Clothes

The medieval commentators, most famously Rashi, tried to describe the ephod and the choshen by reconciling the various biblical accounts. Azariah dei Rossi (ca. 1511–ca. 1578) argues that such efforts are futile; only eyewitness reports are helpful.

The high priest’s colorful vestments of purples and crimson blend with the inner color scheme of the Tabernacle, making his appearance in YHWH’s abode as unobtrusive as possible. At the same time, he wears colorful, reflective stones on his breastpiece that do not match the color scheme and naturally catch the eye. Why?

With the loss of the Temple, wearing Shabbat clothes conveys the כָּבוֹד וּתִפְאָרֶת, “glory and splendor” of the priestly garments.

Before the Israelites leave Egypt, they borrow clothing from the Egyptians. What kind of clothes did the Egyptians wear?

Clothing, beginning with Joseph’s coat, functions both as a marker of distinction and as the source of undoing in the Joseph story. Pirkei de-Rabbi Eliezer adds layers of history to this coat: it is the original garments made from the sloughed skin of the serpent that God gave to Adam and Eve, which was then worn by Nimrod, Esau, and Jacob. Midrash Tanchuma claims it to be the (future) High Priest’s tunic.

19th century Anglo-Jewish translators defended the Israelites’ behavior against the King James translation’s perceived accusation that the Jews “borrowed” the Egyptians belongings and never returned them.

Copper has been mined in the Timna Valley since the 5th millennium B.C.E. Recent excavations reveal that the height of activity in the region dates to the 10th century B.C.E. and thus domination of this remote region during this period would have meant control of the lucrative copper industry. Could this be the unwritten backdrop to the Bible’s account of David’s conquest of Edom and Solomon’s great wealth?