Scripture Daily

Context No. 974 of 4322 · Exodus

Context · Reflection

Exodus 28:1-5: in context

1“Bring Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, near to you from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office: Aaron, with Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar, Aaron’s sons. 2You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. 3You shall speak to all who are wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron’s garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. 4These are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a fitted tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest’s office. 5They shall use the gold, and the blue, and the purple, and the scarlet, and the fine linen.

God calls Aaron and his sons to serve as priests, and the first thing he addresses is what they will wear. Make holy garments for Aaron, he says, for glory and for beauty, a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a tunic, a turban, and a sash. And he tells Moses to give the work to the skilled craftsmen, those he has filled with the spirit of wisdom, so their skill will sanctify the priest for his service, worked in gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine linen.

Two small phrases in these verses open up. The first is for glory and for beauty. The priest's garments were not merely functional; they were deliberately beautiful, made of rich materials and fine work, because approaching God was worth clothing in glory and beauty. God cares about beauty in worship, not as vanity but as a fitting response to who he is. The second is that the craftsmen who made the garments were filled with the spirit of wisdom, the same phrase used of prophets and leaders. Skilled handwork, weaving and metalwork and embroidery, is here called a gift of God's Spirit, a kind of wisdom. The person with a craft in their hands is not less spiritual than the person with words in their mouth; God fills the artisan too, and their careful, beautiful work becomes an act of holy service. The making of a garment, done with skill for God's glory, is itself a ministry.

Do I treat my own skill, whatever it is, as a gift of God's Spirit to be offered for his glory, or as something merely practical, unconnected to worship?

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