1Y DEL hilo de jacinto y púrpura y escarlata, hicieron los paños bordados destinados para hacer servicio en el Santuario; e hicieron las vestiduras santas que eran de Aarón; como Jehová había mandado a Moisés. 2¶Hizo también el efod, de oro, de hilo de jacinto y púrpura y escarlata, y de lino fino blanco. 3Pues batieron a martillo láminas delgadas de oro, y las cortaron en hilos, para entretejerlos con el hilo de jacinto y púrpura y escarlata, y el lino fino blanco; labor primorosa. 4Le hicieron también hombreras que se juntaban; a sus dos extremos se hizo el enlazamiento. 5Y el cinto de labor primorosa, que estaba sobre él para ceñirlo, era de lo mismo y de semejante labor; de oro e hilo de jacinto y púrpura y escarlata, y torzal de lino fino blanco; como Jehová había mandado a Moisés. 6¶Labraron también las dos piedras de ónice, guarnecidas de engastes de oro, grabadas con grabaduras como de sello, conforme a los nombres de los hijos de Israel; 7y las puso sobre las hombreras del efod, por piedras de recuerdo a favor de los hijos de Israel; como Jehová había mandado a Moisés. 8¶Hizo también el pectoral, de labor primorosa, al estilo de la obra del efod, de oro, de hilo de jacinto y púrpura y escarlata, y de torzal de lino fino blanco. 9Era cuadrado; hicieron doble el pectoral; de un palmo era su longitud, y de un palmo su anchura, estando doblado. 10Y engastaron en él cuatro órdenes de piedras. Una hilera era un sardio, un topacio y un carbunclo; ésta fué la hilera primera. 11Y la hilera segunda, una esmeralda, un zafiro y una sardónica. 12Y la hilera tercera, un jacinto, un ágata y una ametista. 13Y la hilera cuarta, un berilo, un ónice y un jaspe; cercadas todas y guarnecidas de oro en sus engastes. 14Y las piedras eran doce, conforme a los nombres de los hijos de Israel, según los nombres de ellos, con grabaduras como de sello, cada una según su nombre, correspondientes a las doce tribus. 15E hicieron sobre el pectoral cadenillas de oro puro, a manera de trenzas, de hechura ensortijada. 16E hicieron dos engastes de oro y dos anillos de oro; y fijaron los dos anillos a los dos extremos superiores del pectoral. 17Fijaron también las dos cadenillas de oro ensortijadas a los dos anillos, en los extremos del pectoral. 18Y los otros dos extremos de las dos cadenillas ensortijadas los fijaron a los dos engastes, los cuales fijaron sobre las hombreras del efod, por su parte delantera. 19Hicieron también otros dos anillos de oro, que pusieron en los dos extremos inferiores del pectoral, sobre el borde que está hacia el revés del efod, por el lado de adentro. 20E hicieron dos anillos de oro, que fijaron sobre las dos hombreras del efod, hacia abajo, por su parte delantera, cerca de su enlace, por encima del cinto del efod de labor primorosa. 21Y ataron el pectoral, por medio de sus anillos, a los anillos del efod, con un cordón de jacinto, para que permaneciese sobre el cinto del efod de labor primorosa, y para que no se soltase el pectoral del efod; como Jehová había mandado a Moisés. 22¶Hizo también el manto del efod, de obra de tejedor, todo de jacinto; 23y la abertura del manto estaba en medio de él, como el cuello de un coselete, con una orla al rededor de la abertura, para que no se rompiese. 24Hicieron también sobre el ribete inferior del manto granadas de hilo de jacinto y púrpura y escarlata, torcido. 25E hicieron campanillas de oro puro, y colocaron las campanillas entre las granadas sobre el ribete inferior del manto a la redonda, entre las granadas: 26una campanilla y una granada, una campanilla y una granada, sobre el ribete inferior del manto en derredor, para ministrar en él; como Jehová había mandado a Moisés. 27¶Hicieron también las túnicas de lino fino blanco, de obra de tejedor, para Aarón y sus hijos. 28Y la mitra de lino fino blanco, y las tiaras hermosas de lino fino blanco, y los calzoncillos de lino, hechos de torzal de lino fino blanco; 29y el cinturón de torzal de lino fino blanco, y de hilo de jacinto y púrpura y escarlata, de labor recamada; como Jehová había mandado a Moisés. 30¶E hicieron la lámina de la diadema santa, de oro puro, e inscribieron en ella un rótulo, con grabaduras como de sello, SANTIDAD A JEHOVÁ. 31Y fijaron en ella un listón de jacinto para asegurarla sobre la mitra, por la parte de arriba; como Jehová había mandado a Moisés. 32¶Así fué acabada toda la obra de la Habitación del Tabernáculo de Reunión; pues hicieron los hijos de Israel conforme a todo lo que había mandado Jehová a Moisés; así lo hicieron. 33¶Entonces trajeron a Moisés la Habitación, el Tabernáculo y todos sus utensilios; sus corchetes y sus tablones, sus travesaños y sus columnas y sus basas; 34y la cubierta de pieles de carnero teñidas de rojo, y la cubierta de pieles de foca; y el velo de la cortina; 35el Arca del Testimonió y sus varas, y el Propiciatorio; 36la mesa con todos sus utensilios, y el pan de la proposición; 37el candelabro puro, sus lámparas, (las lámparas que habían de aderezarse), y todos sus utensilios, y el aceite del alumbrado; 38y el altar de oro, y el aceite de la unción, y el incienso de las especias aromáticas; y la cortina para la entrada del Tabernáculo; 39el altar de bronce, y el enrejado de bronce que tenía, sus varas y todos sus utensilios; la fuente con su base; 40las colgaduras del atrio, con sus columnas, y las basas de éstas, y la cortina para la puerta del atrio, sus cuerdas, y sus estacas; en fin, todos los utensilios para el servicio de la Habitación, para el Tabernáculo de Reunión; 41los paños bordados para servicio en el Santuario, y las vestiduras santas para Aarón, sumo sacerdote, y las vestiduras de sus hijos, para ejercer el sacerdocio. 42Conforme a todo lo que había mandado Jehová a Moisés, así hicieron los hijos de Israel toda la obra. 43Y vió Moisés toda la obra; y he aquí que la habían acabado de hacer; como había mandado Jehová, así la habían hecho; y los bendijo Moisés.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 In this account of the making of the priests' garments, according to the instructions given (ch. 28), we may observe, 1. That the priests' garments are called here
clothes of service, Exod 39:1. Note, Those that wear robes of honour must look upon them as clothes of service; for from those upon whom honour is put service is expected. It is said of those that are arrayed in white robes that they
are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple, Revel 7:13,
Revel 7:15. Holy garments were not made for men to sleep in, or to strut in, but to do service in; and then they are indeed for glory and beauty. The Son of man himself
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister. 2. That all the six paragraphs here, which give a distinct account of the making of these holy garments, conclude with those words,
as the Lord commanded Moses, Exod 39:5,
Exod 39:7,
Exod 39:21,
Exod 39:26,
Exod 39:29,
Exod 39:31. The like is not in any of the foregoing accounts, as if in these, more than any other of the appurtenances of the tabernacle, they had a particular regard to the divine appointment, both for warrant and for direction. It is an intimation to all the Lord's ministers to make the word of God their rule in all their ministrations, and to act in observance of and obedience to the command of God. 3. That these garments, in conformity to the rest of the furniture of the tabernacle, were very rich and splendid; the church in its infancy was thus taught, thus pleased, with the rudiments of this world; but now under the gospel, which is the ministration of the Spirit, to affect and impose such pompous habits as the church of Rome does, under pretence of decency and instruction, is to betray
the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and to entangle the church again in the bondage of those carnal ordinances which were imposed only till the time of reformation. 4. That they were all shadows of good things to come, but the substance is Christ, and the grace of the gospel; when therefore the substance has come, it is a jest to be fond of the shadow. (1.) Christ is our great high-priest; when he undertook the work of our redemption, he put on the clothes of service - he arrayed himself with the gifts and graces of the Spirit, which he received not by measure - girded himself with the curious girdle of resolution, to go through with his undertaking - charged himself with the curious girdle of resolution, to go through with his undertaking - charged himself with all God's spiritual Israel, bore them on his shoulders, carried them in his bosom, laid them near his heart, engraved them on the palms of his hands, and presented them in the breast-plate of judgment unto his Father. And (lastly) he crowned himself with
holiness to the Lord, consecrating his whole undertaking to the honour of his Father's holiness: now consider how great this man is. (2.) True believers are spiritual priests. The clean linen with which all their clothes of service must be made is
the righteousness of saints (
Revel 19:8), and
Holiness to the Lord must be so written upon their foreheads that all who converse with them may see, and say, that they bear the image of God's holiness, and are devoted to the praise of it.
32 Observe here, I. The builders of the tabernacle made very good despatch. It was not much more than five months from the beginning to the finishing of it. Though there was a great deal of fine work about it, such as is usually the work of time, embroidering and engraving, not only in gold, but in precious stones, yet they went through with it in a little time. Church-work is usually slow work, but they made quick work of this, and yet did it with the greatest exactness imaginable. For, 1. Many hands were employed, all unanimous, and not striving with each other. This expedited the business, and made it easy. 2. The workmen were taught of God, and so were kept from making blunders, which would have retarded them. 3. The people were hearty and zealous in the work, and impatient till it was finished. God had prepared their hearts, and then
the thing was done suddenly, 2Chr 29:36. Resolution and industry, and a cheerful application of mind, will, by the grace of God, bring a great deal of good work to pass in a little time, in less than one would expect.
II. They punctually observed their orders, and did not in the least vary from them. They did it
according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, Exod 39:32,
Exod 39:42. Note, God's work must be done, in every thing, according to his own will. His institutions neither need nor admit men's inventions to make them either more beautiful or more likely to answer the intention of them.
Add thou not unto his words. God is pleased with willing worship, but not with will-worship.
III. They brought all their work to Moses, and submitted it to his inspection and censure,
Exod 39:33. He knew what he had ordered them to make; and now the particulars were called over, and all produced, that Moses might see both that they had made all, omitting nothing, and that they had made all according to the instructions given them, and that, if they had made a mistake in any thing, it might be forthwith rectified. Thus they showed respect to Moses, who was set over them in the Lord; not objecting that Moses did not understand such work, and therefore that there was no reason for submitting it to his judgment. No, that God who gave them so much knowledge as to do the work gave them also so much humility as to be willing to have it examined and compared with the model. Moses was in authority, and they would pay a deference to his place.
The spirit of the prophets is subject to the prophets. And besides, though they knew how to do the work better than Moses, Moses had a better and more exact idea of the model than they had, and therefore they could not be well pleased with their own work, unless they had his approbation. Thus in all the services of religion we should
labour to be accepted of the Lord. IV. Moses, upon search, found all done according to the rule,
Exod 39:43. Moses, both for their satisfaction and for his own, did look upon all the work, piece by piece, and behold they had done it according to the pattern shown him, for the same Being that showed him the pattern guided their hand in the work. All the copies of God's grace exactly agree with the original of his counsels: what God works in us, and by us, is the fulfilling of the good pleasure of his own goodness; and when the mystery of God shall be finished, and all his performances come to be compared with his purposes, it will appear that behold all is done according to the counsel of his own will, not one iota or tittle of which shall fall to the ground, or be varied from.
V. Moses blessed them. 1. He commended them, and signified his approbation of all they had done. He did not find fault where there was none, as some do, who think they disparage their own judgment if they do not find something amiss in the best and most accomplished performance. In all this work it is probable there might have been found here and there a stitch amiss, and a stroke awry, which would have served for an over-curious and censorious critic to animadvert upon; but Moses was too candid to notice small faults where there were no great ones. Note, All governors must be a praise to those that do well, as well as a terror to evil-doers. Why should any take a pride in being hard to be pleased? 2. He not only praised them, but prayed for them. He blessed them as one having authority, for the less is blessed of the better. We read not of any wages that Moses paid them for their work, but this blessing he gave them. For, though ordinarily the labourer be worthy of his hire, yet in this case, 1. They wrought for themselves. The honour and comfort of God's tabernacle among them would be recompence enough.
If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself. 2. They had their meat from heaven on free-cost, for themselves and their families, and their raiment waxed not old upon them; so that they neither needed wages nor had reason to expect any.
Freely you have received, freely give. The obligations we lie under, both in duty and interest, to serve God, should be sufficient to quicken us to our work, though we had not a reward in prospect. But, 3. This blessing, in the name of the Lord, was wages enough for all their work. Those whom God employs he will bless, and those whom he blesses are blessed indeed. The blessing he commands is
life for evermore.
