Exodus 39:18

39:1-31 The priests' garments were rich and splendid. The church in its infancy was thus taught by shadows of good things to come; but the substance is Christ, and the grace of the gospel. Christ is our great High Priest. When he undertook the work of our redemption, he put on the clothes of service, he arrayed himself with the gifts and graces of the Spirit, girded himself with resolution to go through the undertaking, took charge of all God's spiritual Israel, laid them near his heart, engraved them on the palms of his hands, and presented them to his Father. And he crowned himself with holiness to the Lord, consecrating his whole undertaking to the honour of his Father's holiness. True believers are spiritual priests. The clean linen with which all their clothes of service must be made, is the righteousness of saints, Re 19:8.

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", &c. "to work in the midst of blue", &c. from whence is learnt that the thread of gold was twisted in the midst of them (y): and it may be further observed, that after the enumeration of the stones in the breastplate, Exodus 39:10 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 w

3. cut the gold into wires to work it—that is, the metal was beaten with a hammer into thin plates, cut with scissors or some other instrument into long slips, then rounded into filaments or threads. "Cloth of golden tissue is not uncommon on the monuments, and specimens of it have been found rolled about mummies; but it is not easy to determine whether the gold thread was originally interwoven or subsequently inserted by the embroiderer" [Taylor].

Preparation of the priests' clothes. - Previous to the description of the dress itself, we have a statement in Exodus 39:1 of the materials employed, and the purpose to which they were devoted ("cloths of service," see at Exodus 31:10 ). The robes consisted of the ephod ( Exodus 39:2-7 , as in Exodus 28:6-12 ), the choshen or breastplate ( Exodus 39:8-21 , as in Exodus 28:15-29 ), the mel or over-coat ( Exodus 39:22-26 , as in Exodus 28:31-34 ); the body-coats, turbans, drawers, and girdles, for Aaron and his sons ( Exodus 39:27-29 , as in Exodus 28:39-40 , and Exodus 28:42 ). The Urim and Thummim are not mentioned (cf. Exodus 28:30 ). The head-dresses of the ordinary priests, which are simply called "bonnets" in Exodus 28:40 , are called "goodly bonnets" or "ornamental caps" in Exodus 39:28 of this chapter (מגבּעת פּארי, from פּאר an ornament, cf. פּאר ornatus fuit).

The singular, "girdle," in Exodus 39:29 , with the definite article, "the girdle," might appear to refer simply to Aaron's girdle, i.e., the girdle of the high priest; but as there is no special description of the girdles of Aaron's sons (the ordinary priests) in Exodus 29:40 , where they are distinctly mentioned and called by the same name (abnet) as the girdle of Aaron himself, we can only conclude that they were of the same materials and the same form and make as the latter, and that the singular, האבנט, is used here either in the most general manner, or as a generic noun in a collective sense (see Ges. 109, 1). The last thing mentioned is the diadem upon Aaron's turban ( Exodus 39:30 , Exodus 39:31 , as in Exodus 28:36-38 ), so that the order in which the priests' robes are given here is analogous to the position in which the ark of the covenant and the golden altar stand to one another in the directions concerning the sacred things in ch. 25-30. "For just as all the other things are there placed between the holy ark and the golden altar as the two poles, so here all the rest of the priests' robes are included between the shoulder-dress, the principal part of the official robes of the high priest, and the golden frontlet, the inscription upon which rendered it the most striking sign of the dignity of his office" (Baumgarten).

Work of the same kind is mentioned also in v. 4, Psalm 45:13 (‘chequer-work of gold (-thread),’ but the text is doubtful); and, of plaited settings of gems (‘rosettes’), vv. 11, 13, 14, 20, Exodus 39:6 ; Exodus 39:13 ; Exodus 39:16 ; Exodus 39:18 †. a turban ] Heb. miẓnépheth , something wound round (the cogn. verb occurs in Isaiah 22:5 ; see RVm.), i.e. what we call not a ‘mitre,’ but a turban. It was of fine white linen ( v. 39); and probably was folded many times round the head: the Talm. says that it contained 16 cubits (= 24 ft.) length of material. Except in Ezekiel 21:26 [Heb. 31], where it denotes the royal turban of the Jewish king (Zedekiah), the word occurs only here and elsewhere in P of the high priest’s turban. See further (esp. with reference to Jos.’s statements) the very full art. Mitre in EB. RVm. silk for shçsh , as in AV. of Proverbs 31:22 . The rend. is not probable: though ‘white silk’ was used for shçsh by Luther. a girdle ] a sash ; Heb. ’abnçṭ , only of the sash worn by the priests, and ( Isaiah 22:21 ) by a high officer of state. It was made (see the next note) of richly coloured material: Jos. ( Ant. iii. 7. 2) adds that it was four fingers broad, wound twice round the body, beginning at the breast, and tied in front in a bow: the ends reached the ankles, but while the priest was officiating, they were thrown over the left shoulder so as not to be in his way ( EB. ii. 1735; see ill. in Braun, de vest. sacerdd . opp. to p. 404).