THE CURIOUS GIRDLE of the EPHOD Ex
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THE CURIOUS GIRDLE OF THE EPHOD Ex. 28:5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen. 6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work. 7 It shall have the two shoulder pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together. 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. What a strange description for this part of the high priest’s garment, - the curious girdle of the ephod. Yes, the language of the Authorised Version is particularly antiquated here but, I believe, justifiably so. The NKJV translates it “the intricately woven band of the ephod”; the NASV, RSV, NIV, “the skilfully woven band”; Young’s Literal Translation, “the girdle of his ephod”. … It is a particularly exact Hebrew word (bv,xe chesheb {khay'-sheb}) which means a girdle, a band, … truly ingenious work … and the word ‘curious’ whets our appetite to look more into it. This which the high priest only wore was called a golden ephod because much gold was woven into it. It was a short coat without sleeves, buttoned closely to him, with a curious girdle of the same material (vv.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 (vv.9-12). When John was on the Island of Patmos he saw Christ our High Priest standing in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle (Rev. 1:13). This was in fulfilment of Isaiah, 11:1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: 4 But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. In the same way, it should also be the garments of the saved, Eph. 6:14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness. The garment on the shoulders of the high priest continue to point to the Saviour, - Is. 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the 2 government shall be upon his shoulder … In the same way Aaron had the names of all Israel upon his shoulders in precious stone, Christ bears His Church upon His shoulders, - He is holding us up and keeping us to Himself that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:27). The ephod, the curious girdle, and the breastplate were all joined to each other … and they could not be taken apart or divided. Inside the breastplate was kept the Urim and Thummim. … Turn to I Sam. 30 please. There the Amalekites had invaded the south of the country and caused great damage (v.1). They pillaged, and took the women away (vv.2,3). David and his men were absolutely distraught (v.4), - they could only imagine what the Amalekites might be doing with their women! … and David’s two wives were also amongst those who were taken away (v.5). However, the people began to blame David, and they even considered stoning him, why? … v.6 because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters. … Look at those beautiful words though, as to how David faced the opposition, but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God. He then turned to Abiathar. Abiathar was the son of Ahimelech and the eleventh high priest in succession from Aaron, through the line of Eli. He, - Abiathar, - had survived the slaughter of the priests at Nob and fled to David, who was hiding in the cave of Adullam from King Saul (I Sam. 22). To this Abiathar, David said, v.7 I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. 8 And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all. David asked for the ephod, because inside the ephod was the Urim and Thummim. He desired to seek the Lord about the whole difficult situation, - he wanted to know what the Lord would have him do … and it was by the Urim and Thummim the Lord revealed His will … the Urim and Thummim being inside the ephod which was attached to the ‘curious girdle’. This evening, there is too much to start into the study of this curious girdle of the ephod … so we are going to stop there. Perhaps if you have 3 any commentaries at home, you might want to look up information on the curious girdle of the ephod. But just consider our Lord in the picture the Apostle John draws for us, as He stands amidst the lampstands. He is alive, He is the Brother and Companion of all those churches and believers in tribulation. His attention never wavers, He never turns His gaze away. You never have to wonder, “Where is God now?” … because He never leaves you nor forsakes you. There is no problem too difficult that He will abandon you to. You might think you are often in a dark place of despair, but no, when you have the presence of Christ with you, you have the only light that shines, … for the darkness cannot overwhelm Him (Jn.1:5). He is our great High Priest. Standing in all His glory, He is also our glorious risen King … and He is interceding on our behalf, Job. 23:10 he knoweth the way that I take … 28:23 God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. 24 For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven … In the clothing of the ancient high priest we see the Scriptures being fulfilled in our Saviour in Rev. 1. Whether we pray for the work at home or on foreign fields … He is in charge and He takes our prayers as the high priest in the Old Testament would have taken the offerings from the people … but the Lord Jesus, - the great High Priest, - brings all of our prayers made in sincerity and in accordance with His sovereign will and He brings them all before His Father. … What is the conclusion of the matter? It is nothing less than this … Heb. 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. 4 THE GLORY OF THE GOLD ∗ In other words, this robe was made out of both metal and material … The gold was beaten into thin plates, and then cut into wires and woven into the fine linen. ∗ Such intricacy and care and attention were given to the task! ∗ The gold would never fade or corrode, - it speaks of everlastingness, and preciousness, and something that would never lose its value. ∗ The gold points to the eternality of God, Ps. 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God … Jn. 17:5 O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. ∗ … And yet, when we think of linen, - it is a beautiful cloth (e.g. Moygashel linen), - but it is very much an earthly cloth. ∗ Here … in the gold being woven into the linen, we can see the heavenly and the earthly come together … and does it not speak beautifully of the deity and humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ! ∗ He is perfect God and yet perfect man … gold, … and fine linen finely blended together. THE BEAUTY OF THE BLUE ∗ Blue was the colour so often mentioned in both the Tabernacle and its ministry, - in the veil, the curtains, the door and the gate. ∗ Every piece of furniture was covered with a blue cloth when it was being moved. ∗ A blue lace fastened the high priest’s head covering.