Scripture Daily

Context No. 401 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 39:27-31: in context

27They made the tunics of fine linen of woven work for Aaron and for his sons, 28the turban of fine linen, the linen headbands of fine linen, the linen trousers of fine twined linen, 29the sash of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, the work of the embroiderer, as the LORD commanded Moses. 30They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote on it an inscription, like the engravings of a signet: “HOLY TO THE LORD”. 31They tied to it a lace of blue, to fasten it on the turban above, as the LORD commanded Moses.

This passage is part of the careful making of the high priest's garments, the tunics and turban and sash of fine linen, and it comes to rest on one small object with an outsized meaning. They made a plate of pure gold, the text says, and engraved on it, like the engraving on a signet ring, an inscription: Holy to the LORD. And they fastened it with a blue cord to the front of the turban, so that it sat on the high priest's forehead, facing outward, where everyone who looked at him would read it.

Consider where that declaration was worn. Not tucked inside his robe, not on a scroll he carried, but engraved in gold on his forehead, at the very front of him, the first thing anyone saw. The high priest walked through the world with his identity and his belonging announced across his face: holy to the LORD, set apart, belonging to God. It was worn on the head, the place of the mind and the face and the whole public self, and it could not be hidden or set aside. Whoever he met, whatever he was doing, the plate said the same thing about him: this one belongs to God. His deepest identity was not a private matter he kept to himself but a public inscription he could not take off without removing the crown.

That raises a quiet question about my own forehead, so to speak. Every one of us wears some identity at the front, something we lead with, something people read off us first, our work, our reputation, our opinions, our achievements. If there were a plate engraved with what I actually wear at the very front of who I am, the thing I display first and cannot seem to hide, what would it say? And is it anything like holy to the LORD, belonging to God, or is it something else entirely that I have engraved and worn there instead?

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