Exodus 28-29     Listen

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Urim and Thummim We're not sure what these two items looked like. In addition to Exodus 28:30, they are only mentioned six other times in the Old Testament. These items obviously had much to do with knowing God's will. They were placed into the breastplate of the High Priest beginning with Aaron. Those other mentions of the Urim and the Thummim are found in: Leviticus 8:8, Numbers 27:21, Deuteronomy 33:8, I Samuel 28:6, Ezra 2:63 and Nehemiah 7:65. Upon the return to the land after the exile, we see in Ezra 2:63 and Nehemiah 7:65 that these two items were considered absolutely essential for the complete restoration of worship as it had been originally under Aaron. In the absence of the Ark of the Covenant, along with the Urim and Thummim, the Jews were never able to restore worship patterned after that handed down to Moses and implemented by Aaron.

Just look at those pretty priest clothes (Exodus 28)

1 “Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
2 And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty.
3 So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to consecrate him, that he may minister to Me as priest.
4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest.
5 ¶ “They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen,
6 and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, artistically worked.
7 It shall have two shoulder straps joined at its two edges, and so it shall be joined together.
8 And the intricately woven band of the ephod, which is on it, shall be of the same workmanship, made of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen.
9 ¶ “Then you shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel:
10 six of their names on one stone and six names on the other stone, in order of their birth.
11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall set them in settings of gold.
12 And you shall put the two stones on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. So Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial.
13 You shall also make settings of gold,
14 and you shall make two chains of pure gold like braided cords, and fasten the braided chains to the settings.
15 ¶ “You shall make the breastplate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, you shall make it.
16 It shall be doubled into a square: a span shall be its length, and a span shall be its width.
17 And you shall put settings of stones in it, four rows of stones: The first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and an emerald; this shall be the first row;
18 the second row shall be a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond;
19 the third row, a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst;
20 and the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They shall be set in gold settings.
21 And the stones shall have the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, each one with its own name; they shall be according to the twelve tribes.
22 ¶ “You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end, like braided cords of pure gold.
23 And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.
24 Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate;
25 and the other two ends of the two braided chains you shall fasten to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front.
26 ¶ “You shall make two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it, which is on the inner side of the ephod.
27 And two other rings of gold you shall make, and put them on the two shoulder straps, underneath the ephod toward its front, right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ephod.
28 They shall bind the breastplate by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord, so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod, and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod.
29 ¶ “So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the LORD continually.
30 And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually.
31 ¶ “You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue.
32 There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear.
33 And upon its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around:
34 a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe all around.
35 And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the LORD and when he comes out, that he may not die.
36 ¶ “You shall also make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet:
HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
37 And you shall put it on a blue cord, that it may be on the turban; it shall be on the front of the turban.
38 So it shall be on Aaron’s forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall always be on his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.
39 ¶ “You shall skillfully weave the tunic of fine linen thread, you shall make the turban of fine linen, and you shall make the sash of woven work.
40 ¶ “For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics, and you shall make sashes for them. And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty.
41 So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests.
42 And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs.
43 They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.

We saw the specifications for the Tabernacle in Exodus 25-27 (see notes). Now, Aaron and his sons get tapped to be the priests of Israel, with Aaron serving as the high priest. The ceremony takes place in Leviticus 8 (see notes). His four sons are Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. Just to give you a preview, Nadab and Abihu get cut short in Leviticus 10:1-2 (see notes), leaving only Eleazar and Ithamar to serve with their father Aaron. In this chapter we have a description of the special clothing to be worn by Aaron (the High Priest) and his sons. Aaron's wardrobe was beautiful. Notice Exodus 28:2, "And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty." His clothing was supposed to be impressive looking.

Aaron would appear before God in the Most Holy Place on behalf of all the Hebrews. Notice that he wore the names of all the Tribes of Israel on his chest in Exodus 28:29, "So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the LORD continually." Incidentally, the KJV term "curious girdle" in verse 28 comes from the Hebrew word "khay´-sheb" and means "intricately woven," the term used in the NKJV. The 17th century definition for "curious" included "extremely careful; scrupulous."

Now for the special addition to the breastplate of the High Priest in Exodus 28:30, "And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the LORD. So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel over his heart before the LORD continually." These additions to Aaron's breastplate disappeared at the time of the fall to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. At that time, the Ark of the Covenant (in the Most Holy Place i.e. Holy of Holies) was vanished as well. Neither were restored back to the rebuild of the temple after the exiles returned to Jerusalem. Hence, though they returned to Jerusalem in 535 B.C. (the fall in Jerusalem was consummated in 586 B.C.), worship was never restored to its Aaronic style. Many believe that the Ark of the Covenant was hidden prior to the Babylonian attack.

And think, some people complain about punching a time clock. How would you like to have bells hanging from your clothing that broadcast every movement you make? That's exactly what Aaron had. Why? Look at Exodus 28:35, "And it shall be upon Aaron when he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the LORD and when he comes out, that he may not die. The people outside knew he was working because the bells were ringing. As you can see, if the bells stopped ringing before he emerged from the Holy Place...well...that would be problematic. It is interesting to note that on the one day of the year (Day of Atonement) when the High Priest went into the Most Holy Place, he wore different clothing which he changed into while still standing in the Holy Place (Leviticus 16:4, 23-24, see notes). The people never saw him in this special clothing on the Day of Atonement. By the way, the Day of Atonement was the only time the High Priest entered into the Holy of Holies.

Incidentally, there is an oft-repeated, yet untrue addition to this procedure that a rope was tied to the high priest's ankle for the purpose of pulling the dead man out if the bells stopped ringing. Obviously it's an embellishment based upon Exodus 28:35, but there is absolutely no Biblical record nor Jewish tradition that this ever took place. As a matter of fact, careful examination of the Biblical specifications shows this notion to be impossible, inasmuch as the priest shed the robe with the bells and changed into the special bell-less garment prior to entering the Holy of Holies (Leviticus 16:4, 23-24, see notes).

Here's an interesting verse: Exodus 28:42, "And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs." Special underwear was provided for the priests doing work in the tabernacle. This was a garment that covered them from the waist down to their thighs. And what was the purpose for this special undergarment? Verse 43 says, "They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him." No immodesty permitted in the process of serving in the tabernacle.

Hey! What about shoes? An elaborate-looking outfit like that must have some fabulous shoes with it; right? With all the exact descriptions given in this passage, where's the description of the shoes? Obviously, they wore none; they wore no shoes when they ministered in the tabernacle, and we'll see a confirmation of this in chapter 29 (see below) where blood is placed upon their big toes during consecration. Remember what God said to Moses from the burning bush? Exodus 3:5 (see notes), "Then He said, 'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.'" It seems only appropriate that the priests wear no shoes when they stand on the holy ground of the tabernacle.

Now for the consecration; it's all about blood (Exodus 29)

1 “And this is what you shall do to them to hallow them for ministering to Me as priests: Take one young bull and two rams without blemish,
2 and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil (you shall make them of wheat flour).
3 You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams.
4 ¶ “And Aaron and his sons you shall bring to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and you shall wash them with water.
5 Then you shall take the garments, put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the intricately woven band of the ephod.
6 You shall put the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban.
7 And you shall take the anointing oil, pour it on his head, and anoint him.
8 Then you shall bring his sons and put tunics on them.
9 And you shall gird them with sashes, Aaron and his sons, and put the hats on them. The priesthood shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. So you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.
10 ¶ “You shall also have the bull brought before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the bull.
11 Then you shall kill the bull before the LORD, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
12 You shall take some of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour all the blood beside the base of the altar.
13 And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar.
14 But the flesh of the bull, with its skin and its offal, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.
15 ¶ “You shall also take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram;
16 and you shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood and sprinkle it all around on the altar.
17 Then you shall cut the ram in pieces, wash its entrails and its legs, and put them with its pieces and with its head.
18 And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD; it is a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
19 ¶ “You shall also take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands on the head of the ram.
20 Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, on the thumb of their right hand and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar.
21 And you shall take some of the blood that is on the altar, and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and on his garments, on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him; and he and his garments shall be hallowed, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
22 ¶ “Also you shall take the fat of the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration),
23 one loaf of bread, one cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of the unleavened bread that is before the LORD;
24 and you shall put all these in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and you shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.
25 You shall receive them back from their hands and burn them on the altar as a burnt offering, as a sweet aroma before the LORD. It is an offering made by fire to the LORD.
26 ¶ “Then you shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s consecration and wave it as a wave offering before the LORD; and it shall be your portion.
27 And from the ram of the consecration you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering which is waved, and the thigh of the heave offering which is raised, of that which is for Aaron and of that which is for his sons.
28 It shall be from the children of Israel for Aaron and his sons by a statute forever. For it is a heave offering; it shall be a heave offering from the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, that is, their heave offering to the LORD.
29 ¶ “And the holy garments of Aaron shall be his sons’ after him, to be anointed in them and to be consecrated in them.
30 That son who becomes priest in his place shall put them on for seven days, when he enters the tabernacle of meeting to minister in the holy place.
31 ¶ “And you shall take the ram of the consecration and boil its flesh in the holy place.
32 Then Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
33 They shall eat those things with which the atonement was made, to consecrate and to sanctify them; but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy.
34 And if any of the flesh of the consecration offerings, or of the bread, remains until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
35 ¶ “Thus you shall do to Aaron and his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. Seven days you shall consecrate them.
36 And you shall offer a bull every day as a sin offering for atonement. You shall cleanse the altar when you make atonement for it, and you shall anoint it to sanctify it.
37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy.
38 ¶ “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs of the first year, day by day continually.
39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.
40 With the one lamb shall be one-tenth of an ephah of flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil, and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
41 And the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; and you shall offer with it the grain offering and the drink offering, as in the morning, for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD.
42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the LORD, where I will meet you to speak with you.
43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory.
44 So I will consecrate the tabernacle of meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate both Aaron and his sons to minister to Me as priests.
45 I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God.
46 And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.

This is not your typical ribbon-cutting ceremony. You don't need to get very far into this chapter to realize that this consecration is going to involve animal sacrifice and blood. This is not a new concept to us; at least one animal was sacrificed all the way back in Genesis 3:21 (see notes) to provide clothing for Adam and Eve after they sinned in the garden. Abel, Noah, Abraham - all made animal sacrifices before God. It was a concept with which all the patriarchs were familiar and practiced with regularity. However, this is different. God's new house has a rather large brazen altar designed for the specific purpose of making volume sacrifices on behalf of the people of Israel. Just so there's no misunderstanding the character of their worship, God instructs Moses to consecrate everything having to do with Israel's worship with blood sacrifices. It would appear from this passage that this initial dedication of the tabernacle and the priests was a seven-day ceremony (verse 37).

The first 28 verses in this chapter deal specifically with the consecration of Aaron's sons. Notice that they are washed in verse 4, anointed in verse 7 and we see the sacrificing that was done on their behalf in 10-28. The word "consecrate" in the Hebrew means to "fill" or to "fill one's hand." Literally, this consecration resulted in Aaron and his sons being filled with authority on behalf of the Hebrews. Notice all the places where this blood is sprinkled. It is even sprinkled on the priestly garments, their right ear and their right big toes. I think this confirms that the priests wore no shoes in their priestly duties, don't you? Now wait a minute; let me get this straight. The priests were washed in verse 4, but then stained up again with sacrificial blood along with their garments. I'm going out on a limb here when I speculate that those garments never came completely clean of the blood - beautiful garments, but blood stained right from the beginning. You'll notice in verse 10 that before the bull is slain, Aaron and his sons must lay hands on him. Let there be no question; this bull was slain on their behalf. The same procedure was followed with the ram.

Notice that not all of the bullock sacrifice was burned at the altar (verses 10-14). Most of it had to be taken outside the camp and burned there; that couldn't have been a very pleasant job. The ritual with the two rams was a little different; the whole thing was sacrificed in the tabernacle. With the intentional sprinkling of the blood of the second ram (verse 21), I can assure you that their garments were covered with blood at the end of this ceremony.

Then there's a third part of this offering ceremony, the wave offering involving bread and part of the lamb which are held up before the Lord before they sit down and have a nice lamb meal. So, let's get this straight: the Hebrews are living off of manna while Aaron and his sons are feasting on lamb everyday for a week. Well, what can I say - the job did have its perks. What about the leftovers? Nope - look at verse 33, "...but an outsider shall not eat them, because they are holy."

Now notice Exodus 29:37, "Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and sanctify it. And the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy." Why was the procedure so long to "sanctify" the altar? Let's firmly fix this in the minds of the Hebrews and in our minds: Blood is used to sanctify from sin. Leviticus 17:11 (see notes) says, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul." This was supposed to make a big impression on the Hebrews. It is clear to us that Jesus shedding his blood as the perfect, spotless Lamb of God was the only acceptable means for our redemption. Everything done here simply foreshadows the necessity of the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus would later make by shedding his own blood.

For additional information on these sacrifices, click here to see the notes on Levitical sacrificing.