EPHOD

a sort of ornament or upper garment, worn by the Hebrew priests. The word אפוד , ephod , is derived from אפד , aphad , which signifies to gird , or tie , for the ephod was a kind of girdle which, brought from behind the neck, and over the two shoulders, and hanging down before, was put cro upon the stomach; then carried round the waist, and made use of as a girdle to the tunic. There were two sorts of ephods, one of plain linen for the priests, and another embroidered for the high priest. As there was nothing singular in that used by common priests, Moses does not dwell upon the description of it, but of that belonging to the high priest he gives us a large and particular account. (Exod. xxviii. 6, .) It was composed of gold, blue, purple, crimson, and twisted cotton: upon that part of it which pa ed over the shoulders were two large precious stones, one on each shoulder, upon which were engraven the names of the twelve tribes, six upon each stone; and, where the ephod cro ed upon the high priest’s breast, there was a square ornament called the pectoral, or breastplate. St. Jerome observes, that the ephod was peculiar to the priesthood; and it was an opinion among the Jews, that no sort of worship, true or false, could subsist without a priesthood and ephod. Thus Micah, having made an idol and placed it in his house, did not fail to make an ephod for it. (Judges xvii. 5.) God foretold by Hosea, (iii. 4,) that the Israeli tes should be for a long time without kings, princes, sacrifices, altar, ephod, and teraphim; and Isaiah, speaking of the false gods who were worshipped by the Israeli tes, ascribes ephods to them. The ephod is often taken for the pectoral or breastplate, and for the Urim and Thummim, which were fastened to it, because all this belonged to the ephod, and made but one piece with it. Though the ephod was properly an ecclesiastical habit, yet we find it sometimes worn by laymen. Samuel, though a Levite only, and a child, wore a linen ephod. (1 Sam. ii. 18.) And David, in the ceremony of removing the ark from the house of Obed-edom to Jerusalem, was girt with a linen ephod. (2 Sam. vi. 14.) The Levites regularly were not allowed to wear the ephod; but in the time of Agrippa, as we are told by Joseph us, a little time before the taking of Jerusalem by the Romans, the Levites obtained of that prince permi ion to wear the linen stole as well as the priests. The historian observes, that this was an innovation contrary to the laws of their country, which were never struck at with impunity. Spencer and Cunæus are of opinion, that the Jewish kings had a right to wear the ephod, because David coming to Ziglag, and finding that the A male kites had plundered the city, and carried away his and the people’s wives, ordered Abiathar the high priest to bring him the ephod, which being done, David inquired of the Lord , saying, “Shall I pursue after this troop?” . (1 Sam. xxx. 8); whence they infer that David consulted God by Urim and Thummim, and consequently put on the ephod. The generality of commentators believe, that David did not dre himself in the high priest’s ephod, and that the text signifies no more than that the king ordered Abiathar to put on the ephod, and consult God for him. The ephod of Gideon is remarkable for having become the occasion of a new kind of idolatry to the Israeli tes. (Judges viii. 27.) What this consisted in, is matter of dispute among the learned. Some authors are of opinion that this ephod, as it is called, was an idol; others, that it was only a trophy in memory of that signal victory; and that the Israeli tes paid a kind of Divine worship to it, so that Gideon was the innocent cause of their idolatry; in like manner as Moses was, when he made the brazen serpent, which came afterwards to be worshipped.