Exodus Chapter 28

“And take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, etc.] Moses is bid to fetch or send for Aaron and his sons to him: or “cause” them to “draw near” f807 to him, and stand before him, that he might in the name of the Lord, and by his authority, distinguish and separate them from among the children of Israel: and before them all invest them with the office of priesthood, as it follows: that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office, before this time every master of a family was a priest, and might and did offer sacrifice, and all the Israelites were a kingdom of priests; and Moses, as Aben…”

“APPOINTMENT TO THE PRIESTHOOD. (Exo. 28:1-43) take thou unto thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him--Moses had hitherto discharged the priestly functions (Psa 99:6), and he evinced the piety as well as humility of his character, in readily complying with the command to invest his brother with the sacred office, though it involved the perpetual exclusion of his own family. The appointment was a special act of God's sovereignty, so that there could be no ground for popular umbrage by the selection of Aaron's family, with whom the office was inalienably established and continued in unbroken succession till…”

“(Compare Exodus 39:1-31.) Moses is now commanded to commit all that pertains to the offerings made to the Lord in the sanctuary to the exclusive charge of the members of a single family, who were to hold their office from generation to generation. In the patriarchal times, the external rites of worship had generally been conducted by the head of the tribe or family, in accordance with the principle involved in the dedication of the firstborn Exodus 13:2; Numbers 3:12-13. Moses, as the divinely-appointed and acknowledged leader of the nation, had, on a special occasion, appointed those who were to offer sacrifice,…”

“Aaron and his sons - Hitherto every master of a family was priest to his own family. But now the families of Israel began to be incorporated into a nation, and a tabernacle of the congregation was to be erected, as a visible centre of their unity, it was requisite there should be a publick priesthood instituted. Moses, who had hitherto officiated, and is therefore reckoned among the priests of the Lord, Psa 99:6, had enough to do as their prophet, to consult the oracle for them, and as their prince, to judge among them. Nor was he desirous to ingross all the honours to himself, or to entail that of the…”

“28:1-43 These glorious and beautiful (28:2) garments for Aaron were to distinguish him as a priest set apart (Hebrew qadash, “consecrated”) for [the Lord’s] service (28:3). The magnificence of these garments is in keeping with the grandeur of the Tabernacle, which functioned as a portable earthly palace for God. There would come a day when Jesus Christ, the true High Priest, would enter the Most Holy Place once for all, and the distinction between priests and people would fade away (Heb 10:11-22). Until that time, human mediators were needed to symbolize the wonderful thing that God was planning to do in the…”

“take: Lev 8:2; Num 16:9-11, Num 17:2-9; Ch2 26:18-21; Heb 5:1-5 among: Exo 28:41, Exo 29:1, Exo 29:9, Exo 29:44, Exo 30:30, Exo 31:10, Exo 35:19; Num 18:7; Deu 10:6; Ch1 6:10; Ch2 11:14; Luk 1:8 Nadab: Exo 6:23, Exo 24:1, Exo 24:9; Lev 10:1, Lev 10:12; Num 2:4, Num 26:61; Ch1 24:1-4 Exodus 28:2”

“(cf. Ex 39:1-31). Appointment and Clothing of the Priests. - Exo 28:1, Exo 28:5. "Let Aaron thy brother draw near to thee from among the children of Israel, and his sons with him, that he may be a priest to Me." Moses is distinguished from the people as the mediator of the covenant. Hence he was to cause Aaron and his sons to come to him, i.e., to separate them from the people, and install them as priests, or perpetual mediators between Jehovah and His people. The primary meaning of cohen, the priest, has been retained in the Arabic, where it signifies administrator alieni negotii, viz., to act as a mediator for…”