THE CURIOUS GIRDLE OF THE EPHOD Ex. 28:5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. 7 It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. 8 And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen. What a strange description for this part of the high priest s garment, - the curious girdle of the ephod. Yes, the language of the Authorised Version is particularly antiquated here but, I believe, justifiably so. The NKJV translates it the intricately woven band of the ephod ; the NASV, RSV, NIV, the skilfully woven band ; Young s Literal Translation, the girdle of his ephod. It is a particularly exact Hebrew word (bv,xe chesheb {khay'-sheb}) which means a girdle, a band, truly ingenious work and the word curious whets our appetite to look more into it. This which the high priest only wore was called a golden ephod because much gold was woven into it. It was a short coat without sleeves, buttoned closely to him, with a curious girdle of the same material (vv.6-8). The shoulder pieces were buttoned together with two precious stones set in gold, - one on each shoulder, - on which were engraven the names of the children of Israel (vv.9-12). When John was on the Island of Patmos he saw Christ our High Priest standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle (Rev. 1:13). This was in fulfilment of Isaiah, 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. In the same way, it should also be the garments of the saved, Eph. 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. The garment on the shoulders of the high priest continue to point to the Saviour, - Is. 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the
2 government shall be upon his shoulder In the same way Aaron had the names of all Israel upon his shoulders in precious stone, Christ bears His Church upon His shoulders, - He is holding us up and keeping us to Himself that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:27). The ephod, the curious girdle, and the breastplate were all joined to each other and they could not be taken apart or divided. Inside the breastplate was kept the Urim and Thummim. Turn to I Sam. 30 please. There the Amalekites had invaded the south of the country and caused great damage (v.1). They pillaged, and took the women away (vv.2,3). David and his men were absolutely distraught (v.4), - they could only imagine what the Amalekites might be doing with their women! and David s two wives were also amongst those who were taken away (v.5). However, the people began to blame David, and they even considered stoning him, why? v.6 because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. Look at those beautiful words though, as to how David faced the opposition, but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. He then turned to Abiathar. Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech and the eleventh high priest in succession from Aaron, through the line of Eli. He, - Abiathar, - had survived the slaughter of the priests at Nob and fled to David, who was hiding in the cave of Adullam from King Saul (I Sam. 22). To this Abiathar, David said, v.7 I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. David asked for the ephod, because inside the ephod was the Urim and Thummim. He desired to seek the Lord about the whole difficult situation, - he wanted to know what the Lord would have him do and it was by the Urim and Thummim the Lord revealed His will the Urim and Thummim being inside the ephod which was attached to the curious girdle. This evening, there is too much to start into the study of this curious girdle of the ephod so we are going to stop there. Perhaps if you have
3 any commentaries at home, you might want to look up information on the curious girdle of the ephod. But just consider our Lord in the picture the Apostle John draws for us, as He stands amidst the lampstands. He is alive, He is the Brother and Companion of all those churches and believers in tribulation. His attention never wavers, He never turns His gaze away. You never have to wonder, Where is God now? because He never leaves you nor forsakes you. There is no problem too difficult that He will abandon you to. You might think you are often in a dark place of despair, but no, when you have the presence of Christ with you, you have the only light that shines, for the darkness cannot overwhelm Him (Jn.1:5). He is our great High Priest. Standing in all His glory, He is also our glorious risen King and He is interceding on our behalf, Job. 23:10 he knoweth the way that I take 28:23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven In the clothing of the ancient high priest we see the Scriptures being fulfilled in our Saviour in Rev. 1. Whether we pray for the work at home or on foreign fields He is in charge and He takes our prayers as the high priest in the Old Testament would have taken the offerings from the people but the Lord Jesus, - the great High Priest, - brings all of our prayers made in sincerity and in accordance with His sovereign will and He brings them all before His Father. What is the conclusion of the matter? It is nothing less than this Heb. 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
THE GLORY OF THE GOLD In other words, this robe was made out of both metal and material The gold was beaten into thin plates, and then cut into wires and woven into the fine linen. Such intricacy and care and attention were given to the task! The gold would never fade or corrode, - it speaks of everlastingness, and preciousness, and something that would never lose its value. The gold points to the eternality of God, Ps. 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God Jn. 17:5 O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And yet, when we think of linen, - it is a beautiful cloth (e.g. Moygashel linen), - but it is very much an earthly cloth. Here in the gold being woven into the linen, we can see the heavenly and the earthly come together and does it not speak beautifully of the deity and humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ! He is perfect God and yet perfect man gold, and fine linen finely blended together. THE BEAUTY OF THE BLUE Blue was the colour so often mentioned in both the Tabernacle and its ministry, - in the veil, the curtains, the door and the gate. Every piece of furniture was covered with a blue cloth when it was being moved. A blue lace fastened the high priest s head covering. A blue lace also secured the breastplate to the ephod. Blue was worked into both the ephod and the girdle, whilst the robe was all blue. It was as if blue was involved in everything! In a similar way, the grace of God permeates into every aspect of His people today. The blue speaks of God s grace. Everything God does towards this world is because of grace, - we are saved by grace, kept by grace, sustained by grace Grace! 'tis a charming sound Twas grace that wrote my name In life's eternal book; 'Twas grace that gave me to the Lamb, Who all my sorrows took. Grace taught my wandering feet To tread the pilgrim road; Grace taught my heart to pray, And made my eyes o'erflow; 'Tis grace which kept me to this day, And will not let me go. There is no salvation outside of God s grace, - the reason for God s salvation is His grace In just the same way God used the blue in the 4
5 high priest s garments and the tabernacle grace is the vehicle of God s goodness and favour towards His children. God s grace runs through our salvation from the very moment we are saved and even from before, Eph. 2:8 by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Woven throughout our salvation, - like the blue in the high priest s garments, - is God s grace. The glory of the gold, the beauty of the blue THE PRINCELINESS OF THE PURPLE Purple is the colour of the kings. Judges 8:26 speaks about the purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian Esther 8:15 And Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white, and with a great crown of gold, and with a garment of fine linen and purple Mk. 15:17 And they clothed him with purple, and platted a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, 18 And began to salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! It pointed to the Saviour, Is. 9:6 unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom. Lk. 1:31 thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: 33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Pilate demanded an answer from Him, Jn. 18:37 Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world. The glory of the gold, the beauty of the blue, the princeliness of the purple THE SIMPLICITY OF THE SCARLET The only place Moses would find the scarlet dye in the wilderness was in a little worm/grub that grows on the back of the desert cactus; you would gather these little worms, squeeze them in your hands and you would produce this scarlet dye! Obviously, your hands would be covered in scarlet these little grubs/worms all squeezed
6 Ps. 22 begins, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Obviously these words are prophetic, relating to Christ on the cross. Look at v.6, But I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people. On the cross Jesus was squeezed until the blood flowed from His precious body. In just the same way the worm on the desert cactus was squeezed, the Saviour was crushed and squeezed on the cross. Now look what has happened the whiteness of the purity of the fine linen coat has been covered, - it is the complete opposite of what Christ has done for us in salvation He has taken from off us the filthy rags and covered us with His pure white robes of righteousness but it meant our Saviour had to become filthy in order to make us clean! And all the pieces of cloths were woven in one piece, - it was seamless ( with cunning work, Ex. 28:6). Every part of God s plan is seamlessly interwoven, - it has no divisions or variances every part of God s plan is as one! The ephod had a hole in the top through which the head passed, and it had a neckband that was bound to the strength of habergeon (to an armoured plate or a coat of mail standard) that it be not rent (28:32), - you could not tear it! Surely this speaks to us of the impossibility of man to hinder the work and plan of God in Christ, Lk. 4:3 the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. Lk. 23:35 the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. Lk. 23:36 the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, 37 And saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. Despite all their if s the will and plan and power and purposes of God could be not rent (Ex. 28:32). Only one more item needs to be considered in regard to the robe of the ephod, - the hem that had the golden bells and pomegranates alternating all the way round. They were made of blue, purple and scarlet. They acted as pads between each of the bells so that the bells would not clash against each other.
7 The simplest idea behind the pomegranates is their fruitfulness. In Num. 13:23 we read of the two spies speaking about the fruitfulness of the land, And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates. In Songs 6:11 I went down into the garden of nuts to see the fruits of the valley, and to see whether the vine flourished, and the pomegranates budded 7:12 Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether the tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth. Yes, the pomegranates speak of fruitfulness, - the fruitfulness of all that Christ achieved. He made peace for us through the cross, and now He is interceding for us. We have peace with God only through Him and the fruitfulness of His labours. And in between the pomegranates, - the symbol of peace and righteousness, - are the golden bells, (28:34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about. 39:26 A bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, round about the hem of the robe). Do you see the detail God included in this part of the garment? He had a reason for everything. There would be a sound from these bells, but because they had the pomegranate between them there would be no discord. Each of the bells had its own unique and distinct sound that came together beautifully, especially as the high priest ministered in the Holy place where the golden altar of intercession, the candlestick, and the table of showbread were. The ordinary men were not permitted to enter but they could hear the sound of the high priest s robe as he served before God, interceding on their behalf. Christ is interceding on our behalf this evening. The prayers we offer up are taken by Him and presented before the altar of God in Heaven. We have every confidence He hears our prayers just as Daniel prayed believingly, 9:17 Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake. 18 O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. 19 O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
8 CONCLUSION The writer to the Hebrews could see by faith, 8:1 this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; 2 A minister of the sanctuary. And here, - in our prayer meeting this evening, - what is the consequence of having such a High Priest, Heb. 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.