What Does Exodus 31:10 Mean?
And the woven garments, and the set-apart garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to serve as priest.
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 the cloths of service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons, to minister in the priest’s office,THE KEY
The garments make the priestly calling visible: what is set apart for service is carried on the body.
THE MEANING
Service here has a visible shape: the garments are set apart for Aaron and his sons as they serve in the priestly role. The work is not abstract; the clothing bears the role into view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that sacred service is only an inward intention: the role is materially clothed and visibly carried.
THE ROOT
לְכַהֵן
lekahen
GROWS FROM
כהן
k-h-n
To serve as a priest; to carry out priestly service.
“serve as priest” in this verse is lekahen. The word rendered “minister” here means serving as a priest. The same root names the priest and the priestly office, joining the role to its action: the priestly calling is the work in motion.
ALSO GROWS
kohen: Priest; one who serves in the priestly role.
כֹּהֵן
The person named by this root is the one whose service the verse describes.
kehunah: Priesthood; the priestly office or service.
כְּהֻנָּה
This branch names the office that the garments help make visible.
קֹדֶשׁ
qodesh
GROWS FROM
קדש
q-d-sh
To set apart, consecrate, or dedicate.
The word translated “holy” belongs to the same root as the word for sanctuary. The garments carry this set-apart quality into the visible work of service.
ALSO GROWS
qadosh: Set apart; holy.
קָדוֹשׁ
It names the quality the garments bear in this verse.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a set-apart place.
מִקְדָּשׁ
It shows the same root marking a place as the garments mark the priestly service.
THE PATTERN
A calling becomes visible through what is put on for its work.
And you will make set-apart garments for Aaron your brother, for weight and for adornment.I will exult greatly in the LORD; my living soul shall leap in my God; for he has clothed me in garments of deliverance, he has wrapped me in the robe of alignment, as a bridegroom dons a headdress, and as a bride binds on her jewels.So put on, as the chosen of God, set apart and beloved, the bowels of compassion, kindness, lowness of mind, gentleness, and slowness to heat.THE THREAD
And you will make set-apart garments for Aaron your brother, for weight and for adornment.Exodus 28:2 uses the same set-apart root, קדש (q-d-sh), for Aaron’s garments and names their purpose as glory and beauty. It shows that the clothing is part of how the consecrated role becomes perceptible.
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