Priests don’t go commando

Exodus 28, where Aaron and his sons get fancy clothes

Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as we discover new insights and new perspectives from a very old book.

Exodus 28

I’m reading Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Exodus Chapter 28 has instructions to ordain Aaron and his sons as priests, with, again, exquisite detail about the fancy garb they are to wear. It seems that when the Israelites plundered the Egyptians, they took all the finer things.

I had to look up the meanings of “breastplate of judgment” and “urim and thummim.” It appears that the latter, attached to the breastplate, were a means of divination, possibly to determine “innocent or guilty.”

So, some kind of fortune-telling or parapsychological method was apparently permissible, at least for the High Priest, even though witches weren’t permitted to live.

The end of Chapter 28 had instructions for Aaron and his priestly sons to wear undergarments when performing priestly duties. If they go without, if they “go commando,” then “they will bring guilt on themselves and die.”