The True Priest Clothed in Righteousness

When the Psalmist petitions that priests be "clothed with righteousness," we glimpse the full vestment of spiritual authority. George Herbert, that most luminous of Christian poets, captured this vision magnificently: holiness crowns the head, light and perfections adorn the breast, and harmonious bells below raise the dead to life and rest.

Herbert understood what Aaron's garments prefigured—that true priesthood demands total transformation. The high priest's breastplate bore the Urim and Thummim, lights and perfections, revealing God's counsel. The golden bells sewn to his hem announced his coming with musical proclamation. Every element spoke resurrection truth: the priest himself must become a living testimony to redemption.

This is no external decoration. Righteousness is not paint applied to the exterior. Rather, it is the inward reality of a life surrendered to Yahweh's holiness, manifesting outwardly in every gesture and utterance. The "bells below" are not mere ornamentation—they declare that true priestly work awakens the spiritually dead and conducts them toward eternal rest.

When believers live as priests before God, clothed not in linen but in the righteousness of Christ, our very existence becomes a bell tolling across dark valleys. We become living illustrations of resurrection hope, our lives resonating with the music of redemption. Thus Adonai calls His people to this transcendent raiment.