2 "Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread;
You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a coat of checker work, a turban, and a sash: and they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest's office.
"Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty; and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil. You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil. You shall use it to anoint the tent of meeting, the ark of the testimony, the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base. You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy. You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on man's flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'" Yahweh said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight; and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy: and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy. The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.
Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as Yahweh commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, in the purple, in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman. They made shoulder-pieces for it, joined together. At the two ends it was joined together. The skillfully woven band that was on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen; as Yahweh commanded Moses. They worked the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, engraved with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the children of Israel. He put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He made the breastplate, the work of a skillful workman, like the work of the ephod; of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. It was square. They made the breastplate double. Its length was a span, and its breadth a span, being double. They set in it four rows of stones. A row of ruby, topaz, and beryl was the first row; and the second row, a turquoise, a sapphire{or, lapis lazuli}, and an emerald; and the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst; and the fourth row, a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper. They were enclosed in gold settings. The stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name, for the twelve tribes. They made on the breastplate chains like cords, of braided work of pure gold. They made two settings of gold, and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. They put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the ends of the breastplate. The other two ends of the two braided chains they put on the two settings, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, in the front of it. They made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which was toward the side of the ephod inward. They made two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, in the front of it, close by its coupling, above the skillfully woven band of the ephod. They bound the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be on the skillfully woven band of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not come loose from the ephod, as Yahweh commanded Moses. He made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. The opening of the robe in the midst of it was like the opening of a coat of mail, with a binding around its opening, that it should not be torn. They made on the skirts of the robe pomegranates of blue, purple, scarlet, and twined linen. They made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates around the skirts of the robe, between the pomegranates; a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, around the skirts of the robe, to minister in, as Yahweh commanded Moses. They made the coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons, and the turban of fine linen, and the linen headbands of fine linen, and the linen breeches of fine twined linen, and the sash of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as Yahweh commanded Moses. They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it a writing, like the engravings of a signet: "HOLY TO YAHWEH." They tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on the turban above, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the tent of meeting, and shall wash them with water. You shall put on Aaron the holy garments; and you shall anoint him, and sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office. You shall bring his sons, and put coats on them. You shall anoint them, as you anointed their father, that they may minister to me in the priest's office. Their anointing shall be to them for an everlasting priesthood throughout their generations.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Leviticus 8
Commentary on Leviticus 8 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 8
Le 8:1-36. Moses Consecrates Aaron and His Sons.
2. Take Aaron and his sons—The consecration of Aaron and his sons had been ordered long before (Ex 29:1-46), but it is now described with all the details of the ceremonial, as it was gone through after the tabernacle was completed and the regulations for the various sacrifices enacted.
3-5. gather thou all the congregation together, &c.—It was manifestly expedient for the Israelitish people to be satisfied that Aaron's appointment to the high dignity of the priesthood was not a personal intrusion, nor a family arrangement between him and Moses; and nothing, therefore, could be a more prudent or necessary measure, for impressing a profound conviction of the divine origin and authority of the priestly institution, than to summon a general assembly of the people, and in their presence perform the solemn ceremonies of inauguration, which had been prescribed by divine authority.
6. Moses … washed them with water—At consecration they were subjected to entire ablution, though on ordinary occasions they were required, before entering on their duties, only to wash their hands and feet. This symbolical ablution was designed to teach them the necessity of inward purity, and the imperative obligation on those who bore the vessels and conducted the services of the sanctuary to be holy.
7-9. he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle—The splendor of the official vestments, together with the gorgeous tiara of the high priest, was intended, doubtless, in the first instance, to produce in the minds of the people a high respect for the ministers of religion; and in the next, from the predominant use of linen, to inculcate upon Aaron and his sons the duty of maintaining unspotted righteousness in their characters and lives.
10-12. took the anointing oil, &c.—which was designed to intimate that persons who acted as leaders in the solemn services of worship should have the unction of the Holy One both in His gifts and graces.
14-17. brought the bullock for the sin offering, &c.—a timely expression of their sense of unworthiness—a public and solemn confession of their personal sins and a transference of their guilt to the typical victim.
18-21. brought the ram, &c.—as a token of their entire dedication to the service of God.
22-30. brought the other ram,—&c. After the sin offering and burnt offering had been presented on their behalf, this was their peace offering, by which they declared the pleasure which they felt in entering upon the service of God and being brought into close communion with Him as the ministers of His sanctuary, together with their confident reliance on His grace to help them in all their sacred duties.
33. ye shall not go out of the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, &c.—After all these preliminaries, they had still to undergo a week's probation in the court of the tabernacle before they obtained permission to enter into the interior of the sacred building. During the whole of that period the same sacrificial rites were observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to the certain forfeiture of their lives [Le 8:35].