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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