After giving Mo'ses full directions for building a place of worship, the LORD gave further instructions concerning the services to be held in the Tabernacle. The first requirement for these services was that there should be a High Priest, who would represent both the LORD and the people as a mediator, and who would have charge of all the ministrations within the House of God and its court. The High Priest was to have the assistance of other priests in carrying on the Tabernacle services.
The LORD Himself chose Aa'ron as High Priest, and directed that his sons be appointed to assist him. It was His order that the office of High Priest should be continued in Aa'ron's family, and that the eldest son of each successive generation should be appointed to this office. The LORD also directed that all the male descendants, from one generation to another, were to be priests. Thus the priesthood of Is'ra-el was to remain in Aa'ron's family, and was to be limited strictly to his descendants. The appointment of any man outside the Aa'ron-ic family to the priesthood was to be unlawful, and death was the penalty for any person who attempted to fill this office without being properly anointed.
Divine directions were given for an elaborate and impressive ceremony by which Aa'ron should be inducted into his office as High Priest, and for the dedication of his sons to the work of the priesthood. Aa'ron was to be gorgeously arrayed in specially prepared garments and bedecked with certain jewels as a sign of his office. Divine instructions were given in regard to all these details. His sons were also to have specially prepared garments and distinctive marks of office, and these were all prescribed by the LORD.
The distinguishing garments and jewels which were to be prepared for Aa'ron were: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a girdle, a turban, two onyx stones, and twelve precious stones embedded in the breastplate. Underneath these garments he wore a close fitting coat of white linen.
For the sons of Aa'ron, the priestly garments consisted of coats of white linen, bonnets of similar material, a turban, a girdle, and fine linen breeches. These were all prepared, as the LORD directed, from the finest materials and by the most skilled workmen of Is'ra-el.
Aa'ron's robe was an upper garment made of one piece entirely woven without the use of a needle, with an opening at the top well hemmed to prevent rending; with arm-holes, but without sleeves, and blue in color. The fringe at the bottom was richly decorated with artificial pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet, and little golden bells placed between each pair of pomegranates.
This robe distinguished the wearer as one whose duty was to preserve and declare God's truth. Made of one piece, it symbolized the unity of God's revelations, one in spirit and beauty and authority; God's word is all Truth, not partly true and partly false, not partly human and partly Divine, and not partly beautiful and partly unseemly. The color, which was the same as the lofty firmament of the Heavens, indicated that the Truth of God is the highest, purest, and only eternal revelation given to man.
The ornaments on the fringe of Aa'ron's robe also had an important meaning. Pomegranates, with their pleasant odor, their sweet, refreshing juice, and the richness of their delicate meat, symbolized the refreshing, strengthening power of the Word of God as the spiritual food for His children.
