Exodus 28:1

CHAPTER XXVIII

Aaron and his sons are set apart for the priest's office, 1.

Garments to be provided for them, 2, 3.

What these garments were, 4,

and of what made, 5.

The ephod, its shoulder-pieces, and girdle, 6-8.

The two onyx stones, on which the names of the twelve tribes

were to be engraven, 9-14.

The breastplate of judgment; its twelve precious stones,

engraving, rings, chains, and its use, 15-29.

The Urim and Thummim, 30.

The robe of the ephod, its border, bells, pomegranates, c.,

and their use, 31-35.

The plate of pure gold and its motto, 36,

to be placed on Aaron's mitre, 37, 38.

The embroidered coat for Aaron, 39.

Coats, girdles, and bonnets, 40.

Aaron and his sons to be anointed for the priest's office, 41.

Other articles of clothing and their use, 42, 43.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXVIII

Verse Exodus 28:1. Aaron - and his sons] The priesthood was to be restrained to this family because the public worship was to be confined to one place and previously to this the eldest in every family officiated as priest, there being no settled place of worship. It has been very properly observed that, if Moses had not acted by the Divine appointment, he would not have passed by his own family, which continued in the condition of ordinary Levites, and established the priesthood, the only dignity in the nation, in the family of his brother Aaron. "The priests, however, had no power of a secular nature, nor does it appear from history that they ever arrived at any till the time of the Asmoneans or Maccabees." Exodus 19:22.