Catholic Commentary
Crafting the Ephod and Its Onyx Stones
1Of the blue, purple, and scarlet, they made finely worked garments for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as Yahweh commanded Moses.2He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen.3They beat the gold into thin plates, and cut it into wires, to work it in with the blue, the purple, the scarlet, and the fine linen, the work of the skillful workman.4They made shoulder straps for it, joined together. It was joined together at the two ends.5The skillfully woven band that was on it, with which to fasten it on, was of the same piece, like its work: of gold, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, as Yahweh commanded Moses.6They worked the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, engraved with the engravings of a signet, according to the names of the children of Israel.7He put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Exodus 39:1–7 describes the construction of the ephod, the high priest's sacred vestment made with interwoven gold thread, colored linen, and two onyx stones engraved with the names of Israel's twelve tribes. The passage emphasizes craftsmen's obedient adherence to God's design, with Aaron wearing the tribal names as memorial stones that bring Israel before God's presence.
The high priest carries Israel's name into God's presence, making intercession not through words but through the weight of identity borne on his shoulders.
Commentary
Exodus 39:1 — The Obedience Frame The passage opens with a summary declaration before zooming in on the ephod specifically. The triple mention of "blue, purple, and scarlet" — the colors of heaven, royalty, and sacrifice — establishes the vestments as worthy of the holy place. The repeated refrain "as Yahweh commanded Moses" (vv. 1, 5, 7) is not a liturgical formula inserted by a bored scribe; it is the theological spine of the entire passage. The craftsmen's obedience is itself an act of worship. Nothing is improvised. Everything proceeds from prior divine speech.
Exodus 39:2 — The Ephod's Material Composition The ephod (Hebrew 'êphôd) was a short, apron-like vestment worn over the robe, held in place by shoulder straps and a band. The addition of gold to the four standard liturgical materials here — unique to the ephod among the vestments — signals its supreme rank. Gold in the Tabernacle consistently marks the innermost, most sacred spaces and objects (the Ark, the Mercy Seat, the Menorah). Its incorporation into the high priest's garment signals that Aaron himself, in liturgical function, inhabits that sacred innermost sphere.
Exodus 39:3 — Hammered Gold Woven into Cloth This verse describes an extraordinary craft technique: gold was beaten into thin plates and then cut into wire-like threads to be woven together with the textile fibers. This is not gold embroidery applied on top of cloth; the gold is structurally integrated into the very fabric. The phrase "work of the skillful workman" (Hebrew maʿăśēh ḥōshēb, literally "work of a thinker/deviser") designates the highest tier of weaving — a figured, patterned weave requiring artistic intelligence, not merely manual repetition. The artisan, here, is a figure of wisdom at work in matter.
Verses 4–5 — Structural Integrity and the Woven Band The shoulder straps are not accessories; they are load-bearing elements that unite the front and back panels of the ephod. The "skillfully woven band" (ḥēsheb ha-'êphôd) formed an integral part of the same weave — same materials, same craftsmanship — rather than a separate belt attached later. This unity of construction mirrors the unity of function: no element of the high priest's vestment is incidental. The entire garment operates as a unified sacred object, and its integrity matters before God.
Exodus 39:6 — The Engraved Onyx Stones The two onyx stones are set in gold and engraved "with the engravings of a signet" — that is, with the same precision used to cut a personal seal. Six tribal names were inscribed on each stone (Exodus 28:9–10 specifies the arrangement by birth order). In the ancient Near East, a signet ring bore the name or image that gave legal authority and personal identity to its owner. To engrave Israel's tribal names in this manner is to declare each tribe a legal, recognized, named entity before God — not an anonymous mass, but twelve distinct communities held in permanent memorial.
Exodus 39:7 — Stones of Memorial The phrase "stones of memorial" ('avnê zikkārôn) is theologically charged. The root zākar — to remember — when applied to God's action means active, redemptive intervention (cf. Genesis 8:1, Exodus 2:24). When Aaron wears these stones into the Holy Place, he brings the names of all Israel before the face of God. He does not merely represent Israel sociologically; he enacts their being-remembered by God. The high priest's body becomes a living petition: these twelve names, pressed upon his shoulders, cry out silently in the presence of the divine glory.
Catholic Commentary
Catholic tradition reads the Aaronic high priesthood as a foreshadowing — a "type" (typos) — of Christ's eternal high priesthood, developed most fully in the Letter to the Hebrews. The Catechism teaches that "the Church, in the course of centuries, has developed its understanding" of how the Old Covenant "foreshadows" the New (CCC §128–130), and that typological reading is not an imposition but a recognition of God's consistent pedagogical pattern in history.
The ephod's supreme significance lies in Origen's insight (Homilies on Exodus, Hom. 13): the high priest who carries the names of Israel on his shoulders into God's presence is an image of Christ who, in his Incarnation, "takes upon his shoulders" the whole weight of humanity and carries it into the sanctuary of the Father. Origen sees the twelve tribal names engraved in gold as a figure of Christ's knowledge of and love for each particular soul — not humanity in the abstract, but named individuals.
St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologiae I-II, Q. 102, Art. 5) reads the vestments of the high priest as ordered to three ends: beauty befitting the holy place, signification of Christ's virtues, and instruction of the people. The woven gold, he argues, signifies the radiance of divine wisdom integrated into the humanity of Christ — not added externally, but woven into his very nature through the Incarnation.
The engraved "stones of memorial" anticipate the intercessory dimension of Christ's eternal priesthood: "He always lives to make intercession" for those who approach God through him (Heb 7:25). Moreover, Catholic teaching on the ministerial priesthood — developed in the Second Vatican Council's Presbyterorum Ordinis — affirms that ordained priests act in persona Christi Capitis, carrying the People of God before the Father in every liturgical act, precisely as Aaron carried Israel's names on his shoulders.
For Today
Every Catholic attending Mass participates in the reality this passage foreshadows. When a priest vests for the Eucharist, the Church's tradition of liturgical vesture is not aesthetic custom but theological statement: the garment marks a person who now acts in a representative, mediatorial capacity, carrying the assembly before God. The rubrical care priests are asked to bring to vesting — kissing the stole, praying the vesting prayers — recovers exactly the intentionality that these verses demand of Israel's craftsmen.
But the memorial stones speak to laypeople too. Aaron wore twelve names so that no Israelite, however obscure, was forgotten before God. Catholics are invited to recover the practice of bringing specific names — of the sick, the grieving, the departed, the estranged — into prayer, particularly at Mass. To intercede is to engrave a name on your heart and carry it into God's presence. The ephod reminds us that intercession is not sentiment but priestly act — one in which, by baptism, every Catholic shares (cf. 1 Pet 2:9: "a royal priesthood").
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