THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #176 | THE LIFE OF MOSES #157
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3862
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #176
THE LIFE OF MOSES #157
MOSES AT MT.SINAI#56
THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES ( Part 15)
THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IN THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS
The Breastplate of the High Priest is also called the Breastplate of Righteousness.
Because of this, some scholars point to Paul's teaching on the whole armour of God in Ephesians 6 as being based on the High Priest's ephod and not on the Roman soldier's outfit as is commonly taught.
This hypothesis is itself an interesting study on its own.
But for our purposes I will draw attention to only one piece of the High Priest's attire - the Breastplate.
THE BREASTPLATE IN THE O.T.
1. Exodus 28:4
And these are the garments which they shall make:
a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash.
So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons,
that he may minister to Me as priest.
2. Exodus 28:15
You shall make the breastplate of judgment.
Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it:
of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread,
and fine woven linen, you shall make it.
3. Exodus 28:22-30
22 “You shall make chains for the breastplate at the end,
like braided cords of pure gold.
23 And you shall make two rings of gold for the breastplate,
and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.
24 Then you shall put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings
which are on the ends of the breastplate;
25 and the other two ends of the two braided chains
you shall fasten to the two settings,
and put them on the shoulder straps of the ephod in the front.
26 “You shall make two rings of gold,
and put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the edge of it,
which is on the inner side of the ephod.
27 And two other rings of gold you shall make,
and put them on the two shoulder straps,
underneath the ephod toward its front,
right at the seam above the intricately woven band of the ephod.
28 They shall bind the breastplate
by means of its rings to the rings of the ephod, using a blue cord,
so that it is above the intricately woven band of the ephod,
and so that the breastplate does not come loose from the ephod.
29 “So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel
on the breastplate of judgment over his heart,
when he goes into the holy place,
as a memorial before the Lord continually
30 And you shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim,
and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before the Lord.
So Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel
over his heart before the Lord continually
4. Leviticus 19:15
You shall do no injustice in judgment.
You shall not be partial to the poor,
nor honor the person of the mighty.
In righteousness, you shall judge your neighbor.
The priests are to be righteous before God. They cannot show favoritism towards the rich and despise the poor! They have to pray for every tribe in the community regardless of their financial status. Not one less.
A high priest does not have a holier-than-thou attitude towards others. He ministers to everyone, and bears their names and burdens over his heart. There is no discrimination or bias against anyone.
THE BREASTPLATE IN THE N.T.
Righteousness is the ability to stand before an all-holy God without fear or favour.
We have no righteousness of our own. If we stand before God we shall surely fall into our " fallen" state of sin. But we have the imputed righteousness of Christ and are accepted in the Beloved Son of God.
In Him, we can stand in righteousness before God as He was the only sinless Man who ever walked on earth.
Let's look at Jesus, our High Priest:
Matthew 4:23-24
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom,
and healing all kinds of sickness
and all kinds of disease among the people.
Then His fame went throughout all Syria;
and they brought to Him all sick people
who were afflicted with various diseases and torments,
and those who were demon-possessed, epileptics, and paralytics;
and He healed them.
Deuteronomy 6:25
Then it will be righteousness for us,
if we are careful to observe all these commandments
before the Lord our God,
as He has commanded us.
Luke 1:5-6
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea,
a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah.
His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was
Elizabeth.
And they were both righteous before God,
walking in all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blameless.
But a Gentile Roman soldier does not have any righteousness on his breastplate. Neither does he desire to keep the commandments of God!
So it is thought that Paul would use the better example of the High Priest's Breastplate which is truly called the Breastplate of Righteousness - as he stood in God's presence representing the 12 tribes on his shoulders and over his heart as symbolised by the breastplate of precious gems including the Urim and Thummrim.
Conclusion
It is not my purpose to say that the teachings of the armour of God today - based on a Roman soldier's armour in Paul's time - are wrong.
But it is very plausible that Paul was actually referring to the Breastplate of the High Priest as the Breastplate of Righteousness in Ephesians 6:14
"Having put on the breastplate of righteousness”
(Ephesians 6:14)
In fact, the whole armour of God that Paul refers to could well be modeled on the High Priest's vestments from head to toe.
