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).

Exodus 39:27 Parallel Commentaries

coats

Exodus 28:39-42 And you shall embroider the coat of fine linen, and you shall make the turban of fine linen...

Leviticus 8:13 And Moses brought Aaron's sons, and put coats on them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets on them...

Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation...

Ezekiel 44:18 They shall have linen bonnets on their heads, and shall have linen breeches on their loins...

Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ to all and on all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Romans 13:14 But put you on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.

Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God...

1 Peter 1:13 Why gird up the loins of your mind, be sober...

fine. The word Shesh seems rather to mean cotton, than either fine linen or silk; called also butz, and by the Greeks and Romans, byssus.