28:31 ¶ And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all
of blue. 32 And there shall be an
hole in the top of it, in the midst thereof: it shall have a binding of woven
work round about the hole of it, as it were the hole of an habergeon, that it
be not rent. 33 And beneath upon
the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of
purple, and of scarlet, round about the hem thereof; and bells of gold
between them round about: 34 A golden
bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the
robe round about. 35 And it shall be
upon Aaron to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in unto the
holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out, that he die not.
36 And thou shalt make a plate of
pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS
TO THE LORD. 37 And thou shalt put it on
a blue lace, that it may be upon the mitre; upon the forefront of the mitre it
shall be. 38 And it shall be upon
Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which
the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be
always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD. 39 And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine
linen, and thou shalt make the mitre of fine linen, and thou shalt make
the girdle of needlework.
The ephod is blue and it is one piece with the opening for the
head reinforced so it would not be torn in taking on and off. It was more like
what we think of when we think of as a long poncho. According to Matthew Henry
the Medieval Jewish scholar Maimonides said that the sides were not sewn so the
arms for free to move although others say there were arm holes. Think of the
similarity with Christ’s outer garment.
John 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified
Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and
also his coat: now the coat was
without seam, woven from the top throughout.
The bells would alert people that Aaron was still alive when he
went into the holy place alone.
Leviticus 16:1 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses after the death
of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD, and died; 2 And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto
Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the vail before the
mercy seat, which is upon the
ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat.
3 Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bullock for a sin
offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4
He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen
breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the
linen mitre shall he be attired: these are
holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.
5 ¶ And he shall take of the
congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin
offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. 6
And Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement
for himself, and for his house. 7 And he
shall take the two goats, and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. 8 And Aaron shall cast
lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the
scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the
goat upon which the LORD’S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10
But the goat, on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be
presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat
into the wilderness. 11 And Aaron shall
bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for
his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 12 And he shall take a censer full of burning
coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet
incense beaten small, and bring it
within the vail: 13 And he shall put the
incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover
the mercy seat that is upon the
testimony, that he die not: 14 And he
shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the
mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times.
15 ¶ Then shall he kill the goat
of the sin offering, that is
for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and do with that blood as
he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and
before the mercy seat: 16 And he shall
make an atonement for the holy place,
because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their
transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the
congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
17 And there shall be no man in the
tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the
holy place, until he come out,
and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the
congregation of Israel. 18 And he shall
go out unto the altar that is
before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of
the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19 And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it
with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness
of the children of Israel.
20 ¶ And when he hath made an end of reconciling
the holy place, and the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat:
21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands
upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the
children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting
them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their
iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the
wilderness. 23 And Aaron shall come into
the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which
he put on when he went into the holy place,
and shall leave them there: 24 And he
shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, and put on his garments, and
come forth, and offer his burnt offering, and the burnt offering of the people,
and make an atonement for himself, and for the people. 25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn
upon the altar. 26 And he that let go
the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in
water, and afterward come into the camp.
Aaron acts as a mediator between God and man in his office as
priest. For Christians, Christ is our mediator. There are many verses about
Christ bearing our sins and I will not post them all but this one is applicable
to what Aaron is doing. We need no priest other than Christ, fully human and
fully God, who in his humanity is our priest.
1Timothy 2:5 For there
is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus…
Aaron is to bear the
iniquity of the holy things and make acceptable to God the Hebrew’s
fallible and weak offerings to him. Our worship without God’s help is a meager
and pathetic thing. We don’t even know how to pray as we ought, we are so
blinded by our sin nature. We need help.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit
itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
We must always remember that our prayers, our worship, our faith
is made acceptable to God not by our sincere intentions or by how wonderfully
spiritual we think we are but by God Himself. Aaron is a picture of this
function of God.
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