Exodus 39:26, commentary and pictures

Exodus 39:26 describes the blue, one-piece robe of the high priest, with bells and pomegranates alternating all around its hem for service, made exactly as God commanded Moses. It shows the sanctuary with all its furnishings and priestly clothing being made just as God directed, carrying out the explicit directions given in Exodus 25 to 31. It gives one of the building particulars of the sanctuary God instructed Israel to build in the wilderness so He might dwell among them. It belongs among the ceremonial laws and instructions connected with sacrifices, offerings, and types, whose old shadows help trace the substance of the new dispensation. The account of making the sanctuary is written for instruction and learning, and faithful obedience in making everything just as directed brought blessing and glory upon the congregation, for the earthly pattern teaches about God's way and Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary.

Place in Exodus Narrative

The robe was blue and woven in one piece. Its hem carried bells and pomegranates placed alternately round about, for ministering in, made as the Lord commanded Moses.

The verse belongs to the closing section of Exodus, chapters 35-40, relating the preparation, making, and fitting of the Tabernacle. It belongs likewise to the building and setting up of the sanctuary recorded in chapters 33-40. That closing preparation falls in the second main division of the book, chapters 19-40, exhibiting the ransomed people bound to Jehovah by solemn covenant and provided with legal ordinances for guidance. In order it comes after the instruction on the mount in chapters 25-31 and after the events of chapters 19-32. The Tabernacle so prepared was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year from the Exodus.

The verse shows the sanctuary with all its furniture, equipment, and priestly clothing being made just as God directed, carrying out the explicit directions given in Exodus 25 to 31. This included the prescribed alternating arrangement of bells and pomegranates around the robe's hem. Its detailed workmanship fits the skilled textile and metal crafts known in the ancient world.

The verse stands within the full description of the sanctuary and its furnishings extending from Exodus 25 to the end of Exodus. That description presents sides and one end of upright boards closely joined in silver sockets and held by bars through rings, with a roof of curtains reaching to the ground. The east end was closed by hangings of fine-twined linen, and a dividing curtain made two apartments with the first twice as large as the second. In that description the inner walls overlaid with fine gold shining with greatest brilliancy represent the reflected light of God's glory in the New Jerusalem. The pure linen ceiling wrought with many angels in needlework represents the angels of heaven waiting upon the bidding of Jehovah.

Sanctuary Purpose and Teaching

The verse gives one of the building particulars of the sanctuary that God instructed Israel to build in the wilderness so that He might dwell among them. That sanctuary made as God's dwelling place among Israel served this purpose in the wilderness and later in the temple. In that wilderness sanctuary worship centered on the holy of holies, with the law of God beneath the mercy seat. The verse is part of the law God gave through Moses, which included ceremonial laws and instructions connected with sacrifices, offerings, and types as well as moral laws.

It belongs among the Mosaic laws that Malachi calls God's people to remember, so the old ceremonies help trace the substance of the new dispensation from the shadows of the old. It belongs to the carrying out of the explicit directions for the sanctuary given in Exodus 25 to 31, showing the sanctuary with all its furniture and equipment being made just as God directed. That faithful obedience in making everything just as God directed brought wonderful blessing and glory down upon the congregation and the building when it was completed. The account of making the sanctuary and its furnishings is part of Scripture written for instruction and learning. The verse's detail about the robe's hem is included in the earthly sanctuary pattern whose service teaches about God's way and Christ's priestly work in the heavenly sanctuary.