for glory and for beauty to the priests, just as Aaron's dress was to him (Exo 28:2). The glory consisted in the brilliant white colour, the symbol of holiness; whilst the girdle, which an oriental man puts on when preparing for the duties of an office, contained in the four colours of the sanctuary the indication that they were the officers of Jehovah in His earthly kingdom. Exo 28:41 But since the clothing prescribed was an official dress, Moses was to put it upon Aaron and his sons, to anoint them and fill their hands, i.e., to invest them with the requisite sacrificial gifts (see at Lev 7:37), and so to sanctify them that they should be priests of Jehovah. For although the holiness of their office was reflected in their dress, it was necessary, on account of the sinfulness of their nature, that they should be sanctified through a special consecration for the administration of their office; and this consecration is prescribed in ch. 29 and carried out in Lev 8. Exo 28:42-43…

We have here, 1. Particular orders about the vestments of the inferior priests. They were to have coats, and girdles, and bonnets, of the same materials with those of the high priest; but there was a difference in shape between their bonnets and his mitre. Theirs, as his, were to be for glory and beauty (Exo 28:40), that they might look great in their ministration: yet all this glory was nothing compared with the glory of grace, this beauty nothing to the beauty of holiness, of which these holy garments were typical. They are particularly ordered, in their ministration, to wear linen breeches, Exo 28:42. This teaches us modesty and decency of garb and gesture at all times, especially in public worship, in which a veil is becoming, Co1 11:5, Co1 11:6, Co1 11:10. It also intimates what need our souls have of a covering, when we come before God, that the shame of their nakedness may not appear. 2. A general rule concerning the garments both of the high priest and of the inferior priests, that they were to be put upon them, at first, when they were consecrated, in token of their being invested in the office (Exo 28:41), and then they were to wear them in all their ministrations, but not at other times (Exo 28:43), and this at their peril, lest they bear iniquity and die. Those who are guilty of omissions in duty, as well as omissions of duty, shall bear their iniquity. If the priests perform the instituted service, and do not do it in the appointed garments, it is (say the Jewish doctors) as if a stranger did it, and the stranger that comes nigh shall be put to death. Nor will God connive at the presumptions and irreverences even of those whom he causes to draw most near to him; if Aaron himself put a slight upon the divine institution, he shall bear iniquity, and die. To u…