What Does Exodus 28:43 Mean?
And they will be on Aaron, and on his sons, when they come into the tent of meeting, or when they draw near to the altar to serve in the set-apart place, so that they do not carry crookedness and die. It will be a statute for the ages to him and to his seed after him.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they come in unto the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die: it shall be a statute for ever unto him and his seed after him.THE KEY
At the threshold, the covering is part of the priest’s service: without it, nearness becomes guilt and death.
THE MEANING
Nearness to what is set apart is embodied: the garment covers the body as service begins. The boundary carries real consequence in the verse, guilt and death, and its rule continues through the generations that follow.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The body does not become irrelevant at the threshold of sacred service; its covering belongs to the approach.
THE ROOT
יִשְׂאוּ
yisʾu
GROWS FROM
נשא
נָשָׂא (nasaʾ): to lift, carry, or take up.
“carry” in this verse is yisʾu. The same root can describe carrying a load: מַשָּׂא (massaʾ) means “burden” or “load.” So “bear iniquity” holds both culpability and carrying; the verse presents the uncovered approach as a liability with death as its consequence.
ALSO GROWS
massaʾ: burden, load
מַשָּׂא
This noun from נשא makes the carrying in “bear iniquity” concrete: liability is something taken up.
nasiʾ: leader, prince; one raised up
נָשִׂיא
This title shares the root נשא and preserves its sense of being lifted up, another branch of the root’s movement.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
קָדַשׁ (qadash): to set apart, designate as sacred.
“set-apart place” in this verse is qodesh. English makes “holy” sound like a quality and “holy place” like a location, but both grow from the root קדש, “set apart.” The verse presents nearness as entry into a place marked by that boundary.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: set apart, sacred
קָדוֹשׁ
This adjective shares קדש and describes what bears the place’s defining quality.
miqdash: sanctuary
מִקְדָּשׁ
This noun shares קדש and names a place designated for sacred use.
qiddesh: set apart, consecrate
קִדֵּשׁ
This verb shares קדש and describes the act of marking something for sacred use.
THE PATTERN
Covering meets exposed nakedness at the threshold of presence, keeping exposure from defining the encounter.
And the LORD God made tunics of skin for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.He puts on the set-apart linen tunic, and linen breeches are upon his flesh, and he is girded with a linen sash and dressed in a linen turban. These are set-apart garments, so he washes his flesh in water and then puts them on.I counsel you to buy gold from me that has passed through the fire, that you may be enriched, and white garments that you may be wrapped in, and that the shame of your bareness not be shown. Rub eye salve into your eyes, that you may see.THE THREAD
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the plunder with the strong, because he poured out his living soul to death, and was counted with the rebels. He carried the falling short of many, and for the rebels he stepped in.Exodus uses נשא (nasaʾ, “carry”) for what the priest must not bear; Isaiah uses the same root when the servant “bare the sin of many.” One verse makes bearing iniquity a consequence that ends in death, while the other places bearing the many’s sin beside a life poured out to death.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us