Exodus 31:10

And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) The cloths of service.—Modern critics generally suppose the state robes of the high priest to be meant (Keil, Knobel, De Wette, Kalisch, Cook); but the Rabbinical interpreters understand the cloths in which the ark and other vessels of the sanctuary were wrapped when the camp was moved from place to place (see Numbers 4:6-13). These, like the cloths here spoken of (Exodus 39:1), were to be of blue, and purple, and scarlet; and it would be natural to distinguish them from the “holy garments,” as is done both here and also in Exodus 35:19; Exodus 39:1; Exodus 39:41. They had, however, not been previously mentioned in the directions. Perhaps the true explanation is, that under the words “cloths of service” (bigdey sĕrâd, or bigdeh hassĕrâd) are included both the garments of Aaron and also those of his sons, the two later clauses of the verse being exegetical of the first clause. In that case, we should translate: The robes of service, both the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and also the garments of his sons. Exodus 39:41 is decidedly favourable to this interpretation.

Benson Commentary

Exodus 31:10. The clothes of service — Wherewith the ark, the table, the candlestick, and golden altar, were covered when the camp removed, Numbers 4:6.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

31:1-11 The Israelites, who had been masons and bricklayers in Egypt, were not qualified for curious workmanship; but the Spirit who gave the apostles utterance in divers tongues, miraculously gave Bezaleel and Aholiab the skill that was wanting. The honour which comes from God, is always attended with a work to be done; to be employed for God is high honour. Those whom God calls to any service, he will find or make fit for it. The Lord gives different gifts to different persons; let each mind his proper work, diligently remembering that whatever wisdom any one possesses, the Lord put it in the heart, to do his commandments.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the cloths of service - Rather, And the garments of office; that is, the distinguishing official garments of the high priest. The three kinds of dress mentioned in this verse appear to be the only ones which were unique to the sanctuary. They were:

(1) The richly adorned state robes of the high priest (see Exodus 28:6-38; Exodus 39:1 following).

(2) the "holy garments" of white linen for the high priest, worn on the most solemn occasion in the year (see Exodus 28:39; Leviticus 16:4).

(3) the garments of white linen for all the priests, worn in their regular ministrations (see Exodus 28:40-41).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. I have given with him Aholiab—He belonged to the tribe of Dan, one of the least influential and honorable in Israel; and here, too, we can trace the evidence of wise and paternal design, in choosing the colleague or assistant of Bezaleel from an inferior tribe (compare 1Co 12:14-25; also Mr 6:7).

all that are wise-hearted I have put wisdom—At that period, when one spirit pervaded all Israel, it was not the man full of heavenly genius who presided over the work; but all who contributed their skill, experience, and labor, in rendering the smallest assistance, showed their piety and devotedness to the divine service. In like manner, it was at the commencement of the Christian Church (Ac 6:5; 18:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The cloths of service, wherein the ark and other sacred utensils were wrapped up when they were to be removed. See Exodus 35:19 Num 4.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the clothes of service,.... Either those the priests ministered in in the time of service, and which they never wore but when in it, and so might with propriety be so called, and what they were the following words explain; or else these were clothes of blue, purple, and scarlet, and coverings of badgers' skins, in which the ark, the shewbread table, the candlestick, and the golden altar, and other instruments of the tabernacle were wrapped, as Aben Ezra observes, when the Israelites journeyed in the wilderness, see Numbers 4:5.

and the holy garments for Aaron the priest; the breastplate, ephod, and robe, the broidered coat, mitre, and girdle, Exodus 28:4.

and the garments of his sons to minister in the priest's office; the bonnets, coats, girdles, and breeches, Exodus 28:40.

Geneva Study Bible

And the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest's office,

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. the garments of plaited (?) work] in the Heb. a peculiar expression, of most uncertain meaning, not found before, but recurring (with the addition, ‘for ministering in the holy place’) in Exodus 35:19, Exodus 39:1; Exodus 39:41†. No root שרד occurs in Heb.: in post-Bibl. Hebrew and Aramaic (see NHWB. iii. 587b) derivatives mean a plaited basket, a sieve, a grating before an oven; Onk. also uses sârâdâ for a grating in Exodus 27:4, and for a hanging in Exodus 27:9, &c.: hence, if the word is correctly handed down,—and it occurs four times,—it can, with our present knowledge, be only explained to mean something of the nature of plaited work. The reference is evidently to the artistically woven garments of the priests (ch. 28). The ‘and’ before ‘the holy garments’ is better omitted, as in Exodus 35:19, and (in the Heb.) Exodus 39:41 : the garments in question were the ‘holy’ ones. LXX. (στολαὶ λειτουργικαί), Pesh. Targ. render garments of ministry (cf. RVm.); either treating שרד, very improbably, as though it were the same as שרת, or finding שרת four times in their MSS. for שרד,—a not less improbable alternative. ‘Finely wrought’ (RV.) yields an excellent sense; but unfortunately has no philological justification.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. The cloths of service. Rather "the vestments of office' - i.e., the distinguishing vestments of the High Priest, which he alone was allowed to wear. These were the blue robe, the ephod, the girdle of the ephod, and the breast-plate (Exodus 28:6-35). The holy garments. The rest of the High Priest's dress - i.e., the linen drawers, the diapered tunic, the inner girdle and the mitre (ib, 39, 43; Leviticus 16:4), which constituted his whole apparel on the great day of atonement. The garments of his sons - i.e, the linen drawers, tunics, girdles, and caps, mentioned in Exodus 28:40, 42.

CHAPTER 31:12-17 Exodus 31:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

There were associated with Bezaleel as assistants, Oholiab, the son of Achisamach, of the tribe of Dan, and other men endowed with understanding, whom God had filled with wisdom for the execution of His work. According to Exodus 38:23, Oholiab was both faber, a master in metal, stone, and wood work, and also an artistic weaver of colours. In Exodus 38:7-11, the words to be executed, which have been minutely described in ch. 24-30, are mentioned singly once more; and, in addition to these, we find in Exodus 31:10 השּׂרד בּגדי mentioned, along with, or rather before, the holy dress of Aaron. This is the case also in Exodus 35:19 and Exodus 39:41, where there is also the additional clause, "to serve (שׁרת ministrare) in the sanctuary." They were composed, according to Exodus 39:1, of blue and red purple, and crimson. The meaning of the word serad, which only occurs in these passages, is quite uncertain. The Rabbins understand by the bigde hasserad the wrappers in which the vessels of the sanctuary were enclosed when the camp was broken up, as these are called begadim of blue and red purple, and crimson, in Numbers 4:6. But this rendering is opposed to the words which follow, and which indicate their use in the holy service, i.e., in the performance of worship, and therefore are quite inapplicable to the wrappers referred to. There is even less ground for referring them, as Gesenius and others do, to the inner curtains of the tabernacle, or the inner hangings of the dwelling-place. For, apart from the uncertainty of the rendering given to serad, viz., netted cloth, filet, it is overthrown by the fact that these curtains of the dwelling-place were not of net-work; and still more decisively by the order in which the bigde hasserad occur in Exodus 39:41, viz., not till the dwelling-place and tent, and everything belonging to them, have been mentioned, even down to the hangings of the court and the pegs of the tent, and all that remains to be noticed is the clothing of the priests. From the definition "to serve in the sanctuary," it is obvious that the bigde serad were clothes used in the worship, στολαὶ λειτουργικαί, as the lxx have rendered it in agreement with the rest of the ancient versions-that they were, in fact, the rich robes which constituted the official dress of the high priest, whilst "the holy garments for Aaron" were the holy clothes which were worn by him in common with the priests.