Gods Priesthood Exodus 28

The Priestly Garments and the High Priest’s Role in Exodus 28

Please turn with me to Exodus, Chapter 28. Exodus, Chapter 28. Now take Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me as priest, Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadav, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

And you shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, for glory and for beauty. So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, and he may minister to me as priest.

And these are the garments which they shall make, a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron, your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me as priest.

They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen artistically worked. It shall have two shoulder straps joined at its two edges, and so it shall be joined together.

And the intricately woven band of the ephod which is on it shall be of the same workmanship, made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen. Then you shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on the stone, and six names on the other stone, in order of their birth.

With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold, and you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel.

So Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial. You shall also make settings of gold, and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings.

You shall make the breastplate of judgment artistically woven, according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen you shall make it.

It shall be doubled into a square. A span shall be its length, and a span shall be its width. And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones. The first row shall be sardius, a topaz, and an emerald.

This shall be the first row. The second row shall be turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond. The third row, a jacinth, agate, and the amethyst. And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold settings.

And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each with its own name. They shall be according to the twelve tribes. You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure gold.

And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate.

And the other two ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front. You shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate on the edge of it, which is on the inner side of the ifad.

And the two other rings of gold you shall make and put them on the two shoulder straps underneath the ifad toward its front, right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ifad. They shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ifad using a blue cord so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ifad so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ifad.

So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart when he goes into the holy place as a memorial before the Lord continually. And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the urim and the tumim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord.

So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually. You shall make the robe of the ifad all of blue. There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it.

It shall have a woven binding all around its opening like the opening of a coat of mail so that it does not tear. And upon its hem, you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet all around its hem and the bells of gold between them all around.

A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate upon the hem of the robe all around. And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when it comes out that he may not die.

You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it like the engraving of a signet, holy to the Lord, holiness to the Lord. And you shall put it on a blue cord, and it may be on the turban. It shall be on the front of the turban.

So it shall be on Aaron's forehead that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts, and it shall always be on his forehead, and they may be accepted before the Lord.

You shall skillfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread, and you shall make the turban of the fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work. For Aaron's sons, you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them, and you shall make hats for them for glory and beauty.

So you shall put them on Aaron, your brother, and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me as priests. And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness.

They shall reach from the waist to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die.

It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we are so thankful that you, who are the holy, holy, holy God, can be approached through an intermediary.

And Father, we're even more thankful that the intermediary is not just any ordinary human being, but your very son, Jesus Christ. And through him, that we can approach you in ways that no other Old Testament saints have been able to before.

Thank you for this text. Thank you for the privilege we have in Christ to draw near to you at any time, not by our own righteousness, but by his alone. In Jesus' name, amen. Today's text covers the garments for the priests.

The majority of the chapter, however, covers the garment for the high priest. Only at verse 40 do we start getting the specific garments for the regular priests. And this is important to us, not because we ought to be appreciative of good fashion, although these are magnificent and marvelous garments, but this is important to us because this is how God chooses who approaches him as a representative of his people.

And this is important because we live in a culture where we assume that it's a God-given right to approach God in any way we want, however we want, through whatever means we want. But even since the Old Covenant, and also true in the New Covenant, how we approach God has been through an intermediary of his choice.

And sure, it is different how we approach God as New Covenant people. We are way more privileged under the New Covenant to approach God the Father, approach the throne room, without having to be a priest.

But rather, by the utmost high priest, Jesus Christ, by his work on the cross, by his perfect sacrifice, we can approach God the Father any way we want through his name, through Christ's name, right? We don't have to go to a specific temple.

We don't have to be wearing a certain garment. But we look at this text to learn the principles of what the God's representative did in order to serve as his representative. How does God's representative serve the Lord?

And this is really important to us this morning because the principles that are set here will be ultimately fulfilled by Jesus Christ, the high priest. As Jim read to us this morning, God fulfills the high priestly role.

God the Son, Jesus, fulfills that role so that his people may have even greater access to God the Father than ever before. And that indeed is the biggest privilege we have as the church. This is what the Old Testament saints only looked from a distance.

Just one man out of the whole nation got to approach God only on certain days after a specific sacrifice, lest he die if he do it the wrong way. But for God's new covenant people, the perfect sacrifice and the perfect high priest has fulfilled his role.

And we get to approach God because he has fulfilled it perfectly. So how does God's representative serve the Lord? First, God's representative mediates between God and his people. God's representative mediates between God and his people.

After dealing with the tabernacle, the tent, and returning back to the lampstand, which only the priest could serve, God tells Moses whom his attendance will be. Now, take Aaron, your brother, and his sons with him, and from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me as priest.

Aaron and Aaron's sons, Nadab, Abihu, Eliezer, and Ithamar. These are the four sons of Aaron. Under the old covenant, the priesthood was based upon one's family. It was hereditary, it was biological. Verses two to four summarize the whole chapter.

Verse two states the purpose of this chapter. The priestly garments are for glory and for beauty, right? They can't just wear whatever they want. And verse three emphasizes the importance of the skillful artistry.

So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister to me as priest. And verse four shares the priestly artifact of this chapter.

And the priestly artifact looked something like this. Now, it's hard to know exactly what every piece looked like with the 100 accuracy, just like all the artifacts we've gone over. But this is a very helpful diagram because most of us, when we think of priests, we're thinking of Catholic priests who wear all black with a white thing poking out here.

And that was not the beauty and glory of the Old Testament priest. Now, verses five to 14 start with the most important priestly garment piece, which is the ephod. This was a garment consisted of four parts.

The main body, right, that's the ephod. The main body, two shoulder straps, and also the decorated band, which it's hard to see. And it is unclear how much the ephod covered the high priest. Some argue both upper and lower body.

Some argue just the lower body. Some argue just the upper body. It's hard to know because it's not, we don't get the exact dimensions for the ephod, right? Verses five to six start with the precious materials used.

They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread and fine woven linen, artistically worked. The fabrics used here are the most precious colors.

And actually, these fabrics resemble the entrance to the tabernacle and even the most holy place, minus the cherubim. The colors denote how expensive and exquisite the ephod had to be. There's no bronze here.

It's only gold, blue, purple, and scarlet. And just as a reminder, blue and purple threads were very expensive because it required a lot of marine snails, thousands of them, just to dye one robe blue.

That was a lot of manpower. At this point, it is important to note the mixture of the fabrics used in the priestly garments. It is a combination of both linen and wool. The threads, the colorful threads would have been made out of wool.

This is curious because in Leviticus 19 .19, God forbids Israel from wearing clothes woven of two different kinds of materials. Yet, here, the high priest will be specifically wearing that, two different kinds of material woven together.

And unfortunately, a lot of people who misunderstand scripture take that verse out of context, right, to show that, well, see, the Bible doesn't make sense, right? You don't follow the whole law. You're wearing cotton and polyester.

How come you're telling me what to do with my life, right? People often take Leviticus 19 .19 to proof text that they don't have to listen to scripture, ironically. However, this chapter explains why normal Israelites must not be mixing fabrics together.

Under the Mosaic Covenant, the high priest was so set apart that any attempt to imitate even his clothing was forbidden, right? The clothing was the means by which the high priest was set apart, even among Israelites.

But not only that, even the other priests, what he wore was unique. There was only one like that. Mixed clothing, therefore, was not forbidden for a moral reason, such as why homosexuality and adultery would be forbidden.

It was forbidden because of the cultic reason. No lay person, no common person may try to imitate to become the holy priest of the Lord. Only God himself had the authority to choose and anoint the high priest.

That was his prerogative, not ours. Therefore, common people could not mix fabrics together to replicate that, copy that. And for those of us who are wearing a combination of cotton and polyester, we can take a deep breath.

Verses seven to eight detail the shoulder straps of the same design of the ephod, right? The shoulder straps that holds the ephod onto the priest is of the same design of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread.

And then verses nine to 14 focus on the stones that will be placed on the ephod shoulder strap. It's hard to see it because they're small stones. Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel.

Six on one stone and six on the other. And it's in the order of their birth. And with the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of the signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel.

You shall set them in the settings of gold, right? The background is that of gold, it's precious. And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel.

So Aaron will bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders as a memorial. You shall also make a settings of gold and you shall make two chains of pure gold like the braided cords to fasten to the braided chains of the settings.

Here we have a lot of precious metals being used. Back again, remember right before this chapter it was the bronze, but now we're coming back to the gold. And that's because the high priest's garment was that precious and important.

After all, he was the only person of all Israel who would stand before the presence of the Lord. That person had the closest access to the Lord himself. And because of that, what he wore reflected that precious privileged status.

And what's important is as the high priest would wear this ephod, he would play an intermediary role between God and his people. Whenever he wore the ephod, he was to remember that he is representing God's people before God.

He stood before God in place of God's people. He was the representative. And this is an important development in God's redemptive history because the holy God could not be just approached whenever a person wanted.

Even before the priests were ordained, God appeared whenever he wanted, wherever he wanted, however he wanted. Because God is not a fake idol. He does what he wants in appearing before his people. But at this point, God will set up a principle, set up a structure in which there would be a way, although very limited, a way in which God's people would interact with the Lord through a person, through the high priest.

And this is important because in the new covenant, as God's promises intensify and the principles and sections of the Old Testament are intensified, escalated, we do get a high priest. But it's not like any other high priest before.

This one does not sin. This one does not have to make a sacrifice for his own sin. And this one does not die. Remember, Israelites, their history depended on the high priest's reign. Well, from one high priest to the next high priest.

But even the very, very best high priest, they ended up dying. But Jesus, the high priest, his rule never ends. And for Christians, it is through this high priest we have direct access to God. God himself becomes the high priest for his people.

And this is a tremendous privilege that no other Old Testament saints got to experience. You can approach God as a male who is not of Aaron's descent. You can approach God as a female. You can approach God without being Jewish.

You can approach God even if you're disabled. All of those things were not allowed because only the high priest directly approached God and only through a limited means and limited ways. But for Christians, we approach God in a manner and way that is so much deeper than any high priest have experienced, only through the true and greatest high priest, Jesus Christ, because he died for our sin.

He cleansed us to the uttermost so that we can approach the holy God at any time through faith. And that is the biggest privilege we share today among us, greater than any privilege that any of the past high priests have experienced.

The Breastplate of Judgment and the Urim and Thummim

Second, God's representative reveals God's will to his people. God's representative reveals God's will to his people. If the high priest was the only person who could directly enter the most holy place to stand before God's presence, then the high priest, logically, would be the only person who would understand and hear God's will better than anyone else.

And the piece of clothing that we're talking about today is the breastplate, breastplate of judgment. I think NIV translations is more accurate here because when we think about judgment, we're thinking about punishment.

But there's another meaning to judgment, especially in English, too. It doesn't have to have a connotation of punishment, but rather judgment in terms of discernment, making a judgment of right and wrong, this or that.

So the NIV actually calls it the breastplate of decision. And I think that's helpful because some people might think of it as a breastplate of judgment, as if the breastplate's getting judged, right? And in this context, the function of the breastplate is to discern and to decide what the wise decision it would be for God's people, making decisions to walk according to God's will.

And verse 15 shares that the design of the breastplate will be similar to that of the ephod, artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it, of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, of fine woven linen you shall make it.

The high priest will wear clothes that resemble the entrance of God's tabernacle because he will serve as a direct representative of God to his people, right? In one sense, he is the human curtain between the divine and his people.

His people have to go through him in order to find out what God has to say to them. Verse 16 tells us the dimensions of the breastplate. It shall be doubled into a square. A span shall be its length. Right there, it's a square.

So what it means is the breastplate originally would have been folded into a square, and a span is an ancient measurement of 18 inches, I mean, 18 inches. So when it's folded, before it's folded, it would have been 18 by 36, but because it is folded into a square, it would be 18 by 18.

And this square piece was the centerpiece of the high priest's body. It would cover his heart. And verses 17 to 20 describe the content of the breastplate. On this breastplate, there were four rows of precious gems.

The first row, a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald. Second, a turquoise sapphire diamond. A third row, a jacint, an agate, and amethyst. And the fourth row, a beryl, onyx, and jasper. And they shall be set in gold settings.

Their background is gold. It's a beautifully worked out piece, right? And what is the purpose of these precious gems on the breastplate? Verse 21 reveals the important function here. And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, 12 according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name.

They shall be according to the 12 tribes. These gemstones, 12 of them, showed how precious each tribe of Israel was to God, right? The creator, to the creator and the owner of all the wealth possible in the world, his people were the gemstones in his treasure chest.

This has been and still is God's heart, God's disposition toward his people. You are precious to him as the gemstones on the golden background. And how much more so when Christ had died for you, his precious son, one and only.

Now, how will this breastplate be secured on the chest of the high priest? Verses 22 through 28 explain how it will be secured. After all, you do not want it to fall out, fall down, right? And I will attempt to summarize these verses.

The breastplate will connect to the top part of the body, right, the breastplate will connect to the top part of the body. Very hard to see because they're connected through cords. There will be rings at the two ends and there will be golden rings, not just bronze rings.

And they'll be connected to cords of pure gold. Again, we see the language of pure gold back again. Last time we saw that was in the most high place. Pure gold, the extra fine gold that has gone through multiple steps of purification so that there are no impurities there, very precious.

And these cords will connect to the shoulder straps of the ephod right here. It's really hard to see it. And when connecting to the bottom half, the breastplate also will have rings of pure gold. And instead of the golden cords, the cords will be blue.

And remember, blue was still precious. Blue was one of the more precious fabrics. And these cords will connect to the rings of the ephod, which would be somewhere here. And all of this would be done to keep the breastplate in place.

It was that important. And verses 29 to 30 share the significance and the function of the breastplate. So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart.

When he goes into the holy place as a memorial before the Lord continually, and you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before the Lord.

So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the Lord continually. First, the high priest represents God to his people, and God's people to God. So these gemstones were very important.

It showed that whenever the high priest approached the Lord, in a sense, his people, all of his people were there through the high priest. The second function is that the breastplate of decision reveals God's will to his people.

Inside the breastplate were these mysterious tools called the Urim and the Thummim. A lot of ink has been spilled to find out what they are, how many there are even. Some say there are two, one Urim, the other Thummim.

Some say there are multiple. Some say there are rocks. Some say it's not. However, also the meaning of the names are debated too. Light and darkness, light and complete, instruction and truth. Those are some of the various meanings that different translators of the Bible have come up with.

And it's hard to know, other than that they both have one thing in common, it reveals God's will. Light is that of revelation and enlightenment. We don't know how they're used because their instructions aren't told to us and we don't have the high priest, earthly high priest anymore.

But what they would do is that people would come to the high priest and would ask questions to inquire of God's will. And the high priest would use the Urim and Thummim to find out what God has to say about that.

After all, this is important for God's people, they need to be walking according to God's will. And remember to go against the Holy God was foolish. It was dangerous. People died by going against the Holy God.

Now, for us today, we don't have Urim and Thummim and we do not want Urim and Thummim. And there are two reasons. First, according to Hebrews one, one through three, the author tells us that in the past, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways.

One can imagine Urim and Thummim there too. But in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the universe. The son is the radius of God's glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.

After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. After Christ came, the true high priest, the greatest high priest, the need for relying on the earthly high priest disappeared.

That also means the need for Urim and Thummim disappeared. Because God revealed his will through his son. Now we look to his son, what he has to say, how he lived, and what he's accomplished. Second, the need is still there, however, to find out what God wants us to do with our lives when they're not specifically stated in the Bible.

How do we find out? Well, we determine his will through the Holy Spirit and scripture that he's given us. First Corinthians 2, 10 through 12 says, but God has revealed them to us through his spirit. For the spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.

For Christians, we rely on the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who uses his scripture, because that's his word, to guide us into making wise decisions. We don't rely on urim and thumim or casting lots. That was under the old covenant.

We have a personal God inside us who guides us. And for those of you who have lived long enough, you might be attuned to the spirit's leading even more. When you're exposed to sinful materials, involuntarily, there's this stirring of the heart that says, I gotta get out of here, right?

When you hear false teaching, even though you don't know why exactly it might be false, there's this sense of, that doesn't sound right with scripture, right? Leaves a bad taste in your mouth after. And that's the work of the Holy Spirit.

He convicts us of sin and he guides us through scripture on how we ought to live. And this is way more personal than approaching the high priest, right? One nation had one high priest to approach to ask, well, what does God want us to do?

What does God want us to do as a nation? Right, ask him. And now each of you has the Holy Spirit of God who guides you through his word. There is no single person who has more revelation from God. You all equally have the same access to the Holy Spirit who can reveal to you his truth.

And this ought to be really comforting. You don't have to depend on me to know what God has to say about the Bible, about life, about all these issues. I'm not your high priest. You have a direct access to God himself.

You depend on him. And that personal relationship was not even in the minds of the Old Testament saints. But we get to enjoy that. And God can teach you, God can tell you directly through his spirit how you ought to live by using his word.

This also means the Holy Spirit will never tell you anything that goes against scripture because God does not contradict himself. Anyone who claims to be speaking because the Holy Spirit told him something and it does not say in the Bible, they have to be really careful.

The Robe, the Bells, and Direct Access to God

That is a dangerous place to be, to misrepresent God that way. Third, God's representative properly serves before God's presence. God's representative properly serves before God's presence. Unlike the ephod, the robe underneath, according to verse 31, is of a solid color.

This is the robe underneath. It's blue. And remember, the color blue was very difficult to make, so that robe was very difficult to make. Hence, this was a very precious robe. Verses 32 through 34 explain the features of this robe.

First, verse 32 detail the opening for the head. It's hard to see, but it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening of the coat of mail so that it does not tear. So here, we might see this.

There's a woven artistry work because, as you know, if there's only one garment for one priest and it's supposed to be used over and over again, and you take it off and put it on, take it off, put it on, the same clothes over and over again, you wash it, it starts to wear and tear.

So God wisely commands that it needs to be protected, almost like a coat of mail, so that it won't just tear. And from the top of the robe, we go to the down, the bottom of it. You see these little trinkets here.

And upon its hem, you shall make pomegranate of blue, purple, and scarlet all around its hem and the bells of gold between them all around. A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate.

It was supposed to be alternating. And I have a picture of this. Of course, this is not the exact replica, right? It's not the exact picture, but this is what it would have looked like for the pomegranates and the bell alternating.

And the hem design actually reflects the ephod again, right? There's that theme of going back to the tabernacle, reflecting the design of the tabernacle's entrance. And we don't have much to say about the pomegranates other than it was one of the main fruits promised by God in Deuteronomy 8 in the promised land.

That fruitful land will be producing pomegranates too. But other than that, it's hard to find what the symbolic meaning is. And if God doesn't tell us, then we really don't need to know. The bells, however, had a few important functions for the high priest.

First, it was a cordial convention before approaching God's presence, right? The high priest was the only person who approached God's presence directly through the most high holy place. And because the Lord dwelt among his people as their king, his highest servant had to let the Lord know before entering his room, right?

It would have been unimaginable just barging into the most holy place, not because God didn't know who was coming, but it was that symbolic gesture. Before approaching a king, you better let him know, right?

Before we approach any of our elected officials, we have to let them know way in advance if we even get an audience. So the bells would cordially and symbolically make known to the king that his servant is entering.

Second, after the high priest enters the most holy place, it would be impossible for the other priest to know what's happening because only one person out of the whole nation would be able to enter that room, the most holy place.

And the ringing of the bells would allow the other priest to know that the high priest is still serving in there. He's okay, he did not die. He did not end up dead, struck, right, for his sin. Now, human high priests needed to continually make sacrifices for their sins, and their bells had to be continually ringing before entering the human replica of heaven, right?

But unlike the Levitical high priest, the greatest high priest, Jesus, after entering the most holy place, through his precious blood, he actually allows his people to approach his father freely. Under the old covenant, only the high priest entered the most holy place.

Under the new covenant, Jesus, the high priest, makes a way for every believer to serve before the presence of God. And this is important because many churches or denominations falsely assume that the pastors replace the priesthood, the priestly class.

And for some reason, the pastors have greater access to God. They almost lift up the pastors into a place that is not there. The New Testament is crystal clear that after the greatest high priest, Jesus, made a way for you to approach God the Father through his blood, you all can approach God without a human intermediary.

It is only through Jesus. That means you don't need to pray to saints hoping that Jesus might listen to you. Go to Jesus yourself. You don't need to persuade Mary as if Mary, the mother of Jesus, has a sway, more sway over Jesus than your prayer.

You have direct access to God. All the bells, the pomegranates, that's not required for you to wear anymore. You can go to God. And any false religions that try to put men or women in between you and God are going backwards in the redemptive history.

Holiness to the Lord and the Priesthood of All Believers

It's wrong, it's heretical, to place other people in between the flock and God. Fourth, God's representative is holy to the Lord. God's representative is holy to the Lord. The rest of this chapter is composed of various clothing articles that set the priests apart from Israel.

First, verse 36 to 38 detail the high priest's golden plate with the inscription, holiness to the Lord. That's in Hebrew, holiness to the Lord, Yahweh. And it would be a golden plate with that inscription.

And the purpose of that is when Israel would improperly sacrifice to the Lord, the high priest as the holy representative for the people would be responsible for God's people's iniquity. After all, it was crucial that God would set apart a person who can specifically take responsibility for the sin of the people.

And this, of course, gets escalated when God sends his person, his son, to take responsibility for the sin of his people. Verse 39 detail the final clothing pieces for the high priest. You shall skillfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread and you shall make the turban of fine linen and you shall make the sash of woven work.