Chapter Overview
Summary
Exodus 28 details the priestly garments — breastpiece of decision, ephod, robe, tunic, turban, sash, and the gold plate inscribed HOLY TO THE LORD. The Levitical priesthood's uniform is theologically weighty: every garment serves the work of atonement. Hebrews 5–10 develops the Christological priesthood against this Aaronic background. The 'Urim and Thummim' of 28:30, the tribe-stones on shoulders and heart (vv. 9–21), the pomegranates-and-bells hem (vv. 33–35), and the forehead-plate (vv. 36–38) all receive NT-Christological readings.
Notable Variants
The 'glory and splendor' (doxan kai timēn) phrase at 28:2 echoed at Heb 2:7; the 'breastpiece of decision' (logeion tōn kriseōn) at 28:15; the LXX's translation 'Manifestation and Truth' (dēlōsis kai alētheia) for Urim and Thummim at 28:30; the 'HOLY TO THE LORD' plate at 28:36; the bearing-of-guilt at 28:38 that prefigures Servant-and-Christ atonement theology.
Structural Notes
LXX Exodus 28 preserves MT's 43-verse structure.
"Bring your brother Aaron near to you, along with his sons, from among the Israelites, to serve Me as priests — Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.
Aaron and his sons' priestly consecration tracks MT. Hebrews 5:4 ('no one takes this honor for himself, but one who is called by God, just as Aaron was') cites this Aaronic principle.
You shall make sacred garments for your brother Aaron — for glory and for splendor.
Masoretic (WLC)
לְכָבוֹד וּלְתִפְאָרֶת
for glory and for splendor
Septuagint (LXX)
εἰς τιμὴν καὶ δόξαν
for honor and glory
The 'glory and splendor' vocabulary tracks MT. The LXX's doxa kai timē pair ('glory and honor') recurs at Ps 8:5 (Hebrews 2:7 citation 'crowned with glory and honor'), 1 Pet 1:7, 2 Pet 1:17, Rev 4:9, 11.
The priestly-garment 'glory and honor' becomes Christological in Hebrews 2: the Son is 'crowned with glory and honor,' the true high priest whose own glory clothes the priesthood.
Speak to all the skilled artisans whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, and they shall make Aaron's garments to consecrate him to serve Me as priest.
The spirit-of-wisdom-filled artisans track MT. The divine gifting for craft anticipates the Spirit-and-gifts vocabulary of 1 Cor 12.
These are the garments they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a checkered tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make sacred garments for your brother Aaron and his sons to serve Me as priests.
The garment-list tracks MT.
They shall use gold, blue yarn, purple yarn, scarlet yarn, and fine linen.
The materials list tracks MT.
They shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen — the work of a skilled designer.
Ephod construction tracks MT. The ephod is the priestly oracular device (1 Sam 23:9, 30:7).
It shall have two shoulder straps attached at its two edges, joining it together.
Shoulder strap construction tracks MT.
The decorative waistband on it shall be of the same workmanship and materials — gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen.
The waistband construction tracks MT.
Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel.
The two onyx stones engraved with the tribes track MT.
Six of their names on one stone, and the remaining six names on the other stone, in birth order.
Six names on each stone in birth order tracks MT.
With the skill of a gem-cutter, engrave the two stones like seal engravings with the names of the sons of Israel. Mount them in gold filigree settings.
Seal-engraving technique tracks MT.
Set the two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial.
The stones as 'stones of remembrance' (lithoi mnēmosynou) track MT. The priest-bears-Israel motif is Christologically developed at Heb 7:25 ('he always lives to make intercession').
Make gold filigree settings,
Gold filigree settings track MT.
and two chains of pure gold, braided like cords. Attach the braided chains to the settings.
Gold braided chains track MT.
You shall make a breastpiece of decision — skilled designer's work, like the ephod. Make it of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen.
Masoretic (WLC)
חֹשֶׁן מִשְׁפָּט
a breastpiece of decision
Septuagint (LXX)
λογεῖον τῶν κρίσεων
a logeion of judgments
The LXX's logeion (from logos, 'word, rational speech') is striking vocabulary. The Hebrew choshen ('breastpiece, pouch') is rendered with a Greek word meaning 'speaking piece' or 'oracle-cabinet.'
The LXX thus reads the breastpiece as the priest's 'speaking place' — the locus of oracular judgment via the Urim and Thummim (v. 30). Greek readers encountered a logos-weighted cultic-object from which divine speech proceeds.
Philo and some patristic commentators allegorize the logeion into the 'seat of rational speech' that the high priest bears over his heart.
It shall be square and folded double — a span long and a span wide.
Square breastpiece dimensions track MT.
Mount on it a setting of stones — four rows of stones. The first row: a ruby, a topaz, and an emerald.
The twelve-stone four-row arrangement tracks MT. Revelation 21:19–20 lists twelve stones as foundations of the New Jerusalem — drawing partly on LXX Exodus 28's priestly-breastpiece stones.
The second row: a turquoise, a lapis lazuli, and a moonstone.
Second row of stones tracks MT.
The third row: a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst.
Third row of stones tracks MT.
The fourth row: a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be mounted in gold filigree settings.
Fourth row of stones tracks MT.
The stones shall correspond to the names of the sons of Israel — twelve in all, according to their names. Each shall be engraved like a seal with the name of one of the twelve tribes.
The twelve-stones-for-twelve-tribes principle tracks MT. The priest carries the whole people visibly.
For the breastpiece make braided chains of pure gold, corded work.
Gold braided chains for the breastpiece track MT.
Make two gold rings for the breastpiece and attach them to its two upper corners.
Two gold rings on upper corners track MT.
Put the two gold braided chains through the two rings at the corners of the breastpiece.
Chains through rings tracks MT.
Attach the other two ends of the braided chains to the two filigree settings on the front of the ephod's shoulder straps.
Chain ends attached to shoulder-strap settings tracks MT.
Make two more gold rings and place them on the two lower corners of the breastpiece, on its inner edge facing the ephod.
Two more gold rings on lower corners track MT.
Make two more gold rings and attach them to the front of the ephod's two shoulder straps, at the lower part near the seam, just above the ephod's waistband.
Two more gold rings on shoulder-strap fronts track MT.
The breastpiece shall be bound by its rings to the ephod's rings with a blue cord, keeping it above the ephod's waistband so that the breastpiece does not come loose from the ephod.
Blue-cord binding of breastpiece-rings to ephod-rings tracks MT.
Aaron shall carry the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of decision over his heart when he enters the holy place — as a perpetual memorial before the LORD.
Aaron carrying Israel's names 'over his heart' as a 'perpetual memorial' tracks MT. The 'names over the heart' motif is the imagistic anticipation of Christ's high-priestly intercession.
Place into the breastpiece of decision the Urim and the Thummim. They shall be over Aaron's heart when he comes before the LORD, and Aaron shall carry the judgment of the Israelites over his heart before the LORD at all times.
Masoretic (WLC)
אֶת־הָאוּרִים וְאֶת־הַתֻּמִּים
the Urim and the Thummim
Septuagint (LXX)
τὴν δήλωσιν καὶ τὴν ἀλήθειαν
the Manifestation and the Truth
The LXX translates rather than transliterates: Urim ('lights') becomes dēlōsis ('manifestation, making clear') and Thummim ('perfections, completions') becomes alētheia ('truth').
The LXX's alētheia is one of the central NT words. 'Truth' as a priestly-oracular category becomes John's signature vocabulary (John 1:14 'full of grace and truth,' 1:17 'grace and truth came through Jesus Christ,' 14:6 'I am the way, the truth, and the life,' 18:37 'I have come into the world to testify to the truth').
The Christological reading: Christ IS the dēlōsis kai alētheia — the true High Priest's own truthful manifestation of God, carried forever over the heart of the church.
Make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue yarn.
The all-blue robe of the ephod tracks MT.
It shall have an opening for the head in the center, with a woven binding around the opening — like the collar of a coat of mail — so that it does not tear.
The woven non-tearing neck-opening tracks MT. John 19:23's detail of Jesus' 'tunic seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom' may deliberately echo this priestly-robe imagery — Jesus as the ultimate high priest.
On its hem make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn all around the hem, with gold bells between them all around —
Pomegranates and bells on the hem track MT.
a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe.
The alternating-pattern tracks MT.
Aaron shall wear it when he serves, so that its sound is heard when he enters the holy place before the LORD and when he comes out — so that he does not die.
The sound of the bells as Aaron enters/exits the holy place ('so that he does not die') tracks MT. The priestly survival depends on ritual-audible presence — a mini-sacrament of life before God.
Make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like a seal engraving: HOLY TO THE LORD.
Masoretic (WLC)
קֹדֶשׁ לַיהוָה
HOLY TO THE LORD
Septuagint (LXX)
Ἁγίασμα κυρίου
Holiness to the Lord
The gold forehead-plate inscription — qodesh la-YHWH in Hebrew, hagiasma kyriou in LXX — is the priest's visible declaration of sanctification.
Revelation 22:4 ('his name shall be on their foreheads') and 14:1 ('144,000 with his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads') deliberately echo this priestly-forehead-inscription motif. The Christian eschatological seal is the fulfillment of the Aaronic plate.
The 'name on the forehead' as priestly identification becomes in Revelation the sign of belonging to the Lamb — a universal priesthood (Rev 1:6, 5:10, 20:6).
Fasten it to a blue cord so it stays on the turban — on the front of the turban it shall be.
The blue-cord attachment to the turban tracks MT.
It shall be on Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear the guilt connected with the sacred offerings that the Israelites consecrate as their holy gifts. It shall always be on his forehead, so that they may be accepted before the LORD.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְנָשָׂא אַהֲרֹן אֶת־עֲוֺן הַקֳּדָשִׁים
Aaron shall bear the guilt connected with the sacred offerings
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ἐξαρεῖ Ααρων τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τῶν ἁγίων
Aaron shall take away the sins of the saints/holy gifts
The LXX's exairei ('take away, remove, lift up') renders Hebrew nasa ('bear, carry'). The verb is ambiguous between bearing-the-weight and removing-the-weight.
John 1:29 ('the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,' ho airōn tēn hamartian tou kosmou) uses the related verb airō. The sin-removing priestly function of Aaron becomes Christologically consummated in the Lamb.
Isaiah 53:11–12 ('my servant shall bear the iniquities of many … he bore the sins of many') deploys the same bear-take-away ambiguity in its Servant Song — the Servant who both bears and removes sin.
Weave the tunic in a checkered pattern of fine linen. Make the turban of fine linen and the sash with embroidered work.
The checkered-fine-linen tunic, turban, and embroidered sash track MT.
For Aaron's sons make tunics, sashes, and caps — for glory and for splendor.
Aaron's sons' simpler garments — again 'for glory and for splendor' — track MT.
Clothe your brother Aaron and his sons in these garments. Anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them, so they may serve Me as priests.
The three-part consecration (clothe, anoint, ordain) tracks MT. The Greek verb teleioō ('perfect, consecrate, complete') is the same verb used of Christ's perfection in Hebrews (Heb 2:10, 5:9, 7:28).
Make linen undergarments for them to cover their bare flesh, reaching from the waist to the thighs.
Linen undergarments for priestly modesty track MT.
They shall be on Aaron and his sons when they enter the tent of meeting or approach the altar to serve in the holy place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. This is a permanent statute for him and his descendants after him."
The 'permanent statute' closure tracks MT. The permanent-statute vocabulary (nomimon aiōnion) is what Hebrews contrasts with the new-covenant obsolescence of the Aaronic priesthood (Heb 7:18).