1And from the cerulean purple, and the red purple, and the double scarlet, they made garments of stuff to serve in the holy place; and they will make the garments of the holy place which are for Aaron, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 2And he will make the ephod, gold, cerulean purple, red purple, and double scarlet, and twisted byssus 3And they will beat out the plates of gold, and it was cut off threads to work in the midst of the cerulean purple, and in the midst of the red purple, and in the midst of the double scarlet, and in the midst of the byssus, a skilful work. 4Shoulders they made to it to join together: upon its two ends it was joined together. 5And the girdle of his ephod which is upon it, this from out of it according to its work; gold, cerulean purple, and red purple, and double scarlet, and twisted byssus, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 6And they will make stones of onyx turned in textures of gold, engraved with engravings of a seal, with the names of the sons of Israel 7He will put them upon the shoulders of the ephod, stones of remembrance to the sons of Israel, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 8And he will make the breast-plate a skilful work, as the work of the ephod; gold, cerulean purple, and red purple, and double scarlet, and twisted byssus. 9It was four-square; they made the breast-plate double: a span its length, and a span its breadth; double. 10And they will fill in it four rows of stone: a row, a ruby, a topaz and an emerald, the one row. 11And the second row, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and an onyx. 12The third row, amber, agate and amethyst 13The fourth row, chrysolite, sardonyx, and jasper: surrounded in textures of gold in their fillings in. 14And the stones according to the names of the sons of Israel; they are twelve according to their names, the engravings of a seal each, according to his name for the twelve tribes. 15And they will make upon the breast-plate, chains, wreathen, a work of interweaving of pure gold. 16They will make two textures of gold, and two rings of gold, and they will set the two rings upon the two ends of the breast-plate 17And they will set the two inter-weavings of gold upon the two rings upon the ends of the breast-plate. 18And the two ends of the two interweavings they set upon the two textures, and they will put them upon the shoulders of the ephod, to the front of its face. 19And they will make two rings of gold, and will put upon the two ends of the breast-plate, upon its lips, which are to the other side of the ephod within it. 20And they will make two rings of gold, and will set them upon the two shoulders of the ephod from below, from the front of its face over against its joinings, from above the girdle of the ephod. 21And they will bind on the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod, by a thread of cerulean purple, to be upon the girdle of the ephod, and the breast-plate shall not be moved from the ephod; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 22And he will make the robe of the ephod a woven work, all cerulean purple. 23And the mouth of the robe in the midst of it as the mouth of a coat of mail, a lip to its mouth round about, it shall not rend. 24And they will make upon the skirts of the robe, pomegranates, cerulean purple, and red purple, and twined double scarlet 25And they will make bells of pure gold, and will set the bells between the pomegranates upon the skirts of the robe, round about between the pomegranates. 26A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, upon the skirts of the robe round about, to serve; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 27And they will make tunics of byssus, a woven work, for Aaron and for his sons. 28And the turbans of byssus, and the beautiful caps of byssus, and the drawers of thread of twisted byssus. 29And the belt of twisted byssus, and cerulean purple, and red purple, and double scarlet, a variegated work; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 30And they will make a brightness, a diadem of the holy place of pure gold, and they will write upon it a writing, the engravings fo a seal, HOLY TO JEHOVAH. 31And they will set upon it a thread cerulean purple to give upon the turban from above; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 32And all the work of the dwelling of the tent of appointment will be completed: and the sons of Israel will do according to all which Jehovah commanded Moses: thus did they. 33And they will bring the dwelling to Moses, the tent and all its vessels; its hooks, its boards, its bars, and its pillars, and its bases; 34And the covering of skins of rams made red, and the covering of tahash skins, and the vail of the covering; 35The ark of the testimony and its bars, and the cover; 36The table and all its vessels, and the bread of the face; 37The pure chandelier, and its lamps; the lamps being set in order, and all its vessels, and the oil of the light; 38And the altar of gold and the oil of anointing, and the incense of aromatics, and the covering for the door of the tent; 39The altar of brass, and the grate of brass which is to it, its bars and all its vessels, and the wash-basin and its foot; 40The curtains of the enclosure, its pillars, and its bases, and the covering for the gate of the enclosure, its cords, and its pegs, and all the vessels of the service of the dwelling for the tent of appointment; 41The garments of stuff to serve in the holy place, and the garments of the holy place for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to be priests. 42According to all which Jehovah commanded Moses, thus the sons of Israel did all the work. 43And Moses will see all the work, and behold, they made it as Jehovah commanded, thus did they: and Moses praised them.
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.