Exodus 27:20-28:43

You shall further command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the light, so that a lamp may be set up to burn regularly. In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that is before the covenant, Aaron and his sons¹ shall tend it from evening to morning before the Lord. It shall be a perpetual ordinance to be observed² throughout their generations by the Israelites.

Then bring near to you your brother Aaron, and his sons with him, from among the Israelites, to serve me as priests—Aaron and Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. You shall make sacred vestments for the glorious adornment of your brother Aaron.³ And you shall speak to all who have ability, whom I have endowed with skill, that they make Aaron’s vestments to consecrate him for my priesthood. These are the vestments that they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a chequered tunic, a turban, and a sash. When they make these sacred vestments for your brother Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests, they shall use gold, blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine linen.⁴

They shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen, skilfully worked. It shall have two shoulder-pieces attached to its two edges, so that it may be joined together. The decorated band on it shall be of the same workmanship and materials, of gold, of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen. You shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of their names on one stone, and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their birth. As a gem-cutter engraves signets, so you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; you shall mount them in settings of gold filigree. You shall set the two stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, as stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before the Lord on his two shoulders for remembrance.⁵ You shall make settings of gold filigree, and two chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall attach the corded chains to the settings.

You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, in skilled work; you shall make it in the style of the ephod; of gold, of blue and purple and crimson yarns, and of fine twisted linen you shall make it. It shall be square and doubled, a span in length and a span in width. You shall set in it four rows of stones. A row of carnelian, chrysolite, and emerald shall be the first row; and the second row a turquoise, a sapphire, and a moonstone; and the third row a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;and the fourth row a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper; they shall be set in gold filigree. There shall be twelve stones with names corresponding to the names of the sons of Israel; they shall be like signets, each engraved with its name, for the twelve tribes. You shall make for the breastpiece chains of pure gold, twisted like cords; and you shall make for the breastpiece two rings of gold, and put the two rings on the two edges of the breastpiece. You shall put the two cords of gold in the two rings at the edges of the breastpiece; the two ends of the two cords you shall attach to the two settings, and so attach it in front to the shoulder-pieces of the ephod. You shall make two rings of gold, and put them at the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inside edge next to the ephod. You shall make two rings of gold, and attach them in front to the lower part of the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod, at its joining above the decorated band of the ephod. The breastpiece shall be bound by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it may lie on the decorated band of the ephod, and so that the breastpiece shall not come loose from the ephod. So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the holy place,⁶ for a continual remembrance before the Lord.In the breastpiece of judgment you shall put the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord; thus Aaron shall bear the judgment of the Israelites on his heart⁷ before the Lord continually.

You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding round the opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it may not be torn. On its lower hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and crimson yarns, all round the lower hem, with bells of gold between them all round—a golden bell and a pomegranate alternating all round the lower hem of the robe. Aaron shall wear it when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord, and when he comes out, so that he may not die.⁸

You shall make a rosette of pure gold, and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, ‘Holy to the Lord.’ You shall fasten it on the turban with a blue cord; it shall be on the front of the turban. It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall take on himself any guilt incurred in the holy offering that the Israelites consecrate as their sacred donations;⁹ it shall always be on his forehead, in order that they may find favor before the Lord.

You shall make the chequered tunic of fine linen, and you shall make a turban of fine linen, and you shall make a sash embroidered with needlework.

For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics and sashes and head-dresses; you shall make them for their glorious adornment.¹⁰ You shall put them on your brother Aaron, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them,¹¹ so that they may serve me as priests. You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh; they shall reach from the hips to the thighs; Aaron and his sons shall wear them when they go into the tent of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place; or they will bring guilt on themselves and die.¹² This shall be a perpetual ordinance¹³ for him and for his descendants after him.

1 This is the first mention of the functions that Aaron and the priests will actually provide in the tabernacle.

2 From generation to generation, it will be a symbol of the Israelites' allegiance to God.

3 The importance of Aaron's position must be visible to the people, “glorious”.

4 Just as the tabernacle was to be adorned ornately and expensively, so were the priests themselves.

5 Aaron will symbolically bring all of Israel into the sanctuary with him.

6 Again, Aaron symbolically brings all of Israel before the Lord.

7 Now Aaron “bears the judgment of the Israelites on his heart” before the Lord. I'm not completely sure what that means.

8 Is it to ward off God from killing him, or a symbolic representation that he is the priest who will not die, or is the passage kind of saying that the sound it makes shows that he has not died?

9 Fascinatingly, Aaron is a scapegoat, taking the guilt incurred in the holy offering upon himself.

10 Again, it is emphasized that the adornment of the priests must be glorious.

11 Though they are already the sons of Aaron, they still must be ordained and consecrated to fulfill this role.

12 Failure to wear the appropriate undergarments leads them to incur guilt and die. This is showing their obedience, but it still sounds like a harsh judgment to our ears.

13 Yet again the passage emphasizes that this is not a temporal command, but one to last.

Take-home: Just as the temple was adorned, the priests must be gloriously adorned as well. Emphasis is made on how they are consecrated and set aside for this task, how they represent all of Israel within the tabernacle, and how this ordinance is to be perpetual through all their generations.