Garments of the Priests

There were special garments appointed for the priests in general, which they call Cahanaeae, that is, priestly garments; and others for the high priests, which they call Cahanaeae Rabbae, meaning the high priest’s garments. The dress of the ordinary priests was as follows. When a priest approaches the sacrifices, he purifies himself with the purification the law prescribes. Then, first of all, he puts on what is called the Machanase, a word meaning something tied fast. It is a loincloth of fine twisted linen, sewn to go around the private parts, with the feet passed through it as into breeches. It is cut off above the middle of the leg, and at the top it reaches the flanks and is tied tight around them. [a]

Over this he wore a linen garment made of fine flax, doubled. It is called Chethone, which means linen, for we call linen chethone. This garment reaches down to the feet and fits close to the body, and its sleeves are tied tight around the arms. It is belted around the chest a little above the armpits with a sash that goes around many times. The sash is about three inches wide, but woven so loosely that you would think it was the skin of a snake. It is embroidered with flowers of scarlet and purple and blue and fine twisted linen, though the warp was nothing but fine linen. Its winding begins at the chest; when it has gone around many times it is tied there and then hangs loose down to the ankles. I mean while the priest is not busy with any heavy work, for hanging this way it looks most handsome to those watching. But when he has to help with the sacrifices and carry out the appointed service, he throws it over to the left and carries it on his shoulder, so that its swinging will not get in the way of his work. Moses calls this belt Albaneth; but we have learned from the Babylonians to call it Emia, for that is their name for it. This garment has no loose folds or openings anywhere, except a narrow opening at the neck; and it is tied with strings that hang from the edge over the chest and the back and are fastened above each shoulder. It is called Massabazanes. [d]

On his head he wears a cap. It is not shaped into a cone, and it does not enclose the whole head, but it still covers more than half of it. It is called Masnaemphthes. It is made so that it looks like a crown: it is built of thick bands, but the fabric is linen, wound around many times and sewn together. Over it a piece of fine linen covers the whole cap from the top and reaches down to the forehead, hiding the seams of the bands, which would otherwise look unsightly. It sits close on the solid part of the head and is fixed there so firmly that it cannot fall off during the sacred service at the sacrifices. So we have now shown you the dress of the ordinary priests.

The high priest wears the same garments we have described, without leaving out a single one. But over them he puts on a robe of blue. This too is a long robe reaching to his feet; in our language it is called Meeir. It is tied around with a sash embroidered with the same colors and flowers as the first, with gold woven in. From the hem of this robe hang tassels colored like pomegranates, with golden bells, in a skillful and beautiful arrangement: between two bells hangs a pomegranate, and between two pomegranates a bell. This robe was not made of two pieces, nor was it sewn together at the shoulders and the sides. It was one long garment, woven with an opening for the neck — not a slanting one, but split along the chest and the back. A border was sewn onto it so that the opening would not look unsightly. It was also split where the hands came out. [f]

Besides these, the high priest put on a third garment, called the ephod, which resembles the Greek epomis. It was made this way. It was woven to a depth of a foot and a half, of many colors with gold worked in, and embroidered; but it left the middle of the chest uncovered. It had sleeves too, and in its make it looked no different from a short tunic. Into the open space of this garment was fitted a piece about nine inches across, embroidered with gold and the other colors of the ephod. It was called Essen, which in Greek means the Oracle. This piece exactly filled the open space in the ephod. It was joined to it by golden rings at every corner, with matching rings fixed to the ephod, and a blue ribbon was used to tie them together through the rings; and so that the space between the rings would not hang loose, they filled it in with stitches of blue thread. [g]

There were also two sardonyxes on the ephod at the shoulders, fastening it as buttons do, with each end running to the gold settings of the sardonyxes so that it could be buttoned by them. On these were engraved the names of the sons of Jacob, in the letters and the language of our own country, six on each stone, one stone on either side; and the names of the elder sons were on the right shoulder.

There were also twelve stones on the breastplate, extraordinary in size and beauty, an ornament no one could buy, because of their immense value. These stones stood three to a row in four rows, and were set into the breastplate itself. They were set in gold settings, which were themselves fixed into the breastplate, and they were made so that the stones could not fall out. The first three stones were a sardonyx, a topaz, and an emerald. The second row held a carbuncle, a jasper, and a sapphire. The first of the third row was a ligure, then an amethyst, and third an agate, the ninth of the whole number. The first of the fourth row was a chrysolite, the next an onyx, and then a beryl, the last of all. On these stones were engraved the names of those sons of Jacob whom we regard as the heads of our tribes, each stone having the honor of one name, in the order in which they were born. Since the rings were too weak by themselves to bear the weight of the stones, they made two larger rings at the edge of the part of the breastplate that reached toward the neck, worked into the very fabric of the breastplate, to take finely made chains. These joined them by golden bands to the tops of the shoulders, and the end of each turned backward and went into the ring on the projecting back part of the ephod. This was to secure the breastplate, so that it could not slip out of its place. A sash was also sewn to the breastplate, of the colors already mentioned with gold worked in. After going once around, it was tied again over the seam and hung down. There were also golden loops at each end of the sash that took in its tassels and enclosed them completely.

The high priest’s headdress was the same one we described before, made like that of all the other priests. Above it there was another, with bands of blue embroidery, and around it was a crown of polished gold in three tiers, one above another. Out of this rose a gold cup shaped like the plant we call saccharus, though those Greeks who are skilled in botany call it hyoscyamus. Now, there may be some who have seen this plant but have not been told its name and do not know its nature, or who know its name but do not recognize the plant when they see it; for such people I will describe it. This plant often grows taller than two feet. Its root is like a turnip’s — anyone who compared it to one would not be mistaken — and its leaves are like those of rocket. From its branches it puts out a calyx clinging to the branch, and a husk covers it, which it sheds naturally when it is changing in order to produce its fruit. This calyx is the size of the bone of the little finger, but around its opening it is like a cup. I will describe this further, for the benefit of those who do not know it. Suppose a sphere is cut in two, round at the bottom, with another part growing up from that bottom into a circle; suppose it narrows little by little, so that its hollow becomes neatly smaller, and then gradually widens again at the rim, as we see in the navel of a pomegranate with its notches. Such a husk does in fact grow over this plant, making it a hemisphere, turned, one might say, exactly on a lathe, with its notches standing up above it. These, as I said, grow like a pomegranate’s, except that they are sharp and end in nothing but prickles. The fruit is protected by this husk of the calyx, and the fruit is like the seed of the plant sideritis. It puts out a flower that might seem to resemble a poppy’s. From this a crown was made, reaching from the back of the head to each of the temples. But this ephielis — for so the calyx may be called — did not cover the forehead. The forehead was covered with a golden plate, on which the name of God was inscribed in sacred letters. Such were the ornaments of the high priest. [k]

Here one may well wonder at the ill will people bear toward us, which they claim to bear because we despise the Deity they profess to honor. For if anyone will only consider how the tabernacle was built, and look at the garments of the high priest and at the vessels we use in our sacred service, he will find that our lawgiver was a divine man, and that we are unjustly reproached by others. Anyone who looks at these things without prejudice and with judgment will find that every one of them was made to imitate and represent the universe. When Moses divided the tabernacle, which was 45 feet long, into three parts and gave two of them to all the priests, as a place unconsecrated and common, he signified the land and the sea, since these are open to everyone; but he set the third part apart for God, because heaven is beyond the reach of human beings. When he ordered twelve loaves to be set on the table, he signified the year, divided into that many months. By making the lampstand branch out into seventy parts he hinted at the decans of the planets; and the seven lamps on the lampstand referred to the courses of the planets, for that is their number. The curtains, too, woven of four materials, declared the four elements. The fine linen was fit to signify the earth, because flax grows out of the earth; the purple signified the sea, because that color is dyed with the blood of a sea shellfish; the blue is fit to signify the air; and the scarlet will naturally stand for fire. The high priest’s garment, being linen, signified the earth; the blue one signified the sky, resembling lightning in its pomegranates and thunder in the sound of its bells. The ephod showed that God made the universe out of four elements, and the gold woven into it, I suppose, referred to the splendor by which all things are lit. He also placed the breastplate in the middle of the ephod to resemble the earth, for the earth holds the very middle place of the world. The sash that went around the high priest signified the ocean, for the ocean goes around and encloses the whole. Each of the sardonyxes — I mean those on the high priest’s shoulders that served as buttons — shows us the sun and the moon. As for the twelve stones, whether we take them to mean the months or the same number of signs in the circle the Greeks call the zodiac, we will not mistake their meaning. And the headdress, being blue, seems to me to mean heaven; how else could the name of God be inscribed on it? That it was also adorned with a crown, and a golden one, is because of the splendor in which God delights. Let this explanation be enough for now, since the course of my history will give me many opportunities to say more about the excellence of our lawgiver. [n]