You’d expect there to be some blue for the prototype of the One “who came down from heaven.”
Directly underneath the intricately woven and colorful ephod was “the robe of the ephod all of blue” (Ex 28:31), the only garment that has both its neckline and hem described. First, “There shall be an opening for his head in the middle of it; it shall have a woven binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat of mail, so that it does not tear” (v 32). Later, we will be told, “the high priest…shall not…tear his clothes” (Lev 21:10). When our Lord, the true Judge, stood before the false Roman judge, Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (Jn 18:38). When before Herod, the false king, the King of kings said not one word. And when the true High Priest stood before Caiaphas, a political appointee of the Romans, we read, “the high priest tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy!’” (Mt 26:65). This effectively brought to an end the Aaronic priesthood, although they went through the motions for a few more years. On the other hand, even the soldiers knew not to tear Jesus’ tunic, also “without seam, woven from the top in one piece” (Jn 19:23). Lovely, isn’t it? Our true Judge, King, and Priest outshines them all! Now about the hem we read, “make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them” (Ex 28:34). The distinctives of a pomegranate? It’s hard-shelled but, if broken, is full of seed—full of potential. Doesn’t that speak of fruitfulness if we also are broken before Him? And the gold bell speaks of testimony. Was it important? “Its sound will be heard when he goes into the holy place before the Lord and when he comes out, that he may not die” (v 35). Yes, “a golden bell and a pomegranate,” testimony and fruitfulness, profession and reality, should be hallmarks of every believer-priest.