Biblion Bible Commentary
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Names Carried on the Heart
Exodus 28:15-30
15 “You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman; like the work of the ephod you shall make it; of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, you shall make it. · WEB
Twelve stones are set over the priest's heart and tied so they cannot swing loose, and the means of asking God a question is kept in the same pouch.
You shall make a breastplate of judgment, the work of the skillful workman... It shall be square and folded double Exodus 28:15–16.
A pouch about nine inches square, made of the same materials as the ephod, set with four rows of three stones. The stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names; like the engravings of a signet, everyone according to his name Exodus 28:21.
The names appear twice on the same man. On the shoulders they are grouped six and six on two stones; here each tribe has a stone of its own, and no two stones are alike. Carried as a load, they are one people; carried on the heart, they are twelve distinct names, individually cut, individually set, none merged with another.
They shall bind the breastplate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue... that the breastplate may not swing out from the ephod Exodus 28:28.
The fastening is specified at length, with four rings and two chains and a blue cord, and the reason is given in the last clause. It must not swing loose. Whatever the priest was doing — bending at the altar, turning, lifting — the names stayed against his chest. The design anticipates movement and refuses to let the attachment become approximate.
Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes in to the holy place, for a memorial before Yahweh continually Exodus 28:29.
The same verb as on the shoulders, and the same continually. What the arrangement asserts is that Israel is represented before God permanently and by name, in a place chosen for its associations. Strength carries them in; affection keeps them there.
You shall put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be on Aaron's heart, when he goes in before Yahweh Exodus 28:30.
They are introduced without description, as though everyone knew what they were, and Scripture never says. What can be gathered from the narratives is that they gave answers to questions put to God, that the answers could be yes, no, or nothing at all 1 Samuel 28:6, and that they were the priest's to use rather than the king's. Beyond that the text is silent, and the silence is not accidental: a nation surrounded by divination is given one sanctioned means of inquiry, kept inside the sanctuary, in the pouch that carries the names, and no instructions are recorded for making it work.
Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel on his heart before Yahweh continually Exodus 28:30. The word for the pouch and the word for what he bears are the same. Their case and their verdict rest in the same place as their names.
held with reason What this mark means