Read Exodus 28 here or at Bible Gateway.
The Hebrew paragraphs:
28:1-5 {p} Aaron and his sons as priests / their holy garments
28:6-12 {s} The pattern for the ephod
28:13-14 {s} The pattern for the chain and settings of gold
28:15-30 {s} The pattern for the breastplate
28:31-35 {s} The pattern for the robe of blue
28:36-43 {s} The pattern for the remaining garments
They shall take the gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, and they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen, artistically worked. Exo 28:5-6
ephod: Strong’s H646 אפד ephod, a concrete noun meaning, “priest’s vestment;” of possible foreign derivation, without a primitive verbal root. According to Gesenius, the 3-letter root of the noun is aleph + pey + dalet.
aleph א = the ox head, thus strength, power, leader
pey פ, ף = the mouth, thus open, blow, scatter, edge
dalet ד = the door, thus enter, move, hang
The story: Powerful (aleph) redemption; i.e. an opened (pey) door (dalet). When one is redeemed from slavery, the door is opened so that he can leave. The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon adds, “to bring back to an original state.”
The ephod is a garment unique to the priesthood. It served as a background for the remembrance stones to be borne before YHVH, two on the shoulders and twelve on the breastpiece. But the story of the ephod is a puzzle: powerful redemption? How is a vestment linked to powerful redemption?
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you upon the palms of My hands; your walls are continually before Me. Isa 49:15-16
Engraved, so as to be kept in remembrance, or not forgotten, before YHVH.
If there are questions, these are good resources:
Exo 26:15-28:5 {sx5+p} Strong theme – Christine Miller
Exo 27 and 28, The tabernacle as a prophetic type – Christine Miller
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