Exodus 28:8 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Exodus 28:8
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.
a belt or strap (as being interlaced) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
ephod
אֲפֻדָּתוֹ֙'a.fu.da.To
H642
a girding on (of the ephod) · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
work
כְּמַעֲשֵׂ֖הוּke.ma.'a.Se.hu
H4639
an action (good or bad) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
gold
זָהָ֗בza.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
blue
תְּכֵ֧לֶתte.Khe.let
H8504
the cerulean mussel · noun, common feminine singular absolute
purple
וְאַרְגָּמָ֛ןve.'ar.ga.Man
H713
purple (the color or the dyed stuff) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
scarlet
שָׁנִ֖יsha.Ni
H8144
crimson · noun, common masculine singular absolute
twined
מָשְׁזָֽרma.she.Zar
H7806
to twist (a thread of straw) · verb, hophal passive participle, masculine singular absolute
linen
וְשֵׁ֥שׁve.Shesh
H8336
bleached stuff · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 28:27-28 And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over…
Exodus 29:5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him w…
Leviticus 8:7 And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him w…
Exodus 39:20-21 And they made two other golden rings, and put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart of it, over against the oth…
Isaiah 11:5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.
1 Peter 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Je…
Revelation 1:13 And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps wi…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Exodus 28:6-14
Directions are here given concerning the ephod, which was the outmost garment of the high priest. Linen ephods were worn by the inferior priests, Sa1 22:18. Samuel wore one when he was a child (Sa1 2:18), and David when he danced before the ark (Sa2 6:14); but this which the high priest only wore was called a golden ephod, because there was a great deal of gold woven into it. It was a short coat without sleeves, buttoned closely to him, with a curious girdle of the same stuff (Exo 28:6-8); 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, Exo 28:9-12. In allusion to this, 1. Chris…
ephod--It was a very gorgeous robe made of byssus, curiously embroidered, and dyed with variegated colors, and further enriched with golden tissue, the threads of gold being either originally interwoven or afterwards inserted by the embroiderer. It was short--reaching from the breast to a little below the loins--and though destitute of sleeves, retained its position by the support of straps thrown over each shoulder. These straps or braces, connecting the one with the back, the other with the front piece of which the tunic was composed, were united on the shoulder by two onyx stones, serving as buttons, and on which the names of the twelve tribes were engraved, and set in golden encasements.…
The curious girdle of the ephod - The word חשב chesheb, rendered here curious girdle, signifies merely a kind of diaper, or embroidered work; (see Clarke's note on Exo 26:1); and it is widely different from אבנט abnet, which is properly translated girdle Exo 28:4. The meaning therefore of the text, according to some, is this, that the two pieces, Exo 28:7, which connected the parts of the ephod at the shoulders where the onyx stones were set, should be of the same texture with the ephod itself, i.e., of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, embroidered together. But others suppose that some kind of a girdle is meant, different from the abnet, Exo 28:39, being only of plain work…
The Church Fathers
Which ephod is also rightly ordered to be made of gold, blue, purple, twice dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen, that it may be shewn by how great diversity of virtues the priest ought to be distinguished. Thus in the priest's robe before all things gold glitters, to shew that he should shine forth principally in the understanding of wisdom. And with it blue, which is resplendent with aerial colour, is conjoined, to shew that through all that he penetrates with his understanding he should rise above earthly favours to the love of celestial things; lest, while caught unawares by his own praises, he be emptied of his very understanding of the truth. With gold and blue, purple also is mingled: which means, that the priest's heart, while hoping for the high things which he preaches, should repress in itself even the suggestions of vice, and as it were in virtue of a royal power, rebut them, in that he has regard ever to the nobility of inward regeneration, and by his manners guards his right to the robe of the heavenly kingdom. ... But with gold, blue, and purple, twice died scarlet is conjoined, to show that all excellences of virtue should be adorned with charity in the eyes of the judge within; and that whatever glitters before men may be lighted up in sight of the hidden arbiter with the flame of inward love. And, further, this charity, since it consists in love at once of God and of our neighbour, has, as it were, the lustre of a double dye. He then who so pants after the beauty of his Maker as to neglect the care of his neighbours, or so attends to the care of his neighbours as to grow languid in divine love, whichever of these two things it may be that he neglects, knows not what it is to have twice dyed scarlet in the adornment of his ephod. But, while the mind is intent on the precepts of charity, it undoubtedly remains that the flesh be macerated through abstinence. Hence with twice dyed scarlet fine twined linen is conjoined. For fine linen springs from the earth with glittering show: and what is designated by fine linen but bodily chastity shining white in the comeliness of purity? And it is also twisted for being interwoven into the beauty of the ephod, since the habit of chastity then attains to the perfect whiteness of purity when the flesh is worn by abstinence. And, since the merit of affliction of the flesh profits among the other virtues,…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Dye — The art of dyeing is one of great antiquity, although no special mention is made of it in the Old Testament. The Hebrews probably learned it from the Egyptians (see Ex. 26:1; 28:5-8), who brought it…
Embroider — The art of embroidery was known to the Jews (Ex. 26:36; 35:35; 38:23; Judg. 5:30; Ps. 45:14). The skill of the women in this art was seen in the preparation of the sacerdotal robes of the high priest…
Girdle — (1.) Heb. hagor, a girdle of any kind worn by soldiers (1 Sam. 18:4; 2 Sam. 20:8; 1 Kings 2:5; 2 Kings 3:21) or women (Isa. 3:24). (2.) Heb. ‘ezor, something “bound,” worn by prophets (2 Kings 1:8;…
High priest — Aaron was the first who was solemnly set apart to this office (Ex. 29:7; 30:23; Lev. 8:12). He wore a peculiar dress, which on his death passed to his successor in office (Ex. 29:29, 30). Besides…
Teraphim — Givers of prosperity, idols in human shape, large or small, analogous to the images of ancestors which were revered by the Romans. In order to deceive the guards sent by Saul to seize David, Michal…
Colors · furnishing, and priestly vestments and functions, as types and shadows of the atonement — furnishing, and priestly vestments and functions, as types and shadows of the atonement
Ephod · . — .
Ephod, The · For the high priest: Had a girdle of curious work — For the high priest: Had a girdle of curious work
And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it,.... Which was worn along with it, and went out from it like two thongs, as Jarchi says, which girt the ephod close to the back and breast:
shall be of the same; of the same matter as the ephod, and woven in the same manner, and together with it:
according to the work thereof; wrought with the same coloured, curious, and cunning work:
even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; and from the gold in it, it was called a golden girdle, to distinguish it from others, and with it the priest was girt under the arm holes about the paps, to which the allusion is, Revelation 1:13 and is an emblem of the close union of…
And these are the garments. Here again I must remind my readers, that they should abandon all subtle speculations, and be contented with simplicity. I might repeat many plausible allegories, which perhaps would find more favor with some than a sound knowledge of facts. If any should delight in this kind of child's play, let him only read what Jerome wrote to Fabiola; in which he collected almost everything that he possibly could from the writings of others; but nothing will be found except dull trifling, the folly of which it is painful even to report, much more to refute. Those who are conversant with my writings, are aware that I do not willingly find fault with the opinions of others; but…
The first part mentioned of Aaron's holy dress, i.e., of the official dress of the high priest, is the ephod. The etymology of this word is uncertain; the Sept. rendering is ἐπωμίς (Vulg. superhumerale, shoulder-dress; Luther, "body-coat"). It was to be made of gold, hyacinth, etc., artistically woven, - of the same material, therefore, as the inner drapery and curtain of the tabernacle; but instead of having the figures of cherubim woven into it, it was to be worked throughout with gold, i.e., with gold thread. According to Exo 39:3, the gold plates used for the purpose were beaten out, and then threads were cut (from them), to be worked into the hyacinth, purple, scarlet, and byssus. It…
The ephod was a kind of apron consisting of front and back pieces joined by shoulder straps (28:7) and secured by a decorative sash (28:8, 27-28). Perhaps it is mentioned first because it was understood to be the distinctive high priestly garment. The fact that Gideon later made a gold ephod (Judg 8:27) suggests that the garment was thought to have special powers.
Rashi on Exodus 28:8
וחשב אפדתו This signifies, and the girdle by means of which he bedecks it (the ephod) and puts it in order for the priest and adorns him (cf. Rashi on v. 4).
אשר עליו WHICH WAS UPON IT — above on the edge of the apron: this is therefore the girdle.
כמעשהו ACCORDING TO THE WORK THEREOF — as the weaving of the apron — the work of an artist and of the five materials — so the weaving of the belt, also, was the work of an artist and of the five materials.
ממנה יהיה IT SHALL BE OF THE SAME — it shall be woven together with it, and one shall not weave it separately, and join its afterwards.
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
