Exodus 29:5-6

INVESTITURE

"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 skillfully woven band of the ephod; and thou shalt set the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre."

As Rawlinson noted, there are actually nine steps in the investiture of Aaron:

1. Putting on the linen tunic.

2. The girding with the under-girdle.

3. Putting on the robe of the ephod.

4. Putting on the ephod.

5. Girding with the curious girdle of the ephod.

6. Putting on the breastplate.

7. Putting the Urim and Thummin into the breastplate.

8. Putting on the mitre.

9. Putting the gold plate "Holy to Jehovah" on the mitre.[7]

Numbers (2) and (7) are here omitted, due to the abbreviated nature of these initial instructions. Fields pointed out that the omission of (2), the breeches, was due to the fact that the priests put on the breeches themselves, whereas God mentioned here only those things that "Moses was to put upon them."[8]

There is a remarkable description of the Christ arrayed in the regal splendor of his heavenly garments in Revelation 1, resembling in a superficial way the splendid attire of Aaron; and due to this, some have mistakenly assumed that our Lord is there depicted as our great High Priest. However, it is not as High Priest, but as Judge of all the earth, that Jesus appears there. The dominant feature that proves this is the sharp, two-edged sword that went out of the mouth of Jesus.