1 And of the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, they made coloured garments, to minister in the sanctuary; and they make the holy garments which `are' for Aaron, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
2 And he maketh the ephod, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen,
3 and they expand the plates of gold, and have cut off wires to work in the midst of the blue, and in the midst of the purple, and in the midst of the scarlet, and in the midst of the linen -- work of a designer;
4 shoulder-pieces they have made for it, joining; at its two ends it is joined.
5 And the girdle of his ephod which `is' on it is of the same, according to its work, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
6 And they prepare the shoham stones, set, embroidered `with' gold, opened with openings of a signet, by the names of the sons of Israel;
7 and he setteth them on the shoulders of the ephod -- stones of memorial for the sons of Israel, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
8 And he maketh the breastplate, work of a designer, like the work of the ephod, of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen;
9 it hath been square; double they have made the breastplate, a span its length, and a span its breadth, doubled.
10 And they fill in it four rows of stones; a row of a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle `is' the one row;
11 and the second row an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond;
12 and the third row an opal, an agate, and an amethyst;
13 and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper -- set, embroidered `with' gold, in their settings.
14 And the stones, according to the names of the sons of Israel, are twelve, according to their names, openings of a signet, each according to his name, for the twelve tribes.
15 And they make on the breastplate wreathed chains, work of thick bands, of pure gold;
16 and they make two embroidered things of gold, and two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate,
17 and they put the two thick bands of gold on the two rings on the ends of the breastplate;
18 and the two ends of the two thick bands they have put on the two embroidered things, and they put them on the shoulders of the ephod, over-against its front.
19 And they make two rings of gold, and set `them' on the two ends of the breastplate, on its border, which `is' on the side of the ephod within;
20 and they make two rings of gold, and put them on the two shoulders of the ephod below, over-against its front, over-against its joining, above the girdle of the ephod;
21 and they bind the breastplate by its rings unto the rings of the ephod, with a ribbon of blue, to be above the girdle of the ephod, and the breastplate is not loosed from off the ephod, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
22 And he maketh the upper robe of the ephod, work of a weaver, completely of blue;
23 and the opening of the upper robe `is' in its midst, as the opening of a habergeon, a border `is' to its opening round about, it is not rent;
24 and they make on the hems of the upper robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, twined.
25 And they make bells of pure gold, and put the bells in the midst of the pomegranates, on the hems of the upper robe, round about, in the midst of the pomegranates;
26 a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, `are' on the hems of the upper robe, round about, to minister in, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
27 And they make the coats of linen, work of a weaver, for Aaron and for his sons,
28 and the mitre of linen, and the beautiful bonnets of linen, and the linen trousers, of twined linen,
29 and the girdle of twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, work of an embroiderer, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
30 And they make the flower of the holy crown of pure gold, and write on it a writing, openings of a signet, `Holy to Jehovah;'
31 and they put on it a ribbon of blue, to put `it' on the mitre above, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
32 And all the service of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting is completed; and the sons of Israel do according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses; so they have done.
33 And they bring in the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all its vessels, its hooks, its boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets;
34 and the covering of rams' skins, which are made red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering;
35 the ark of the testimony and its staves, and the mercy-seat;
36 the table, all its vessels, and the bread of the presence;
37 the pure candlestick, its lamps, the lamps of arrangement, and all its vessels, and the oil for the light.
38 And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the spice-perfume, and the covering of the opening of the tent;
39 the brazen altar and the brazen grate which it hath, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base.
40 The hangings of the court, its pillars, and its sockets; and the covering for the gate of the court, its cords, and its pins; and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of meeting;
41 the coloured clothes to minister in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to act as priest in.
42 According to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses, so have the sons of Israel done all the service;
43 and Moses seeth all the work, and lo, they have done it as Jehovah hath commanded; so they have done. And Moses doth bless them.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Exodus 39
Commentary on Exodus 39 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Preparation of the priests' clothes . - Previous to the description of the dress itself, we have a statement in Exodus 39:1 of the materials employed, and the purpose to which they were devoted (“cloths of service,” see at Exodus 31:10). The robes consisted of the ephod (Exodus 39:2-7, as in Exodus 28:6-12), the choshen or breastplate (Exodus 39:8-21, as in Exodus 28:15-29), the meïl or over-coat (Exodus 39:22-26, as in Exodus 28:31-34); the body-coats, turbans, drawers, and girdles, for Aaron and his sons (Exodus 39:27-29, as in Exodus 28:39-40, and Exodus 28:42). The Urim and Thummim are not mentioned (cf. Exodus 28:30). The head-dresses of the ordinary priests, which are simply called “bonnets” in Exodus 28:40, are called “goodly bonnets” or “ornamental caps” in Exodus 39:28 of this chapter ( מגבּעת פּארי , from פּאר an ornament, cf. פּאר ornatus fuit ). The singular, “ girdle ,” in Exodus 39:29, with the definite article, “ the girdle, ” might appear to refer simply to Aaron's girdle, i.e., the girdle of the high priest; but as there is no special description of the girdles of Aaron's sons (the ordinary priests) in Exodus 29:40, where they are distinctly mentioned and called by the same name ( abnet ) as the girdle of Aaron himself, we can only conclude that they were of the same materials and the same form and make as the latter, and that the singular, האבנט , is used here either in the most general manner, or as a generic noun in a collective sense (see Ges. §109, 1). The last thing mentioned is the diadem upon Aaron's turban (Exodus 39:30, Exodus 39:31, as in Exodus 28:36-38), so that the order in which the priests' robes are given here is analogous to the position in which the ark of the covenant and the golden altar stand to one another in the directions concerning the sacred things in ch. 25-30. “For just as all the other things are there placed between the holy ark and the golden altar as the two poles, so here all the rest of the priests' robes are included between the shoulder-dress, the principal part of the official robes of the high priest, and the golden frontlet, the inscription upon which rendered it the most striking sign of the dignity of his office” ( Baumgarten ).
Delivery of the work to Moses . - The different things are again mentioned one by one. By “the tent,” in Exodus 39:33, we are to understand the two tent-cloths, the one of purple and the other of goats' hair, by which the dwelling ( משׁכּן , generally rendered tabernacle) was made into a tent ( אלה ). From this it is perfectly obvious, that the variegated cloth formed the inner walls of the dwelling, or covered the boards on the inner side, and that the goats' hair-cloth formed the other covering. Moreover it is also obvious, that this is the way in which האהל is to be understood, from the fact, that in the list of the things belonging to the ohel the first to be mentioned are the gold and copper hooks (Exodus 26:6, Exodus 26:11) with which the two halves of the drapery that formed the tent were joined together, and then after that the boards, bolts, pillars, and sockets, as though subordinate to the tent-cloths, and only intended to answer the purpose of spreading them out into a tent of dwelling.
“ The lamps of the order, ” i.e., the lamps set in order upon the candlestick. In addition to all the vessels of the sanctuary, shew-bread (Exodus 39:36), holy oil for the candlestick and for anointing, and fragrant incense (Exodus 39:38), were also prepared and delivered to Moses, - everything, therefore, that was required for the institution of the daily worship, as soon as the tabernacle was set up.
“ Vessels of service: ” see Exodus 27:19.
When Moses had received and examined all the different articles, and found that everything was made according to the directions of Jehovah, he blessed the children of Israel. The readiness and liberality with which the people had presented the gifts required for this work, and the zeal which they had shown in executing the whole of the work in rather less than half a year (see at Exodus 40:17), were most cheering signs of the willingness of the Israelites to serve the Lord, for which they could not fail to receive the blessing of God.