Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 28:40
And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.
40. The tunics, sashes, and caps, for Aaron’s ‘sons’ (i.e. for the ordinary priests). Whether the tunics and sashes differed in any way from those of the high priest, is not stated.
headtires ] of fine linen (Exo 39:28), doubtless a band of fine linen bound round the head (Lev 8:13); and, to judge from the etym. of migb‘th (from gba‘, prob. to be convex, cf. gib‘h, ‘hill,’ gba‘, ‘goblet’), in shape like a brimless convex cap (Jos. Ant. iii. 7. 3 , a felt cap, in shape resembling a half-egg; see Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v. Pilleus). The word occurs only of the caps of the ordinary priests (Exo 29:9, Exo 39:28, Lev. l.c. ). Cf. EB. Mitre.
At the great sanctuary of the Phrygian Leto at Hierapolis in Phrygia (cf. Rel. Sem. Index, s.v. Hierapolis; Ramsay, Cities and Bishoprics of Phrygia, i. 89 ff.) the priests were dressed wholly in white, and wore a on their head, the chief priest alone wearing a purple vestment (cf. above, v. 31, and on Exo 26:1), and having a golden ‘tiara’ bound round his head (Luc. de dea Syr. 42).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 40. For glory and for beauty.] See Clarke on Ex 28:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The coats were not of woollen, Eze 44:17, but of linen, Exo 39:27. These were ephods, 1Sa 22:18.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
40. bonnetsturbans.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats,…. Of fine linen, of woven work, as in Ex 39:27, these were different from the broidered coat of the high priest, and the blue robe of the ephod:
and thou shall make for them girdles; linen ones, to gird up their linen coats, which were long, that they might the more expeditiously perform their service; and which is an instruction to all the priests of the Lord, true believers in Christ, to be ready, forward, and diligent in the work of the Lord; and especially to ministers of the word, who, as their doctrines and lives ought to be pure, signified by the priest’s linen garment, so they should be girt about with the girdle of truth, and ready upon all occasions to publish and defend it, and to do their work with cheerfulness and faithfulness:
and bonnets shall thou make for them: these were coverings for the head, and of the same kind with the mitre of the high priest, and of the same length, but differed from that in the manner of wrapping the linen, of which they were made, [See comments on Ex 28:39]: and all these were to be made
for glory and beauty: to beautify and adorn them, to make them look like persons of some note and figure, and that they might be respectable among men, and typical, as they all were, of our great and glorious High Priest, the Son of God.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The official dress of the sons of Aaron, i.e., of the ordinary priests, was to consist of just the same articles as Aaron’s priestly costume (Exo 28:39). But their body-coat is called weavers’ work in Exo 39:27, and was therefore quite a plain cloth, of white byssus or cotton yarn, though it was whole throughout, without seam, like the robe of Christ (Joh 19:23). It was worn close to the body, and, according to Jewish tradition, reached down to the ankles (cf. Josephus, iii. 7, 2). The head-dress of an ordinary priest is called , related to a basin or cup, and therefore seems to have been in the form of an inverted cup, and to have been a plain white cotton cap. The girdle, according to Exo 39:29, was of the same material and work for Aaron and his sons. This dress was to be for glory and for beauty to the priests, just as Aaron’s dress was to him (Exo 28:2). The glory consisted in the brilliant white colour, the symbol of holiness; whilst the girdle, which an oriental man puts on when preparing for the duties of an office, contained in the four colours of the sanctuary the indication that they were the officers of Jehovah in His earthly kingdom.
Exo 28:41 But since the clothing prescribed was an official dress, Moses was to put it upon Aaron and his sons, to anoint them and fill their hands, i.e., to invest them with the requisite sacrificial gifts (see at Lev 7:37), and so to sanctify them that they should be priests of Jehovah. For although the holiness of their office was reflected in their dress, it was necessary, on account of the sinfulness of their nature, that they should be sanctified through a special consecration for the administration of their office; and this consecration is prescribed in ch. 29 and carried out in Lev 8.
Exo 28:42-43 The covering of their nakedness was an indispensable prerequisite. Aaron and his sons were therefore to receive (from to cover or conceal, lit., concealers), short drawers, reaching from the hips to the thighs, and serving “to cover the flesh of the nakedness.” For this reason the directions concerning them are separated from those concerning the different portions of the dress, which were for glory and beauty. The material of which these drawers were to be made is called . The meaning of this word is uncertain. According to Exo 39:28, it was made of twined byssus or cotton yarn; and the rendering of the lxx, or (Lev 6:3), is not at variance with this, as the ancients not only apply the term , linum , to flax, but frequently use it for fine white cotton as well. In all probability bad was a kind of white cloth, from to be white or clean, primarily to separate.
Exo 28:43 These drawers the priests were to put on whenever they entered the sanctuary, that they might not “bear iniquity and die,” i.e., incur guilt deserving of death, either through disobedience to these instructions, or, what was still more important, through such violation of the reverence due to the holiness of the dwelling of God as they would be guilty of, if they entered the sanctuary with their nakedness uncovered. For as the consciousness of sin and guilt made itself known first of all in the feeling of nakedness, so those members which subserve the natural secretions are especially pudenda or objects of shame, since the mortality and corruptibility of the body, which sin has brought into human nature, are chiefly manifested in these secretions. For this reason these members are also called the “flesh of nakedness.” By this we are not to understand merely “the sexual member as the organ of generation or birth, because the existence and permanence of sinful, mortal human nature are associated with these,” as Bhr supposes. For the frailty and nakedness of humanity are not manifested in the organ and act of generation, which rather serve to manifest the inherent capacity and creation of man for imperishable life, but in the impurities which nature ejects through those organs, and which bear in themselves the character of corruptibility. If, therefore, the priest was to appear before Jehovah as holy, it was necessary that those parts of his body especially should be covered, in which the impurity of his nature and the nakedness of his flesh were most apparent. For this reason, even in ordinary life, they are most carefully concealed, though not, as Baumgarten supposes, “because the sin of nature has its principal seat in the flesh of nakedness.” – “ A statute for ever: ” as in Exo 27:21.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Priests’ Attire. | B. C. 1491. |
40 And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty. 41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office. 42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness; from the loins even unto the thighs they shall reach: 43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him.
We have here, 1. Particular orders about the vestments of the inferior priests. They were to have coats, and girdles, and bonnets, of the same materials with those of the high priest; but there was a difference in shape between their bonnets and his mitre. Theirs, as his, were to be for glory and beauty (v. 40), that they might look great in their ministration: yet all this glory was nothing compared with the glory of grace, this beauty nothing to the beauty of holiness, of which these holy garments were typical. They are particularly ordered, in their ministration, to wear linen breeches, v. 42. This teaches us modesty and decency of garb and gesture at all times, especially in public worship, in which a veil is becoming, 1Co 11:5; 1Co 11:6; 1Co 11:10. It also intimates what need our souls have of a covering, when we come before God, that the shame of their nakedness may not appear. 2. A general rule concerning the garments both of the high priest and of the inferior priests, that they were to be put upon them, at first, when they were consecrated, in token of their being invested in the office (v. 41), and then they were to wear them in all their ministrations, but not at other times (v. 43), and this at their peril, lest they bear iniquity and die. Those who are guilty of omissions in duty, as well as omissions of duty, shall bear their iniquity. If the priests perform the instituted service, and do not do it in the appointed garments, it is (say the Jewish doctors) as if a stranger did it, and the stranger that comes nigh shall be put to death. Nor will God connive at the presumptions and irreverences even of those whom he causes to draw most near to him; if Aaron himself put a slight upon the divine institution, he shall bear iniquity, and die. To us these garments typify, (1.) The righteousness of Christ; if we appear not before God in this, we shall bear iniquity and die. What have we to do at the wedding-feast without a wedding-garment, or at God’s altar without the array of his priests? Mat 22:12; Mat 22:13. (2.) The armour of God prescribed Eph. vi. 13. If we venture without that armour, our spiritual enemies will be the death of our souls, and we shall bear the iniquity, our blood will be upon our own heads. Blessed is he therefore that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, Rev. xvi. 15. 3. This is said to be a statute for ever, that is, it is to continue as long as the priesthood continues. But it is to have its perpetuity in the substance of which these things were the shadows.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verses 40-43:
The text gives a brief description of the garments worn by the ordinary priests. These included linen “breeches,” miknesayim, “trousers, or drawers;” a “coat,” kethometh, tunick or long cassock; a girdle or belt; and a “bonnet,” migbaoth, “hilt-shaped turban.” These garments were to be “for glory and for beauty,” like those of the high priest. They were to be of simple design, without elaborate trim or decoration.
The priests were to wear the “breeches” at all times when they were ministering about the tabernacle. The penalty for failure to do so: death. God was diligent to insure the modesty of His servants.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
40. And for Aaron’s sons. The sons of Aaron also are separated not only from the body of the people, but likewise from the Levites; for a peculiar dignity was attached to that family, from whom his successor was afterwards to be taken. (170) And since no single individual was able to perform all their offices, they were distributed amongst them. Hence it was that they were adorned with the coat, the girdle, and the bonnet, “for glory and for beauty.” We shall see as to their anointing in the next chapter. Their hands are said be filled, (171) when they are made fit for offering sacrifices, for as long as their hands are unconsecrated ( profanae) they are accounted empty, even though they may be very full, since no gift is acceptable to God except in right of the priesthood; consequently their fullness arose from consecration, whereby it came that the oblations duly made had access to God. But we must observe that it is not their father Aaron, but Moses, who sanctifies them, that the power itself, or effect of their sanctification, may rest in God, and may not be transferred to His ministers. Perhaps, too, God would anticipate the calumnies of the ungodly, lest any should afterwards object that Aaron had fraudulently and unjustly extended the honor conferred upon himself alone to his sons also, and thus had unlawfully made it hereditary. He was protected against this reproach by the fact, that the sacerdotal dignity came to them from elsewhere. Besides, by these means the posterity of Moses was more certainly deprived of the hope they may have conceived in consideration of what their father was. Therefore Moses, by inaugurating the children of Aaron, reduced his own to their proper place, lest ally ambition should hereafter tempt them, or lest envy should possess them when they saw themselves put below others.
(170) “ Les successeurs de la souveraine sacrificature;” the successors in the sovereign priesthood.
(171) A.V., “consecrate,” v. 41. Margin, “ fill their hand;” i.e., says Rosenmuller, in loco, “ thou shalt deliver them the power of their office. Le Clerc suggests that the phrase is perhaps borrowed from some ancient oriental rite, in which the ensigns of office were put into the hands of those to whom it was entrusted. It appears also, from the following chapter, ver. 24, that all the sacred offerings were placed by Moses in the hands of the priests at their inauguration.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
7. THE MINISTERIAL ATTIRE OF THE PRIESTS.
(40) For Aarons sons thou shalt make coatsi.e., linen tunics like that of the high priest already described (see the last Note on Exo. 28:39), but not woven in any peculiar fashion.
Girdles.Perhaps similar to the inner girdle of the high priest, but nowhere described particularly.
Bonnets.Rather, caps. Plain, close-fitting caps, like those so commonly worn in Egypt, seem to be intended. The word used, migbah, is derived from gbia, a cup or basin.
For glory and for beauty.It is certainly remarkable that so plain a dress as that of the ordinary priestsa white tunic, a girdle, which may or may not have been embroidered, and a plain white close-fitting capshould be regarded as sufficing for glory and for beauty. White robes, however, are in Scripture constantly represented as eminently glorious (Dan. 7:9; Mar. 9:3; Joh. 20:12; Act. 1:10; Rev. 4:4; Rev. 6:11; Rev. 7:9-14; Rev. 15:6, &c.).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
40. For Aaron’s sons The ordinary priests are here to be understood . The foregoing elaborate description of the high priest’s dress leaves little to be said about the garments of the common priests . Their coats, or under-garments, were also fastened on by girdles, (comp. Exo 28:39, note,) but their bonnets, or caps, were a headdress of different make from the mitre of the high priest. Keil supposes these bonnets to have been in the form of an inverted cup, and to have been plain white cotton caps. These articles of dress were to serve not merely the common purpose of clothing, but especially for glory and for beauty, and to enhance the sanctity, dignity, and importance of the priestly office. The priests were Jehovah’s consecrated ministers, and should be clothed in becoming attire for such holy service.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Clothing of Aaron’s Sons ( Exo 28:40 ).
The other priests, the sons of Aaron, wore simpler clothing. They were seemingly all in white apart from their girdle which connected them with the colours of the Sanctuary. (The latter is assumed from Exo 39:29, not stated). But these too were ‘holy’ (Exo 28:4).
Exo 28:40
“And for Aaron’s sons you shall make robes, and you shall make for them girdles, and you shall make caps for them, for glory and for beauty.”
The robes of Aaron’s sons were probably like Aaron’s under-robe (kethoneth), from neck to toe and with sleeves. They were probably also of fine linen. The verb used may indicate that they were not patterned like Aaron’s, but it may be that the patterning was assumed. They were fastened with a girdle, or belt, and they were to wear caps, probably close-fitting. Such caps were often worn in Egypt, but not by priests. The caps were to retain the hair. Man must be totally covered in the presence of God to cover his unworthiness. The letting down of the hair was also a symbol of sadness and distress (Lev 10:6), and this must not occur in the Sanctuary where all was joy.
The same word for robe is used of the provision of robes for Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen 3:21). Man in his puniness and his sinfulness must be totally covered before God. He is no longer fit to come before God as he is in himself.
We are given no information about the girdle, except that it was embroidered (Exo 28:39), but Exo 39:29 shows it to be of fine linen, and bluey-violet, and purpley-red, and scarlet, unless that is just describing Aaron’s. The remainder of their clothes were probably white. They too were to be clothed in purity from head to foot.
Their clothes too were ‘for glory and for beauty’. As priestly garments they covered their wearers, as it were, in the glory and beauty of God, depicting their status. Indeed white robes are regularly elsewhere depicted as the mark of the heavenly and the garb of angels and of the redeemed who have died (Mar 9:3; Mat 28:3; Mar 16:5; Joh 20:12; Act 1:10; Rev 4:4; Rev 6:11; Rev 7:9; Rev 7:14; Rev 19:14).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
EXPOSITION
THE APPAREL OF THE ORDINARY PRIESTS. The chapter concludes with brief directions concerning the official attire of the ordinary priests. This was to consist of linen drawers like those of the high priest; of a tunic, also of linen (Exo 39:27), shaped like his, but not diapered; of a linen girdle, the exact character of which is not stated; and of a close-fitting cap. The entire dress, with perhaps the exception of the girdle, was white. The linen drawers were regarded as of primary necessity, and the priest who did not wear them was threatened with death.
Exo 28:40
For Aaron’s sons. His actual sons at this timehis descendants afterwards, to whom the priesthood was rigidly confined. Thou shalt make coats. The verb is different from that used in Exo 28:39, and seems to imply that the priests’ tunics were not to be patterned. Girdles. It has generally been supposed that these were of the same material and workmanship as the high priest’s; but this is nowhere stated. In Exo 39:29, the high priest’s girdle alone is spoken of. Bonnets. Certainly not “bonnets “in the modern sense. Plain, close-fitting caps, shaped like a cup, or rather basin, seem to be meant. Such caps were often worn in Egypt, but not by the priests. For glory and for beauty. See above, Exo 39:2. It is very noticeable, that the extremely simple attire of the ordinary priestsa dress of pure white, without anything ornamental about it, unless it were the girdleis still regarded as sufficient “for glory and for beauty.” White robes have certainly a vast amount of scriptural testimony in their favour.
Exo 28:41
Thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, etc. These words serve to connect the present chapter with the following one. They contain the first intimation that Moses is not only to cause the holy garments to be made, but to invest the priests in them, and further to consecrate both Aaron and his sons by anointing. On this point, see the comment on Exo 29:7-9.
Exo 28:42
Linen breeches. Rather, “linen drawers” (Kalisch), such as we see worn by the Egyptians generally, reaching from the waist to a little above the knee. This also was of linen (Herod. 2.83). Unto the thighsi.e; to the bottom of the thighs where they adjoin on the knee.
Exo 28:43
When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation. Literally,” when they go into the tent of meetingi.e; the place where God and the high priest were to meet. The holy place. The “holy place” seems in this passage to include the court of the tabernacle, wherein the altar was situated. That they bear not iniquity. To “bear iniquity” is to incur guilt, or have sin imputed to one. If even through forgetfulness a priest entered the sanctuary without this necessary article of clothing, and so risked an unseemly, exposure of his person, he was to be accounted guilty, and punished by death. This was to be a “statute for ever,” and to apply both to the high priest and the ordinary priests. Compare Exo 20:26.
HOMILETICS
Exo 28:40-42
The priests’ attire.
The dress of the ordinary priests teaches us
I. THAT NOT ONLY THE CHIEF, BUT THE SUBORDINATE, MINISTERS OF THE SANCTUARY MUST BE CLAD IN HOLINESS. The priests’ garments are called “holy,” no less than the high priest’s (Exo 28:4). They are almost entirely of fine white linen. The linen drawers denote the need of holiness with respect to sins of the flesh. The linen cap implies purity of thought and imagination. The linen tunic is symbolical of the complete sanctification in which the whole man should be wrapped. The girdle, also of linen, marks the need of purity in respect of all the active part of life. In every one of these respects the ordinary priests were on a par with the high priest. The same holiness was required of both.
II. THAT IN EXTREME SIMPLICITY THERE MAY BE A HIGH DEGREE OF BEAUTY. The priests’ garments were, like the high priest’s (Exo 28:2), “for glory and for beauty” (Exo 28:40). And, being designed by God for those ends, they doubtless attained them. Yet, unless the girdle was an exception, they were all white. So, when Jesus was transfigured, “his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them” (Mar 9:3). There is a wondrous beauty in pure, spotless, snow-white raiment. Still more is there beauty in the simplicity of a spotless life. A pure minda pure heartpure conductsimple, uniform performance of every-day dutywhat is more lovely, more glorious? To such the Divine Bridegroom will address the words”Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee” (So Exo 4:7).
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Exo 28:40. And bonnets These bonnets or mitres were to be of linen, like the high-priests; differing only in this, that they wore no plate of gold upon them. Josephus, however, says, that the high-priest’s mitre had a purple cover over it. See Antiq. b. 3: ch. 7.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
No ministration was to be performed even by the inferior priests of the four sons of Aaron, without being clad in their vestments. Was not this intended to show, that in all the approaches of the Lord’s people before God, they must be clothed in the robes of Jesus’ s righteousness? In ourselves we are polluted, and without Jesus we bear our own iniquity and must die. The man in the parable without the wedding garment is a type of this. Mat 22:11-13 ; Isa 61:10 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 28:40 And for Aaron’s sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.
Ver. 40. Coats ] (1.) Linen garments for innocency; (2.) Girdles for constancy and stability; (3.) Bonnets for safety from the rage of Satan and his instrumants; (4.) Breeches, for comely reverance in God’s service.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
bonnets = caps.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Aaron’s: Exo 28:4, Exo 39:27, Exo 39:29, Exo 39:41, Lev 8:13, Eze 44:17, Eze 44:18
bonnets: Exo 29:9
glory: Exo 28:2, 1Ti 2:9, 1Ti 2:10, 1Ti 6:9-11, Tit 2:7, Tit 2:10, 1Pe 3:3, 1Pe 3:4, 1Pe 5:5
Reciprocal: Exo 29:8 – General Lev 8:2 – garments 1Sa 22:18 – a linen ephod Ezr 3:10 – they set Eze 42:14 – they not go
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The garments of the lesser priests 28:40-43
The clothing described in these verses appears to be the garments the priests other than the high priest wore. All the priests ministered barefoot out of reverence for the holiness of God (cf. Exo 3:5; Jos 5:15).
"This prescription for undergarments alludes to and reminds one of the clothing which God made for Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to cover their nakedness (Gen 3:21)." [Note: Sailhamer, The Pentateuch . . ., p. 306.]
"The essential point of the priestly vestments is the central point of all the instructions concerning the media of worship: Yahweh is present, and Israel must respond to that Presence, be guided in that response, and be reminded constantly in worship as in life of the reality of the Presence and of the need for response." [Note: Durham, p. 389.]
"There is much that can be derived from this chapter to form principles of spiritual leadership; but the overall point can be worded this way: Those whom God selects to minister to the congregation through intercessory prayer, divine counsel, and sacrificial worship, must always represent the holiness of Yahweh in their activities and demeanor." [Note: The NET Bible note on 28:43.]