[Exodus 39] Putting on Christ. In this chapter, we read of the priestly garments prepared for Aaron and his sons to serve in the priesthood. They speak of our service before the Lord as kings and priests unto Him. We wear the ephod of His righteousness to enter His presence for ourselves and others just as Aaron and his sons did when they served at the Tabernacle of Moses.
[Exo 39:1-43 KJV] 1 And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy [place], and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses. 2 And he made the ephod [of] gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 3 And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut [it into] wires, to work [it] in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, [with] cunning work. 4 They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple [it] together: by the two edges was it coupled together. 5 And the curious girdle of his ephod, that [was] upon it, [was] of the same, according to the work thereof; [of] gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD commanded Moses. 6 And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel. 7 And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, [that they should be] stones for a memorial to the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses. 8 And he made the breastplate [of] cunning work, like the work of the ephod; [of] gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. 9 It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span [was] the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, [being] doubled. 10 And they set in it four rows of stones: [the first] row [was] a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this [was] the first row. 11 And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. 12 And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. 13 And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: [they were] inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings. 14 And the stones [were] according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, [like] the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes. 15 And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, [of] wreathen work [of] pure gold. 16 And they made two ouches [of] gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate. 17 And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate. 18 And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it. 19 And they made two rings of gold, and put [them] on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which [was] on the side of the ephod inward. 20 And they made two [other] golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the [other] coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. 21 And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses. 22 And he made the robe of the ephod [of] woven work, all [of] blue. 23 And [there was] an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, [with] a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. 24 And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates [of] blue, and purple, and scarlet, [and] twined [linen]. 25 And they made bells [of] pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates; 26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister [in]; as the LORD commanded Moses. 27 And they made coats [of] fine linen [of] woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, 28 And a mitre [of] fine linen, and goodly bonnets [of] fine linen, and linen breeches [of] fine twined linen, 29 And a girdle [of] fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, [of] needlework; as the LORD commanded Moses. 30 And they made the plate of the holy crown [of] pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, [like to] the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. 31 And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten [it] on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses. 32 Thus was all the work of the Tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they. 33 And they brought the Tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets, 34 And the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers’ skins, and the vail of the covering, 35 The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat, 36 The table, [and] all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread, 37 The pure candlestick, [with] the lamps thereof, [even with] the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light, 38 And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door, 39 The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot, 40 The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the Tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation, 41 The cloths of service to do service in the holy [place], and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office. 42 According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work. 43 And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.
Exodus 39 continues to itemize the material list for Moses’ Tabernacle and the artifacts contained therein (vs. 1-5). The cloth used in this ceremonial tent was of four colors: Blue, Scarlet, Purple, and White. Remember, all of these things speak to us, something of who Jesus is in our lives. Just a few scriptures to proof-text the idea that God speaks to us by metaphor, type, shadow, and allegory in the Old Testament:
[1Co 10:11 KJV] 11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
[Col 2:17 KJV] 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body [is] of Christ.
[Heb 8:5 KJV] 5 Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the Tabernacle: for, See, saith he, [that] thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.
Thus all of these things we read of the construction of the Tabernacle and the creation of the priestly garments are messages to those of us who have adopted the New Birth and serve God not in the shadow of past things but in the Tabernacle of His Spiritual Substance which we are in Christ.
On the priest’s ephod, these same colors were used except that gold filaments were woven into the tapestry. Gold represents the nature of God. This speaks to us regarding the impartation of God’s nature into our very beings as a living temple unto Him. Most theologians reject the idea that we could ever be like God in any way. They believe that righteousness is imputed to us as a covering, but that actual holiness is never truly achievable. The typology of Aaron’s garments would bely that religious assumption. Also, it is interesting to note that the ephod and the Urim and Thummim stones within it were used to communicate with God. Gold wire is universally used in all communication technology today so it is not surprising that many pseudo scientists suggest that the ephod worked like the tin-foil pyramids the New Agers sometimes wear to allegedly communicate with the mother-ship!
There was something called the “curious girdle made of all these materials and colors as well (v. 5). This is a direct reference to Paul’s writings in Ephesians:
[Eph 6:14 KJV] 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
Verses 6-21 describe again for us the breastplate of the ephod. Eph. 6:14 says we are to wear the breastplate of righteousness that this breastplate represents. One thing you can discern in this passage in comparison to New Testament references is that there is a difference between the order of these stones in the Old Testament and the order of the stones in the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, the sardius stone is first mentioned. This is also known as carnelian. It is called the flesh stone because of its color. In the New Testament, however, the Sardis stone (representing the flesh) is not first, but rather the jasper is first (Rev. 21:19; Rev. 4:3 and Rev. 21:11) These New Testament references describe the glory of God as the color of jasper stone. What can we learn from this? Remember that the breastplate is a breastplate of righteousness. In the Old Covenant, righteousness was by the works of the law. In the New Covenant righteousness is by the indwelling glory of God. Paul affirms what this reordering of stones speaks to us in a shadow:
[Rom 8:3 KJV] 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
In the New Covenant, the unattainable righteousness of the law of sin and death becomes our entitlement through faith in Christ:
[Rom 3:22 KJV] 22 Even the righteousness of God [which is] by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
[1Co 1:30 KJV] 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
Next, we have a description of the robe that would cover the priest with the ephod beneath. This robe of blue was fashioned without a hem (vs. 23-31), which portrays the unbroken covering of prayer that the believer is to wear – always praying, always covering ourselves in prayer before God as priests unto Him. Blue speaks to us of prayer because the dye used to make the blue color was also an ingredient of the sacred incense, which represents prayer (Rev. 8:3,4). Today, there is much said about “who is your covering,” but if you look in the Old Covenant types, you won’t see the modern-day church’s concept of covering there. What you do see is the idea of an unbroken prayer covering over our lives.
The robe was bordered with embroiders pomegranates. What do pomegranates represent? They represent the fruits of the spirit and the law of God that is fulfilled in Christ. There is an average of 613 seeds in the average pomegranate, and that is precisely the number of commands in the Torah. The pomegranate motif in the ephod points to the time that the commandments of God under the Old Covenant become promises to the believer transposing the command “thou shalt not” relying on the flesh and weak will of man that could never obey to the “thou shalt not” promise of the scripture transforming our sinful nature and causing us to become inheritors of the character of God obeying him out of the fruits of a new nature.
In vs. 32-43, the work is done, and all the instructions regarding the creation of the Tabernacle (the sacred ceremonial tent where God’s presence would dwell) are completed. The Israelites have taken the schematics given to Moses by God himself and created all these things. They bring them to Moses for approval. This tells us that Moses hadn’t seen them yet. He was not a micro-manager. He was not hovering over every detail saying, “you aren’t doing it right!” He trusted God, and He trusted the people.
There was no arguing or rebelling while these things were constructed. There were no cries of “let’s go back to Egypt!” The people were connected with Kingdom purpose and were blessed, provided for, and allowed to be policy-making participants in working out the details of God’s plan for the broader strategies of the Father in their midst. Leaders today could learn from such lessons.
