1And from the blue and the purple and the crimson they made woven garments for serving in the sanctuary. And they made the holy garments which were for Aaron, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 2And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and crimson, and twined bleached linen. 3And they beat out sheets of gold, and cut threads to work into the midst of the blue, and into the midst of the purple, and into the midst of the crimson, and into the midst of the bleached linen, the work of an artisan. 4They made shoulderpieces for it, joined together; it was joined on its two ends. 5And its fastening band was on it; it was of it, like its work, gold, blue, and purple, and crimson, and twined bleached linen, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 6And they made stones of onyx set in plaited work of gold, engraved with engravings of a signet, according to the names of the sons of Israel. 7And he put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 8And he made the breast pocket, a work of an artisan, like the work of the ephod: gold, blue, purple, and crimson, and twined bleached linen; 9it was square. They made the breast pocket double; its length a span and its width a span, doubled. 10And they set it in four rows of stones: one row, the first row: a ruby, a topaz and an carbuncle. 11The second row: a turquoise, a sapphire and a jasper. 12And the third row: a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst. 13And the fourth row: a chrysolite, an onyx, and a jasper; these set in their settings, plaited work of gold. 14And the stones were according to the names of the sons of Israel; they were twelve according to their names, the engravings of a signet, each according to his name, for the twelve tribes. 15And they made cords of chains on the breast pocket, a work of pure gold cords. 16And they made two gold plaitings and two golden rings; and they put the two rings on the two ends of the breast pocket. 17And they put the two golden cords on the two rings, on the ends of the breast pocket. 18And they put the two ends of the two cords on the two plaitings. And they put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, on the front of its face. 19And they made two rings of gold, and they put them on the two ends of the breast pocket, on its edge, on the inward side of the ephod. 20And they made two rings of gold, and they put them on the two shoulderpieces of the ephod from beneath, on the front of its face, near its joining; from above to the band of the ephod. 21And they fastened the breast pocket from its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue ribbon, to be on the ephod band, that the breast pocket not move itself from the ephod, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 22And he made the robe of the ephod, skilled work, all of blue. 23And the mouth of the robe in its middle was like the mouth of a corselet, the edge of its mouth all around, that it might not be torn. 24And they made on the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and crimson, bleached, twined linen. 25And they made bells of pure gold, and they put the bells in the midst of the pomegranates, all around on the hem of the robe, all around, among the pomegranates, 26a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate on the hem of the robe all around for ministering, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 27And they made the tunics of bleached linen, skilled work, for Aaron and for his sons; 28also the miter was of bleached linen, and the turban of the caps of bleached linen, and the breeches of bleached, twined linen. 29And the girdle was of twined bleached linen, and blue, and purple, and crimson, the work of an embroiderer, even as Jehovah commanded Moses. 30And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and they wrote on it the writing of the engravings of a signet: HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH. 31And they put a blue ribbon on it, to fasten it on the miter from above, as Jehovah commanded Moses. 32And all the work of the tabernacle of the congregation was finished, And the sons of Israel did according to all which Jehovah commanded Moses; so they did. 33And they brought the tabernacle to Moses, the tent and all its vessels, its hooks, its boards, it bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, 34and the cover of rams' skins dyed red, and the cover of dugong skins, and the veil of the covering, 35the ark of the testimony, and its poles, and the mercyseat, 36the table and all its vessels, and the Bread of the Presence; 37the pure lampstand, its lamps the lamps of arrangement and all its vessels, and the oil of the light, 38and the altar of gold, and the oil of anointing, and the incense of fragrant spices, and the screen of the door of the tabernacle, 39the bronze altar and bronze grating which was to it, its poles and all its vessels, the laver and its base, 40the screen of the court, its pillars and its sockets, and the screen for the opening of the court, its cords and its pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle for the tabernacle of the congregation, 41the woven garments for serving in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for serving as priests. 42According to all which Jehovah commanded Moses, so did the sons of Israel, all the work. 43And Moses saw all the work. And, behold, they had done it; as Jehovah commanded Moses, so they had done. And Moses blessed 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.