6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cunning work.

7 It shall have the two shoulderpieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together.

8 And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to the work thereof; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

Today we hear the details of the ephod and the girdle that the priests wore. The ephod, once again, was a sort of apron that was the priest’s outer layer of clothing, worn above the robe and coat. The girdle was a sash, bound around the waist to secure the layers of clothing against the body.

These two articles of clothing were to be made with linen, dyed in colors of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, woven together in a cunning pattern. There is an immediate connection between this and the inner curtains and walls of the tabernacle. Recall that the instructions for those included that they be made, “of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet.” Also, just as the tabernacle followed that first layer with others of goats’ hair, rams’ skin, and badgers’ skin, similarly the priest had other layers with their robe and their coat.

These similarities in design would have had the aesthetic effect of binding the personage of the priest to the place of his duties. One could tell at a glance that the man belonged with the tabernacle because of their similar adornment. There is also a symbolic lesson, wherein it is suggested that the body of the man was the tabernacle of the Lord, meant to house the same holy and most holy places that the constructed building did. Paul made this very point in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you.”

In fact, the one difference between the priest’s clothes and the curtains was that the clothes added the extra color of gold. This might suggest that the person was an even holier tabernacle than the physical edifice. While the Israelites would construct this new tabernacle, God had already constructed the human tabernacles, propping them up with bones instead of boards of shittim wood, covering them with human skin instead of badgers, topping them with human hair instead of goats. Man was made for the same purpose as the tabernacle, to be a house of the most holy of places. A sacred structure wherein resides the presence of the Lord.