And they made bells of pure gold, and put the bells between the pomegranates, in the skirts of the cloak, round about, between the pomegranates
Exodus 39 records how Israel's craftsmen made the high priest's garments, just as God had commanded. Verse 25 stops on one small detail: golden bells spaced between the pomegranates along the hem.
The pattern itself is the message. Bells and fruit alternate all the way round, and writers read the two as standing for things that belong together.
They were on Aaron's robes — "a bell and a pomegranate." Testimony and fruit were to mark everywhere Aaron went, and they should mark the Christian's walk too, because the Christian is joined to Christ.
The pomegranate itself explains the picture, and God set the order of the two.
The pomegranate flower is bell-shaped, and of a golden crimson colour; its fruit is full of seeds, a symbol of great fruitfulness. The bell and the fruit alternated. "A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate" (Ex. 28:34) was the divine order. First, melodious sound; next, fruitfulness. The sound of the high priest's steps was always to be heard as he came near to the LORD. The music of the robe announced his way, and since the bells were golden, that sound was divinely glorious.
The verse specifies the metal. Writers who read the tabernacle as a picture of Christ find meaning in both the gold and the colours.
The pomegranates spoke of fruitfulness, the bells of testimony. The colours on the pomegranates spoke of the personal and official glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. The bells of gold spoke of Divine righteousness.
The bells sounded as the priest went in and again as he came out. Writers find the meaning of the verse in that double moment.
The character of Christ, as such, is perfectly and entirely heavenly. The sanctuary was the place where He exercised it. So the heavenly Priest must Himself be a heavenly Man. It is to this character of Christ, seen here in the high priest, that the fruits and testimony of the Spirit are attached — the bells and the pomegranates. They flow from Christ in His heavenly character; they hang on the hem of His garment here below. His sound was heard when He went in and when He came out; and so it has been and will be. When Christ went in, the gifts of the Spirit appeared in the sound of the testimony; and they will appear again when He comes out.
Another writer names who benefits at each moment: the church now, Israel later.
When Christ went into the presence of God, what a mighty effect the Spirit produced! The church comes under that now. When Christ returns, the Spirit will be poured out once more on all flesh. Then Israel will enter the blessed place of bearing fruit in testimony for God.
Because bells and pomegranates alternate, there are as many of one as of the other. That simple count becomes a test.
The pomegranates were of blue, purple and scarlet — heavenly fruit, fruit that matches the dignity of the Lord and His royal dignity as Messiah. Our fruit should bear the character of Christ and be worthy of Him; it should also correspond to and be like our testimony, just as the pomegranates were the same in number as the golden bells. One often finds Christians with more bells than pomegranates, more words than fruit!
One writer turns the hem into a measure of his own service.
The measure of my testimony as a Christian (the sound) is equal to the fruit which I am feeding upon; it is equal to my communion. Never more, never less. Only as I feed upon Christ will Christ be heard, and the sound come from me; only in this way can I carry out my priestly service.
The two symbols also shape how we come into God's presence.
This reminds us that God expects true worship when we come into His presence. The golden bells stand for what is spoken aloud — "a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name" (Hebrews 13:15). The pomegranates speak of the fruitfulness of a godly life.
- Sound. The golden bells stand for testimony. Pure gold speaks of divine righteousness.
- Fruit. The pomegranate is packed with seeds, a picture of great fruitfulness. Its blue, purple and scarlet carry the glories of Christ.
- Order. God's order is sound first, then fruitfulness — never one without the other.
- Reach. The bells rang as the priest went in and as he came out. So the Spirit gave testimony when Christ went in, and will again when He returns.
- Measure. Bells and pomegranates were equal in number. A believer's testimony should never outrun the fruit he feeds on.
a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, in the skirts of the cloak round about, for service; as Jehovah had commanded Moses.
Exodus 39 records the making of the priest's garments, and this verse finishes the hem of the robe: one bell, one pomegranate, all the way round. Two small ornaments raise the questions here — why sound, why fruit, and why the two never appear apart.
The hem belongs to a garment already rich in meaning. Its single colour points to the character of the One whom Aaron pictured.
The robe of the ephod was all of blue. Blue shows what is heavenly. It pictures the heavenly character of the Priest, and perhaps also the place where He carries out His work; or rather, it shows that His character suited that place. Hebrews speaks of Him not only as holy, innocent, undefiled, and separate from sinners, but also as exalted above the heavens.
So what do the two ornaments stand for? One writer links them to two sides of the Spirit's work.
On the hem of the blue robe there was a golden bell and a pomegranate, one after the other. It is testimony and fruit. The purpose was that his sound might be "heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the LORD, and when he comes out, so that he does not die." There was fruit-bearing and testimony, like the early and the latter rain, I should think. These are the two ways the Holy Spirit works: testimony and fruit-bearing, the sounding bell and the pomegranate.
The sound came at two moments: when the priest went in, and when he came out. One writer traces both to Christ.
We know what happened when Jesus went in to God. The Holy Spirit came forth, and set the golden bells of gospel testimony ringing in this dark world. We hear their joyful sound in Acts 2. The fruit quickly appeared, three thousand souls being blessed on the first day. God be praised, the bells are still ringing, and the fruit is still being gathered... The bells also sounded when Aaron came out from the divine presence. In the same way a fresh sound will be heard when the Lord Jesus comes again. A new testimony will be started on the earth, and abundance of fruit — a new crop — will be gathered by means of it.
Nothing in the pattern allows a run of bells without pomegranates. The proportion itself is the lesson, and it exposes where we fall short.
How happy to see that our Lord's fruitfulness (pomegranates) to God was equal to His testimony (bells) for God. With us things are often unbalanced. Our walk and our talk often do not match. The walk should give power to the talk. The talk should be the product, as it is indeed part, of the walk.
The bells were gold. One writer takes that as a mark of the divine, and applies the pair to believers.
In Him both fruit and testimony were found in equal perfection, and His testimony was golden; that is, Divine. Believers today are brought into a priestly place, so in principle the same thing should mark us. If the fruit of the Spirit is not shown in our lives, the bells of our testimony will not give a certain or a convincing sound.
How loud can the bell ring? One writer ties it to what he feeds on.
The measure of my testimony as a Christian (the sound) is equal to the fruit which I am feeding on; it is equal to my communion. Never more, never less. Only as I feed on Christ will Christ be heard, and the sound come from me; only in this way can I fulfil my priestly service.
The verse ends with a phrase that keeps coming back through the chapter. Why repeat it?
The essence of all service is obedience, and the test of everything done is whether or not it matches the revealed mind of God... The Spirit of God has answered this question, stating in this chapter no fewer than ten times that the work was carried out as the Lord commanded Moses. (vv. 1, 5, 7, 21, 26, 29, 31, 32, 42, 43.)... This gives us an important principle: everything that claims to be of God must stand the test of God's word... We cannot imagine that Moses would have accepted anything that did not match the pattern shown him on the mountain — and still less would the Lord. It made no difference how innocent, or even beautiful, the thing was in itself.
- Blue — the robe was all blue, marking out a Priest whose character is heavenly.
- Bell — the golden bell is testimony; it rang as the priest went in, and rang again as he came out.
- Pomegranate — the fruit stands for fruitfulness, and it sits between every two bells so that sound never travels alone.
- One for one — in Christ, fruit and testimony were equal. In us the two often drift apart, and a life without fruit makes an unconvincing sound.
- As commanded — the workers finished the hem just as God said. This chapter repeats that note ten times. Beauty alone was never enough.