Context No. 2990 of 4322 · Exodus
Context · Reflection
Exodus 28:31-35: in context
31“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. 32It shall have a hole for the head in the middle of it. It shall have a binding of woven work around its hole, as it were the hole of a coat of mail, that it not be torn. 33On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, all around its hem; with bells of gold between and around them: 34a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe. 35It shall be on Aaron to minister: and its sound shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before the LORD, and when he comes out, that he not die.
The high priest's robe is to be all of blue, its collar reinforced so it will not tear, and around its hem an alternating pattern of pomegranates and golden bells. And a striking reason is given: the bells are so that its sound will be heard when Aaron goes into the holy place before the LORD, and when he comes out, that he not die.
That last phrase stops you: that he not die. The bells announced the high priest's every movement in God's presence, a reminder that even the appointed mediator approached the holy God with reverence and care, under the shadow of death. Access to God was real, but it was never casual; there was a right way to come, and it mattered profoundly. This makes the wonder of the new covenant all the sharper, where we now draw near with boldness through a greater High Priest, not because God's holiness has grown less, but because Christ has opened the way and clothed us to enter.
Do I appreciate both the holiness that once made approaching God a matter of life and death, and the grace by which Christ now lets me draw near with confidence?
Sources
- Exodus 28:35: "Its sound shall be heard when he goes in to the holy place before the LORD, and when he comes out, that he not die."
- Leviticus 16:2: "Tell Aaron... that he not come at all times into the Most Holy Place... so that he will not die."
- Hebrews 4:16: "Let's therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace."