The ephod was the most important and outermost garment of the high priest. It was an apron-like piece of clothing that fit over his robe (vv. 31-35).
"The duty of the high priest was to enter into the presence of God and make atonement for the people as their mediator. To show that as mediator he brought the nation to God, the names of the twelve tribes were engraved upon precious stones on the shoulders of the ephod. The precious stones, with their richness and brilliancy, formed the most suitable earthly substratum to represent the glory into which Israel was to be transformed as the possession of Jehovah (xix. 5); whilst the colours and material of the ephod, answering to the colours and texture of the hangings of the sanctuary, indicated the service performed in the sanctuary by the person clothed with the ephod, and the gold with which the coloured fabric was worked, the glory of that service."473
Josephus wrote that the names of Jacob's six oldest sons were on the stone on the right shoulder, and the names of his six youngest sons were on the stone on the left.474
