Exodus Chapter 28 Verses 13-30  

:13 “And thou shalt make ouches of gold; 14 And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches. 15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. 16 Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.  

17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. 18 And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. 19 And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. 20 And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their enclosings. 21 And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.

22 And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold. 23 And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. 24 And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. 25 And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod before it. 26 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. 27 And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. 28 And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.  

29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually. 30 And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.”

Of all the garments of the High Priest, there is more said of the breastplate of judgment than of any of the other garments.  Now all the garments represented very important things in the work of the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ.  The central theme of the High Priestly work of Jesus Christ is judgment. 

“And thou shalt make ouches of gold; 14 And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathen work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathen chains to the ouches. 15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. 16 Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.”  The main purpose of the ouches of gold and the two chains of pure gold was to tie the breastplate of judgment to the ephod.  The fact is all the work of Jesus Christ in his High Priestly office is tied together.  The fact that both the ouches and the two chains were of pure gold (gold is associated with kings) suggests that the work is performed altogether by the King of kings.  Pure gold suggests there were no impurities in this joining.  This eliminates the works of men working in conjunction with the work of Christ in bringing about this judgment.   

The breastplate of judgment was to be cunning work.  The word, cunning, means to be intertwined.  While there are several parts to this work, yet each part of the work is intertwined with the other parts.   

“After the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it.” Again, like as in the ephod all five colors are a part of the breastplate of judgment.  These all point to the Royal (purple) King (gold=Christ) fulfilling the law (blue) to a jot and a tittle and making the perfect sacrifice on the cross (scarlet) to redeem his people from their sins and to impute his righteousness (white) unto them.  This was the work of our High Priest after the order of Melchisedic (Jesus Christ) who offered himself as a lamb without spot unto God.   

“Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof.”  That the breastplate of judgment is foursquare tells us that the four sides are exactly equal and the corners are of a perfect 90 degrees.  Do we find a passage of scripture that fits the pattern suggested concerning the judgment of God that is foursquare with each side equal?  Yes we find this passage in Romans 8:29, 30: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”  Notice that all that God foreknew have four actions that God takes towards them: They are predestinated, called, justified, and glorified.  Notice that the four actions embrace exactly all that God foreknew.  That is, the same ones he predestinated, he also called, and the same ones he called, he also justified, and the same ones he justified, he also glorified.  Each action embraces the exact same ones that God foreknew without the addition or subtraction of a single one. 

“And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their enclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.”   

In the breastplate of judgment there are 12 names.  These names are the names of the children of Israel.  Each name represents the entire tribe which proceeded from that son of Israel.  Thus the entirety of Israel was embraced by the 12 stones.   

There were four rows of names.  Four in the scriptures is associated with the work of the Holy Spirit.  In type these twelve names which represented all of Israel are typical of the entire family of God who bear the work of the Holy Spirit in that they have been born of the Spirit.   

“They shall be set in gold in their enclosings.” Once again, the use of the metal or color gold, shows us that this work is the work of a king (King Jesus).   

The twelve names were engraved with the engravings of a signet.  This signifies that the stones and their names bear the authority and authenticity of the King who chose them.   

That there are twelve different stones suggests to us that those represented maintained their own identity.  The elect children of God are not going to be clones of one another in heaven.  We will still have our own identity.   

Each of the twelve tribes were engraved on precious stones as all the stones are precious.  In the sight of God all of his children are precious.  

“And thou shalt make upon the breastplate chains at the ends of wreathen work of pure gold. And thou shalt make upon the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate. And thou shalt put the two wreathen chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breastplate. And the other two ends of the two wreathen chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod before it. And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breastplate in the border thereof, which is in the side of the ephod inward. And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, toward the forepart thereof, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod. And they shall bind the breastplate by the rings thereof unto the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.”   

It is abundantly apparent in the above passage that the breastplate of judgment is bound unto the two shoulder pieces of the ephod.  This connects the work of the high priest in bearing the burdens of the twelve tribes with the judgment brought about by the high priest.  Thus, the high priest was to bear the burden of the entirety of Israel and he was to execute the judgment on behalf of the entirety of Israel.  This in turn points us to our High Priest Jesus Christ who bore our sins burden to the cross of Calvary and through his offering of himself as a lamb without spot or blemish he brought eternal judgment to the same ones for which he bore their burdens.   

The coupling was arranged in such a way that the breastplate would not be loosed from the ephod.  Since the names in the ephod and the names in the breastplate are the exact same ones, then the high priestly work was to bring judgment to all that he was to bear their burdens.  If he failed then the work was flawed.  Of course, Christ as our High Priest cannot fail and all for whom he died are brought into a righteous state before God.    

“And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment upon his heart, when he goeth in unto the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.”  Aaron was to have the entirety of Israel upon his heart when he went into the holy place to make sacrifice for them.  If he failed in his duty then he would have come out with a broken heart.  Likewise, Jesus Christ had the entirety of the elect family of God upon his heart when he went to execute the judgment of God upon the cross of Calvary.  If he failed to redeem even one from the wrathful judgment of their sins, then he would have had a broken heart.  Obviously Christ could not fail and did not fail as all those for whom he died are justified from their sins and will live with God in heaven one day.  

“And thou shalt put in the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.”

Urim is the ocular brilliancy of the figures in the high priests breastplate.  Thummin is the epithet of the objects in the high priests breastplate as an emblem of complete Truth.  Sometimes they are referred to as lights and perfection.  The brilliancy associated with the twelve stones in type suggests the glory to be revealed in the children of God at the last day.  Moreover, the work that brought this brilliancy is based on the perfect work of Jesus Christ in keeping the law to a jot and a tittle and presenting himself before God as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of his people.