noun
definition
A priestly apron, or breastplate, described in the Bible in Exodus 28: vi - xxx, which only the chief priest of ancient Israel was allowed to wear.
Examples of ephod in a Sentence
This same narrative dwells upon the graven images, ephod and teraphim, as forming the apparatus of religious ceremonial in Micah's household.
For the prophet's function became in an increasing degree a function of mind, and not merely of traditional routine or mechanical technique, like that of the diviner with his arrows or his lots which he cast in the presence of the ephod or plated Yahweh image.
In addition to a tunic (kuttoneth) and a seamless mantle or robe (meil), he wore the breastplate (hoshen), the ephod, and a rich outer girdle.
In the divided state of the nation, indeed, this sanctuary was hardly visited from beyond Mt Ephraim; and every man or tribe that cared to provide the necessary apparatus (ephod, teraphim, &c.) and hire a priest might have a temple and oracle of his own at which to consult Jehovah (Judges xvii., xviii.); but there was hardly another sanctuary of equal dignity.
An intricate historical problem is involved at the outset in the famous ephod, which the priest Abiathar brought in his hand when he fled to David after the massacre of the priests of Nob.
For the form of the earlier ephod the classic passage is 2 Sam.
The favourite view that the ephod was also an image rests partly upon 1 Sam.
For example, the ephod, an object of divination, is still retained, but it is now restricted to the high-priest; and his position as head of a theocratic state, and his ceremonial dress with its heathenish associations presuppose a past monarchy.
Here it is stated that they are kept in a square pouch which is worn upon the high priest's breast ("the breastplate of judgment"), and attached to the ephod.
Thus the association of the Urim and Thummim with the ephod, which appears in the oldest narratives, is retained in the Priestly Code (P).
So he made an ephod, which is a priestly garment, and he consecrated his own son to be a priest.
It was curiously wrought with gold and purple, and fastened to the ephod with chains of gold.
Relying upon the known custom of performing certain observances in a practically, or even entirely, nude condition, it seems plausible to infer that the ephod was a scanty wrapping, perhaps a loincloth, and this view has found weighty support.