I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Exodus 28-29.

    Today’s passage describes the outfits which were to be made for Aaron and his sons to wear as priests. These read as being as beautiful as the description of the Tabernacle (although, I think I would view them as a bit gaudy). They were designed to mark the priests as being different from the average people. I could be mistaken, but these articles of clothing strike me as being impractical to wear for anyone who was not a priest. Just like the Tabernacle (perhaps even more so), these clothes were designed with symbolism. There were multiple gemstones sewn into the garments designed to remind the priest, and the people, that the priest represented ALL of the people of Israel, not just some of them.

    Once the design of the priestly garments was fully described, instructions for their ordination and dedication as priests was given. The ordination procedure was designed to show that those who were called to be priests were ordinary men who needed to be set aside in order to fill the role of priest. They were not priests because they were better than other men. They were priests because God had chosen them, for reasons of His own. Before the ordination, they were nobody special. After the ordination, they were only special because God had set them aside for Himself. In the same way, we who follow Christ are not special because of anything about ourselves. Anything about us which is special is because God has set us apart as His. We have no way to know who else God will choose to set aside as His, so we should not think that what God has done makes us better than others.