Exodus 29:5, commentary and pictures

The verse directs Moses to clothe Aaron in the coat, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate in that order, and to fasten him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. It belongs to the seven-day rite by which Aaron and his sons were washed, clothed, anointed, and offered for to set them apart to serve as priests by the Lord's command. It is a ceremonial regulation given through Moses and written in the law of ordinances, not part of what God spoke from heaven and wrote on the two tables of stone to which He added no more. Those garments and that earthly order were an object lesson of God's plan for dealing with sin, serving unto the shadow of heavenly things and pointing to the true tabernacle where Jesus now ministers. The Levitical service so appointed could only exhibit guilt and death and its sacrifices could take away no sin, while Christ as great High Priest died once for all and now ministers before God to offer pardon and save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him.

Wording and Setting

The verse commands taking the garments and putting upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and girding him with the curious girdle of the ephod, in that prescribed set order. It gives part of the precise instructions for dressing Aaron as priest and high priest for service in the sanctuary before the ark, belonging to the ministry of the Levitical priesthood performed in the earthly sanctuary. It belongs to the ceremony of consecration and ordination by which Aaron and his sons were set apart to serve as priests, when the garments described in Exodus 28 were put upon Aaron. That consecration was a seven-day rite establishing their priesthood with sacrifices and anointing by the Lord's command, and its rites of priestly service were not for anyone else to perform unless the Lord especially directed it.

These instructions were given to Moses on the mount during his forty days there in thick darkness. They were given after Israel's covenant was ratified and after the people stood afar off asking Moses to hear God for them, and before the sanctuary was built and set up. They belong to the forty-day revelation in Exodus 24:9 to 31:18, within the chiefly legislative division of Exodus in chapters 19-40 where the ransomed people were bound to Jehovah by solemn covenant and given legal ordinances and a system of legal ordinances for their guidance.

The verse is part of the minute, detailed description of the tabernacle in Exodus 25-31 and Exodus 25-40, the portable inner tabernacle erected in the wilderness at God's command that God might dwell among his people. After God brought Israel from Egyptian bondage across the Red Sea to Sinai, the people wrought exactly according to the divine pattern shown in the mount, with free-will offerings of the children of Israel and specially endowed workmen. This was because hundreds of years of long slavery had unfitted them to comprehend God's great salvation and the character He required. That portable sanctuary, generally meant by the word sanctuary, was later replaced when Solomon built the temple, and in both buildings earthly worship centered on the holy of holies where the law of God rested with the mercy-seat over it.

The precise, costly, and beautiful workmanship of the high priest's special dress, befitting his exalted station and appointed in accordance with his office, shows God's care for the details of worship and that the sanctuary and its priesthood and priestly service were arranged by God's instruction, not human choice. Studying these carefully detailed plans and services gives instruction, though the full reasons for the exactness and costly materials may not be understood. The priests were first cleansed with water and then clothed in specially prepared garments. Aaron's high-priestly clothing was distinguished from the other priests by the breastplate, which held the Urim and Thummim, and the priests' garments of pure white linen signified the purity of their character and work.

Typology and Teaching

The clothing of Aaron in its prescribed order belongs to the detailed instructions for preparing the sanctuary service, forming part of the earthly object lesson through which God revealed his plan for dealing with sin and bringing salvation, a service joining divine work with the cooperation of the people. Those explicit directions for the sanctuary and its priesthood were given to Moses in the mount, and after God brought Israel out of Egypt across the Red Sea to Sinai the people in the wilderness wrought exactly according to Exodus 25 to 31 to fashion a dwelling-place that God might dwell among them. That marvelously beautiful structure described in Exodus 25-40 was given after deliverance from Egyptian bondage because hundreds of years of slavery had unfitted Israel to comprehend God's great salvation and the character He required, and it was built from free-will offerings with a divine pattern and specially endowed workmen as a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites comprehending the plan of salvation. So appointed, the earthly sanctuary and its priests served unto the shadow of heavenly things, as object lessons pointing to the Lamb of God and His power to forgive sin, transform character, and deliver from burden.

The sanctuary thus built for ministry involving sacrifices and offerings typified the heavenly temple where Jesus now ministers, and its service ended when Christ died once for all. It foreshadowed the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man. The dressing of Aaron belongs to the ministry of the Levitical priesthood performed in that earthly sanctuary, whose full description from Exodus 25 to the end of the book gives the exact form of the two kinds of atoning service performed for the errors of the people. That order was set apart to minister before the ark containing the law in the most holy place of the typical sanctuary while it should continue.

That ministration could only exhibit the guilt, condemnation, and death of sinful Israel under the holy law, with no promise of pardon in itself. Its sacrifices could take away no sin but could only point penitent sinners forward to the great Sacrifice to be offered for the sins of men. In contrast, Christ the life-giving Spirit and great High Priest died for the human family and now ministers in the heavenly sanctuary before the ark of God's testament to offer pardon, hope, and salvation and to save to the uttermost all who come to God through Him. The clothing and consecration of Aaron for priestly service included sacrifices in which consecration blood touched the right ears, right thumbs, and right great toes of Aaron and his sons, marking ears, hands, and feet as devoted to God's service. Unleavened bread in that ceremony represented sincerity and truth, the priests' bearing of the sacrifice's right shoulder pictured their duty to bear the people's burdens, and anointing oil and blood represented the Holy Spirit and Christ's blood, which qualify God's servants for holy work.

Law and Application

Exodus 29:5 gives a ceremonial instruction in the law given through Moses, directing that Aaron be dressed in the garments of the priesthood, and it shows that the law of Moses included ceremonial regulations as well as moral commandments. It belongs to the law of ordinances, which was written out after the moral law when the record reached the time of Moses. It was not part of what God spoke directly from heaven to the assembly and wrote on the two tables of stone, to which He added no more, but part of the precepts, statutes, and laws commanded by the hand of Moses and recorded chiefly in Exodus 25-30 and Leviticus. That instruction was given through Moses during the forty days in the mount in thick darkness, after the people stood afar off and asked Moses to hear God for them. It stands among the many burdensome ceremonies and carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation, a yoke which neither the fathers nor their children were able to bear, distinct from the ten commandments.

It belongs to a separate set of laws God gave to regulate the worship of Israel, distinct from the set He gave in Exodus 21 to 23 for civil government. It shows that religion and civil government have essentially different purposes and must operate on entirely separate lines, with any commingling producing discord detrimental to both. Civil government is a temporary arrangement of force made necessary by sin to control men and regulate their relations toward each other in this life only, while true Gospel religion is designed to persuade men to be reconciled to God and bring them back to Him. In directing the dressing of Aaron in priestly garments as he was set apart for sacred service, the verse illustrates sanctification as setting a person apart for a holy or religious use.

Its directions establishing Aaron and his sons as priests and prescribing the rites of priestly service show that these rites were not for anyone else to perform unless the Lord especially directed it. The order for putting the priestly garments on Aaron was the coat, the ephod robe, the ephod, and the breastplate, followed by fastening the ephod's skillfully woven sash. These same offerings and consecration were required for the cleansed leper, showing that even the humblest child of God must be as devoted and consecrated as Christ.