Exodus 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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