5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod:

6 And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.

7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.

9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them: and the priest’s office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.

We hear how the clothes we heard of last chapter are placed upon the priests, and these verses appear to give the correct order in which articles would be put on. First the coat as the bottom layer, then the robe and the ephod. Next the breastplate would be secured to the front, and all the layers would be fastened by the girdle. The mitre would be placed upon the head, and finally the golden plate inscribed with HOLINESS TO THE LORD would be tied to the mitre as a holy crown.

There was a proper order to getting dressed, just as there would be a proper order to every ritual performed at the tabernacle. The priest would have to dress himself correctly each morning to be ready to conduct himself rightly in his duties. Just as every article of clothing needed to be applied in its proper time and place, so must the affairs of our lives be properly ordered and timed as well.

Verse 7 also mentions the anointing with oil, which is the touch of the divine to complete the adornment of the priests. They would put themselves in order, then God would enrobe them in His spirit to be fully ready.

As I read through the rest of the process, I will treat it as a symbol for all of us in our approach to the Lord. The first step, as we have already seen, is to set ourselves in order and clean up our act as best we can. Just for following our conscience in this way, God will make His spirit rest upon us, like the anointing of oil. So prepared, we will be ready to progress further towards Him.