This Breastplate was worn by a High Priest who represented Joshua, or Jeshua, who was the son of Josedech, and the High Priest of the Jews when they returned from Babylonian Captivity. He was seated in the East, and clothed in the apparel of the ancient High Priest of the Jews. He wore a robe of blue, purple, scarlet, and white linen, and was decorated with a breastplate and mitre. On the front of the mitre was inscribed the words, Holiness to the Lord. The twelve stones in the Breastplate represents the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The High Priest was at the head not only of ecclesiastical but of civil affairs, presiding in the Sanhedrim and judging the people. He superintended the Temple, directing the mode of worship, and preserving the building from profanation. He was inducted into his office by anointment and sacrifices, and was invested with a peculiar dress. This dress, as the Rabbis describe it, consisted of eight parts, namely, the breastplate, the ephod, with its curious girdle, the broidered coat, the robe of the ephod, the miter, and the girdle. The vestments of a High Priest of a Royal Arch Chapter are intended to represent — though the representation is imperfect — the gorgeous apparel of the Jewish Pontiff. To these the Masonic ritualists have ascribed a symbolic signification. The miter teaches the High Priest the dignity of his office; the breastplate, his responsibility to the laws and ordinances of the Institution, and that the honour and interest of the Chapter should always be near his heart; and the robe, the different graces and virtues which are symbolized by the various colors of which it is composed.
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The Breastplate pictured here was sold by the fraternal supply houses from the 1870's until the 1920's but they are not correct with Biblical scripture… the Breastplate of Judgment was not made of brass or gold. God gave specific instructions to Moses on how it should be made. In Exodus 28:15 "You shall make the breastplate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine woven linen you shall make it."
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This picture shows how the Breastplate was worn by the High Priest, but the actual dress of the High Priest looks nothing like this picture which came from Odd Fellows catalog #5 printed in the 1910s. For the High Priest of Israel to look authentic, it should be that of a man wearing a white or blue turban with a gold crown, a white tunic with a blue robe over it. The ephod should be over that and the colors should be of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet thread interwoven. On each shoulder, fastening the front and back parts of the ephod, should be a black onyx stone with a gold setting around it. The sash should be either white or patterned the same as the ephod. The hem of the blue robe should have round balls of either blue, scarlet, or purple all the way around, with a golden bell in between each ball. The tiny bells sewn into the robe rang and foretold of the High Priests presence so worshipers would bow their heads and not look upon the garments and raiment's of this Most Holy of Men.
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~~ooOoo~~
This page is adapted from the Glossary at Phoenixmasonry — Used with permission.
