Exodus 39:41
The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office. The cloths of service to do service in the holy place, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and his sons’ garments, to minister in the priest’s office.
Exodus 39:41 records the completion of the service cloths for ministry in the holy place and the sacred garments for Aaron and his sons to serve as priests. It stands in the careful account of the wilderness tabernacle work finished exactly according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. That tabernacle was built from free-will offerings as God's dwelling among Israel, a many-sided object-lesson to teach the plan of salvation to a people unfitted by slavery to understand it. Its furnishings, garments, and rites were a shadow of heavenly things pointing to Christ and His work. Because the earthly house made after that pattern contained two holy places, the great heavenly original contains two corresponding holy places.
Setting and Contents
Exodus 39:41 belongs to the last six chapters of Exodus, chapters 35-40, which relate the preparation and fitting of the Tabernacle. That Tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month of the second year from the Exodus. The building and setting up of the sanctuary recorded in Exodus 33-40 came in chronological order immediately after the events of Exodus 19-32 and the instruction concerning the sanctuary in Exodus 25-31 given to Moses in the mount.
The verse belongs to the account in Exodus 36-39 that sets forth the wilderness tabernacle as a structure of extraordinary magnificence. It was formed of upright boards overlaid with gold, thirty cubits long and about ten in width and ten in height. At the east entrance stood five pillars of shittim wood whose chapiters and fillets were overlaid with gold, with hooks of gold, standing on five sockets of brass. Four coverings were thrown over it, the inner curtain of fine linen embroidered with cherubim in blue and purple and scarlet forming the ceiling, the second of goats' hair, the third of rams' skins dyed red, and the fourth of badgers' skins, with the east end enclosed by a richly embroidered curtain suspended from the pillars.
The verse lists the cloths of service for carrying out service in the holy place and the holy garments made for Aaron and his sons to minister in the priest's office. These service cloths and sacred garments were equipment for worship in the sanctuary, which was God's dwelling place among Israel. They formed part of the completed sanctuary work, whose building and inauguration are described in Exodus 36-40, and belonged to the earthly sanctuary service whose rites and ceremonies served as a shadow of heavenly things and pointed to Christ and His work.
The verse is part of the very minute description in Exodus 25 to 40 of the sanctuary built in the days of Moses. The ark with all its furniture and equipment, including the cloths of service and the holy garments for Aaron and his sons, was made just as God directed in carrying out the instructions given in Exodus 25-31. Moses was instructed to make it exactly according to the pattern shown him in the mount, and the completed work of the tabernacle and its furnishings in Exodus 39:32-43 was inspected by Moses and found to match what God had commanded.
When the work including the cloths and garments was completed as directed, wonderful blessing and glory came down upon the congregation and the building. God's manifested glory in the building and inauguration of the sanctuary and its services showed that He accepted the people's repentance.
The account of these carefully made furnishings and garments is historically plausible because fine linen work, goldworking, and skilled jewelry-making were known long before the exodus.
Heavenly Pattern and Significance
The sanctuary to which the cloths of service and the holy garments belonged was God's dwelling place among Israel. It was built after deliverance from Egyptian bondage from free-will offerings asked of the children of Israel so that God might dwell among them, by workmen whom God specially endowed, according to a divine pattern given in the mount. It was a great multiple object-lesson by various forms and rites to teach the great plan of salvation to a people unfitted by centuries of slavery to comprehend God's salvation and the character He required. The worship and service of that wilderness tabernacle centered on the holy of holies, where God's law rested beneath the mercy seat. The service cloths and the holy garments for Aaron and his sons to minister in the priest's office belonged to the law given through Moses, part of the ceremonial laws setting out offerings, sacrifices, and types whose substance is found in the new dispensation.
The finished tabernacle was erected and then anointed with oil in preparation for the appointed priestly service. That service was carried forward day by day by the priests throughout the year in the court and in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The one year allotted to this ministration closed on the tenth day of the seventh month with a special service. These furnishings and garments belonged to the earthly sanctuary service, whose rites and ceremonies served as a shadow of heavenly things and pointed to Christ and His work.
The tabernacle erected by Moses after inspecting the one shown to him was a correct pattern or model of the heavenly building and consisted of two holy places. Because it is a true copy made exactly according to God's command and pattern, the great original from which it was copied must also contain two corresponding holy places. If the earthly had two and the heavenly had only one there would be perfect dissimilarity instead of likeness.