Exod. SECT. III. Vestments of the HIGH-PRIEST. To begin, therefore, with the Veftments of the High-Priest; concerning which the Scripture Direction is as follows: God fays to Mofes; Thou shalt make holy garxxviii. 2. ments for Aaron thy brother, for glory, and for beauty. And thou shalt speak unto all that are wife-hearted (skilful in Works of this Kind) whom I have filled with the Spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments, to confecrate him, and that be may minifter to me in the Prief's office. They were, in general, to be rich and ornamental: partly, to make him appear awful and venerable in the Sight of the People; partly, to be a Shadowing and Refemblance, as far as human Skill and Ability could reach, of the Glory of CHRIST; of whom, as a Mediator and Redeemer, by making Atonement for the Sins of the People, the High-Prieft him→ felf was but a Type and Shadow. And thus the Pfalmift, typifing the Purity and Elegance of Manners, in which the the Church ought always to go habited, in order to appear agreeable in the Sight of God, introduces her under the Character of a beautiful Princess, richly and magnificently drefs'd; The king's daughter Pfal. xlv. is all glorious within, her clothing is of 13. wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needle-work. The High-Priest, therefore, was to be gloriously and fplendidly habited upon two Accounts; not only to give a faint Glimmering, and be the Morning Dawn, as it were, of the glorious High-Prieft to come; but by the Magnificence and Splendor of his outward Dress, to fignify that Richness of inward Grace, and Neatness of Soul, which ought to be worn by all those who are Members of CHRIST'S Church, and would qualify themselves for appearing in his Courts. Then follows, the Defcription and Denomination of the feveral Parts of the High-Prieft's Habit. And these are the Exod. garments which thou shalt make; a breast- xxviii. 4. plate, and an * Epbod, and a robe, and a *We have no English Word that answers to this Part of the Drefs; fo that we can have no other Idea of it than what may be form'd from the Defcription here gi ven. broider'd broider'd coat, a mitre, and a girdle. And they shall make the Ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of Scarlet, and fine-twined linnen. It shall have two shoulder-pieces joyned at the two edges thereof; and fo it fhall be joyned together. And the curious girdle of the Ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the fame, according to the work thereof. And thou shalt take two onyx ftones, and grave on them the names of the children of Ifrael: fix of their names on one stone, and the other fix names of the reft, on the other Stone, according to their birth. With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a fignet, fhalt thou engrave the two ftones, with the names of the children of Ifrael: thou shalt make them to be fet in ouches (fockets) of gold. And thou shalt put the two ftones upon the shoulders of the Ephod, for ftones of memorial unto the children of Ifrael. And Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD, upon his two fhoulders, for a memorial. And thou shalt make two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them; and faften the wreathen chains to the ouches. The The use of these chains was to join the And thou shalt make the breaft-plate of --- 15. judgment, after the work of the Ephod, (with the fame Materials.) Four Square it fhall be, being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span fhall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it fettings of ftones, even four rows of stones. The first row fhall be, a Sardius, a Topaz, and a Carbuncle. The fecond row shall be, an Emerald, a Sapphire, and a Diamond. The third row, a Ligure, an Agate, and an Amethyst. And the fourth row, a Beryl, and an Onyx, and a Jafper: They fhall be fet in gold, in their enclofings. And the ftones fhall be with the names of the children of Ifrael, Twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a fignet fhall they be, every one with his name fhall they be, according to the twelve tribes. Interpreters differ much about the proper Names of these Stones; it is therefore very uncertain whether most of them are justly render'd, or not. Indeed, nothing very material depends upon it. But we may take it for granted, whatever they R were, 29. were, that they were* fignificant, in fome Senfe or other; and probably, in the feveral Colours and other Properties of them, bore fome Analogy or Resemblance to the Head of the Tribe, whose Name was engraven on them. It is further faid; And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Ifrael, in the breaft-plate of Judgment, upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the Holy Place, for a memorial before the LORD continually. It is therefore not unlikely, that {this was call'd the Breaft-plate of Judgment, and had the Names of the Twelve Tribes engraven on the Twelve Stones thereof, that both the High-Prieft might thereby be constantly put in mind of the great Charge committed to him; no less than that, of doing all that lay in his Power, to procure the justifying Judgment of God in Favour of his Brethren of the Twelve Tribes; and * Jofephus attributes feveral extraordinary Qualities, both to the Onyxes, upon the Shoulders of the Ephod, and to the twelve Stones in the Breaft-plate. But, as the Scripture makes no mention of them, and be confeffes that they had left their Virtue, upon Account of the Sinfulness of the Jews, two hundred Years before his Time, we fhall take no further Notice of them. to |