Commentaria in Exodum
Verse 4. The blue tunic. We must rather believe St. Jerome alone, to Fabiola, On the Priestly Vestments, where he expressly interprets meil as the blue tunic, but ketonet as the linen tunic, and that it is so is plain from Exodus chap. 39,
6. AND THEY SHALL MAKE THE EPHOD OF GOLD AND BLUE, AND PURPLE, AND TWICE-DYED SCARLET, AND TWISTED LINEN, BY EMBROIDERER’S WORK.—This is the first vestment of the priest, which is called the “superhumeral”; ephod, or, as the Septuagint have it, epomis, and, as Aquila, ependuten, or in Hebrew ephod, that is, a cloak or outer garment, which is put on over others, from the root aphad, that is, to put on over. The ephod, moreover, was a vestment proper to the high priest, which covered both his breast and his shoulders, and was almost like an undergarment woven all round, but wholly open above, as also below. No part of the ephod therefore lay open either on the breast, or on the back, or at the sides; nor was it joined by knots or clasps, so that when these were removed it might be opened: for the ephod was woven and interwoven on every side with a continuous and uniform texture.
Secondly, the ephod extended to the girdle: for with it he was girded.
Thirdly, in the ephod about the breast there lay open a place for the rational to be inserted; hence although the ephod is called by Philo the pectoral, yet it is rather called by the Septuagint, our version and others the superhumeral, because on the shoulders it was woven entire, whereas on the breast there was an open place for the rational.
Fourthly, the ephod had on the shoulders two onyx stones, on which were engraved the 12 names of the children of Israel, as is plain from verse 9.
Fifthly, the ephod was woven and variegated with threads of gold, blue, purple and scarlet, and of embroiderer’s work, as is plain from this verse.
Sixthly, Abulensis and Sixtus of Siena, book 3 of the Bibliotheca, chap. 12, think that the ephod lacked sleeves, and was like a monastic scapular. But it is truer that the ephod had sleeves: for this Josephus expressly teaches. The words of Josephus, if you translate them rightly, are these: “The ephod is made of various colours with gold interwoven; it is so woven below to the measure of a cubit, that about the middle of the breast an opening is left….”
Finally, Philo, book 2 On Monarchy, teaches that the pectoral or ephod was like a breastplate; that the ephod was like a breastplate Josephus also asserts, book 6 of the War, chap. 6. As soldiers, then, are adorned and protected with a breastplate, so are priests with the ephod: for they are the soldiers of God and of the temple, as I have said elsewhere.
BY EMBROIDERER’S WORK,—that is, by work of various colours and threads. Whence the Septuagint call it the woven work of a variegator. For the ephod was woven of a warp of fine linen, and a weft of three colours, namely blue, scarlet and purple, says St. Jerome, with threads of gold intermixed. Such was this ephod, which the high priest alone used. For there was another ephod, of linen, or fine linen, wholly of the purest white, which the inferior priests and Levites used, nay even the laity who in any way served in divine worship, as Abulensis teaches on 1 Kings chap. 22, Question 27. Such was the ephod of Samuel, 1 Kings chap. 2, verse 18, and of the priests slain by Saul, 1 Kings chap. 22, verse 18; such an one David also used, dancing before the ark, 2 Kings chap. 6, verse 14. So St. Jerome to Fabiola, On the Priestly Vestments.
7. THE TWO EDGES SHALL BE JOINED ONE TO THE OTHER AT THE TOP, THAT THEY MAY BECOME ONE.—The Hebrew is, the two shoulder-pieces shall be joined at its extremities, and so it shall be joined together; as if to say: The ephod shall have two edges not under the armpits at the sides, as Abulensis and others suppose, but above, on each part of the shoulders, that through them the high priest may more conveniently put his head in and so put on the ephod: when the high priest had put on the ephod, then these edges were fastened with a clasp. Josephus adds that the two onyx stones on the shoulders, of which verse 9, were in place of clasps.
Hence our Interpreter calls these two edges the edges of the tops, because they were not at the side of the ephod, but at the head and shoulders, while the rest of the body was in the ephod a continuous texture, as I have said: hence the ephod is named from aphad, which signifies not only to put on over, but also to gird or bind close, as is plain from Exodus chap. 29, verse 5; Levit. chap. 8, verse 7, in the Hebrew, because the ephod bound close and wholly girded the looser garments beneath by its close and continuous weaving. So Oleaster, Cajetan. The Septuagint call these two edges two epomides, that is, two parts, namely the front and the back of the epomis.
9. AND THOU SHALT TAKE TWO ONYX STONES.—So others also commonly render. The Septuagint alone render, thou shalt take two emeralds. Josephus calls these onyxes sardonyxes, either from their country, namely because they were brought from Sardis or from their colour, because they were ruddy with the colour of sard, says St. Jerome. Josephus adds that the onyx on the right, whenever the high priest sacrificed, shone with so great a brilliance that it was seen even from afar.
9 and 10. AND THOU SHALT GRAVE ON THEM THE NAMES OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: SIX NAMES ON ONE STONE, AND THE OTHER SIX ON THE OTHER, ACCORDING TO THE ORDER OF THEIR NATIVITY.—The names of the six elder sons of Jacob, namely Ruben, Simeon, Juda, Dan, Nephtali and Gad, were engraved on the right onyx, says Josephus; the other six were engraved on the left, namely Aser, Issachar, Zabulon, Ephraim, Manasses and Benjamin; see about these sons Genes. chap. 29 and 30. For Levi is not numbered among the 12 tribes, though Abulensis numbers him here: but in his place and in the place of Joseph, the two sons of Joseph, namely Ephraim and Manasses, succeeded, adopted as sons by their grandfather Jacob, Gen. chap. 48, verse 5. So Josephus, book 3, chap. 11. For the priest himself, as a Levite, of himself represented his tribe of Levi; whence it would not have been fitting to inscribe Levi on the priest’s vestment.
Mystically, it was signified that the priest by his office ought to pray for each of the tribes of the people, and as it were carry them on his shoulders, that he might be like an Atlas of the people.
11. WITH THE GRAVING OF A JEWELLER.—In the Hebrew, with the openings, that is, engravings, of a seal; as if to say: Thou shalt so engrave these two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel, as a seal is wont to be engraved with the letters and devices of its owner.
SET IN GOLD AND COMPASSED ABOUT.—In the Hebrew it is, surrounded with golden enclosures, or settings.
12. AND THOU SHALT PUT THEM IN BOTH SIDES OF THE EPHOD, A MEMORIAL FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL.—In the Hebrew it is, thou shalt put on both sides of the ephod stones of memorial for the children of Israel, or of the children of Israel; or, as the Chaldee has it, memorial stones for the children of Israel; and that in a threefold way: for, as Bede teaches, book 3 On the Tabernacle, chap. 4, for three reasons Aaron the high priest always bore the names of the Patriarchs on his shoulders, as on his breast, among the sacrifices. The first was, that he might always remember the faith and upright life of the twelve Patriarchs, and imitate it.
The second, that he might be mindful in prayers and sacrifices of the twelve tribes which sprang from these Patriarchs; so St. Jerome. The third, that the people, seeing the names of their fathers written on the vestment of their prelate, might take diligent care not to fall away from their merits and decline to the contagion of errors; so St. Jerome. The fourth, that the high priest may know that the people and those subject to him are to be carried not only on the breast but also on the shoulders: they are carried on the breast when they are loved; on the shoulders, when their burdens are borne, according to that of Galat. chap. 6: “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ.” Thy neighbour groans under the burden of poverty, lighten his burden with alms; he lies under the burden of sickness, raise him up; he lies under the weight of sin, lift him; he is choleric, melancholic, faint-hearted, bear and carry him on the shoulders of safe patience, charity, consolation; so shalt thou fulfil the law of God and of Christ.
Hence allegorically the ephod signified the obedience of the charity of Christ, by which He put His shoulders beneath the cross for our sins, says Rupert; whence the two onyx stones signified the two hemispheres, say Philo and St. Jerome, namely the whole world, for which Christ suffered. So that Abbot in the Lives of the Fathers, book 5, chap. 10, at the end, explaining the habit of the ancient monks, says: “The cowl which we use is a sign of innocence; the scapular, with which we bind our shoulders and neck, is a sign of the cross; the girdle with which we are girded is a sign of fortitude. Let us live, then, according to what our habit signifies: for doing all things with desire, we shall never fail.”