1And of the blue, and purple, and scarlet, they made cloths of service, to do service in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron; as the LORD commanded Moses.

Preparation of the priests' clothes. - Previous to the description of the dress itself, we have a statement in Exodus 39:1 of the materials employed, and the purpose to which they were devoted ("cloths of service," see at Exodus 31:10). The robes consisted of the ephod (Exodus 39:2-7, as in Exodus 28:6-12), the choshen or breastplate (Exodus 39:8-21, as in Exodus 28:15-29), the mel or over-coat (Exodus 39:22-26, as in Exodus 28:31-34); the body-coats, turbans, drawers, and girdles, for Aaron and his sons (Exodus 39:27-29, as in Exodus 28:39-40, and Exodus 28:42). The Urim and Thummim are not mentioned (cf. Exodus 28:30). The head-dresses of the ordinary priests, which are simply called "bonnets" in Exodus 28:40, are called "goodly bonnets" or "ornamental caps" in Exodus 39:28 of this chapter (מגבּעת פּארי, from פּאר an ornament, cf. פּאר ornatus fuit). The singular, "girdle," in Exodus 39:29, with the definite article, "the girdle," might appear to refer simply to Aaron's girdle, i.e., the girdle of the high priest; but as there is no special description of the girdles of Aaron's sons (the ordinary priests) in Exodus 29:40, where they are distinctly mentioned and called by the same name (abnet) as the girdle of Aaron himself, we can only conclude that they were of the same materials and the same form and make as the latter, and that the singular, האבנט, is used here either in the most general manner, or as a generic noun in a collective sense (see Ges. 109, 1). The last thing mentioned is the diadem upon Aaron's turban (Exodus 39:30, Exodus 39:31, as in Exodus 28:36-38), so that the order in which the priests' robes are given here is analogous to the position in which the ark of the covenant and the golden altar stand to one another in the directions concerning the sacred things in ch. 25-30. "For just as all the other things are there placed between the holy ark and the golden altar as the two poles, so here all the rest of the priests' robes are included between the shoulder-dress, the principal part of the official robes of the high priest, and the golden frontlet, the inscription upon which rendered it the most striking sign of the dignity of his office" (Baumgarten).

2And he made the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

3And they did beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in the blue, and in the purple, and in the scarlet, and in the fine linen, with cunning work.

4They made shoulderpieces for it, to couple it together: by the two edges was it coupled together.

5And the curious girdle of his ephod, that was upon it, was of the same, according to the work thereof; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; as the LORD commanded Moses.

6And they wrought onyx stones inclosed in ouches of gold, graven, as signets are graven, with the names of the children of Israel.

7And he put them on the shoulders of the ephod, that they should be stones for a memorial to the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses.

8And he made the breastplate of cunning work, like the work of the ephod; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

9It was foursquare; they made the breastplate double: a span was the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof, being doubled.

10And they set in it four rows of stones: the first row was a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this was the first row.

11And the second row, an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.

12And the third row, a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.

13And the fourth row, a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper: they were inclosed in ouches of gold in their inclosings.

14And the stones were according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet, every one with his name, according to the twelve tribes.

15And they made upon the breastplate chains at the ends, of wreathen work of pure gold.

16And they made two ouches of gold, and two gold rings; and put the two rings in the two ends of the breastplate.

17And they put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate.

18And the two ends of the two wreathen chains they fastened in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulderpieces of the ephod, before it.

19And they made two rings of gold, and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, upon the border of it, which was on the side of the ephod inward.

20And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.

21And they did bind the breastplate by his rings unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it might be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate might not be loosed from the ephod; as the LORD commanded Moses.

22And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue.

23And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend.

24And they made upon the hems of the robe pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen.

25And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates upon the hem of the robe, round about between the pomegranates;

26A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe to minister in; as the LORD commanded Moses.

27And they made coats of fine linen of woven work for Aaron, and for his sons,

28And a mitre of fine linen, and goodly bonnets of fine linen, and linen breeches of fine twined linen,

29And a girdle of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, of needlework; as the LORD commanded Moses.

30And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

31And they tied unto it a lace of blue, to fasten it on high upon the mitre; as the LORD commanded Moses.

32Thus was all the work of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation finished: and the children of Israel did according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did they.

Delivery of the work to Moses. - The different things are again mentioned one by one. By "the tent," in Exodus 39:33, we are to understand the two tent-cloths, the one of purple and the other of goats' hair, by which the dwelling (משׁכּן, generally rendered tabernacle) was made into a tent (אלה). From this it is perfectly obvious, that the variegated cloth formed the inner walls of the dwelling, or covered the boards on the inner side, and that the goats' hair-cloth formed the other covering. Moreover it is also obvious, that this is the way in which האהל is to be understood, from the fact, that in the list of the things belonging to the ohel the first to be mentioned are the gold and copper hooks (Exodus 26:6, Exodus 26:11) with which the two halves of the drapery that formed the tent were joined together, and then after that the boards, bolts, pillars, and sockets, as though subordinate to the tent-cloths, and only intended to answer the purpose of spreading them out into a tent of dwelling.

33And they brought the tabernacle unto Moses, the tent, and all his furniture, his taches, his boards, his bars, and his pillars, and his sockets,

34And the covering of rams' skins dyed red, and the covering of badgers' skins, and the vail of the covering,

35The ark of the testimony, and the staves thereof, and the mercy seat,

36The table, and all the vessels thereof, and the shewbread,

37The pure candlestick, with the lamps thereof, even with the lamps to be set in order, and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for light,

"The lamps of the order," i.e., the lamps set in order upon the candlestick. In addition to all the vessels of the sanctuary, shew-bread (Exodus 39:36), holy oil for the candlestick and for anointing, and fragrant incense (Exodus 39:38), were also prepared and delivered to Moses, - everything, therefore, that was required for the institution of the daily worship, as soon as the tabernacle was set up.

38And the golden altar, and the anointing oil, and the sweet incense, and the hanging for the tabernacle door,

39The brasen altar, and his grate of brass, his staves, and all his vessels, the laver and his foot,

40The hangings of the court, his pillars, and his sockets, and the hanging for the court gate, his cords, and his pins, and all the vessels of the service of the tabernacle, for the tent of the congregation,

"Vessels of service:" see Exodus 27:19.

41The 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.

42According to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the children of Israel made all the work.

43And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them.

When Moses had received and examined all the different articles, and found that everything was made according to the directions of Jehovah, he blessed the children of Israel. The readiness and liberality with which the people had presented the gifts required for this work, and the zeal which they had shown in executing the whole of the work in rather less than half a year (see at Exodus 40:17), were most cheering signs of the willingness of the Israelites to serve the Lord, for which they could not fail to receive the blessing of God.