Exodus 28:15 - Meaning and Application

The high priest’s most important ornament was the breastplate. It was a rich piece of cloth, carefully made with gold, purple, and other fine materials. It was two spans long and one span wide, so when folded in half it formed a square, about one span on each side (Exodus 28:16). It was fastened to the ephod with braided gold chains at the top and bottom, so it would not come loose from the ephod (Exodus 28:13, Exodus 28:14, Exodus 28:22, Exodus 28:28). The ephod was the garment for service, while the breastplate of judgment was a sign of honor. These two should never be separated.

If anyone serves the Lord and does his will, he will also know his teaching. In the breastplate, the tribes of Israel were brought before God’s favor by twelve precious stones (Exodus 28:17-21, Exodus 28:19). Some have wondered whether Levi had a stone with his name on it. If not, Ephraim and Manasseh were counted as separate tribes, as Jacob said they would be. If Levi did have a stone, as seems possible from the fact that the stones were engraved according to birth order (Exodus 28:10), then Ephraim and Manasseh were counted as one in Joseph.

Aaron was to bear their names before the Lord as a lasting reminder, because he was appointed for people in matters that belong to God. In this, he pointed forward to our great high priest, Jesus, who always appears in God’s presence for us. Though the people could not come near, and had to stay at a distance, they were represented by the high priest, whose breastplate carried their names into the holy place. In the same way, believers here on earth, by faith, enter the holy presence and are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6).

Each tribe’s name was engraved on a precious stone to show how valuable believers are in God’s sight and how honored they are (Isaiah 43:4). They will be his when he makes up his treasured people (Malachi 3:17). However small or poor a tribe might seem, it was still a precious stone on the high priest’s breastplate. So all the saints are dear to Christ, and he delights in them as the excellent ones of the earth, though people may treat them like common clay pots (Lamentations 4:2).

The high priest carried the names of the tribes both on his shoulders and on his breast. This shows both the power and the love with which the Lord Jesus prays for his people. He carries them on his heart, full of tender care (Exodus 28:29; Isaiah 40:11). How close Christ’s name should be to our hearts, since he has placed our names so near to his! And what comfort it gives us, in all our prayers, that the great high priest of our confession has the names of all his Israel on his breast before the Lord, as a reminder, presenting them to God as the people he has chosen and accepted in the Beloved. No true Christian should fear that God has forgotten him. We should not doubt that God remembers us in every need, when we are not only engraved on the palms of his hands (Isaiah 49:16), but also on the heart of the great intercessor. See also (Song of Solomon 8:6).

The Urim and Thummim, by which God’s will was made known in difficult cases, were put in this breastplate, which is why it is called the breastplate of judgment (Exodus 28:30). Urim and Thummim mean light and perfection. Learned people have made many guesses about what they were. We have no reason to think Moses had to make anything beyond what had already been ordered. Either God made them himself and gave them to Moses to place in the breastplate after the other parts were prepared (Leviticus 8:8), or the earlier instructions simply pointed ahead to their use.

The words may be understood this way: “You shall give, or add, to the breastplate of judgment the lights and perfections, and they shall be on Aaron’s heart.” That is, he would be given the ability to know and make known God’s mind in hard and doubtful matters, whether about the civil or religious life of the nation. Their government was a theocracy, which means God was their king. The high priest was, under God, their ruler, and the Urim and Thummim were his council. Perhaps Moses wrote these words, or worked them into the breastplate, to show that when the high priest wore it and asked God for guidance in any public matter, he should receive the direction God approved.

If the high priest stood before the ark, but outside the veil, he probably received instruction from the mercy seat, as Moses did (Exodus 25:22). So it seems Phinehas, the priest, did (Judges 20:27-28). If he was far from the ark, as Abiathar was when he asked the Lord for David (1 Samuel 23:6 and following), then the answer may have come by a voice from heaven, or more likely by a strong movement in the high priest’s mind. That may be what is meant by saying, “He shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart.”

This oracle was very helpful to Israel. Joshua consulted it (Numbers 27:21), and likely the judges after him did too. It was lost during the exile and never recovered afterward, though people seem to have hoped for it again (Ezra 2:63). Yet it was only a shadow of better things to come, and Christ is the true reality. He is our oracle. Through him, God has spoken and made himself known in these last days (Hebrews 1:2; John 1:18). God’s revelation centers in Christ and comes to us through him. He is the light, the true light, the faithful witness, and the truth itself. From him we receive the Spirit of truth, who leads us into all truth.

The joining of the breastplate to the ephod shows that Christ’s work as a prophet was founded on his priesthood. It was by the merit of his death that he won this honor for himself and this blessing for us. It was the Lamb who had been slain who was worthy to take the book and open its seals (Revelation 5:9).