Exodus 28:36 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Thou shalt make a plate of pure gold— The word rendered plate, properly signifies a flower; and, probably, this plate was formed with indentations or rays like a flower. It is called in the next chapter, Exodus 28:6. נזר nezer, a crown, a mark of separation, or distinguished dignity, either priestly or regal. It was to be fastened with a blue lace upon the fore-front of the mitre, which was to be made of fine linen, Exodus 28:39 something like the Turkish turbans, of which form were anciently the diadems of kings. Justin (lib. 15: cap. 3.) tells us, that Alexander the Great took his diadem from his head to bind up the wounds of Lysimachus. Upon the plate, thus bound upon the mitre, was to be engraved HOLINESS TO JEHOVAH; and it was always to be worn upon Aaron's forehead, i.e. upon the part of the mitre which covered the front of his forehead, Exodus 28:38 not only to remind him of the solemnity of the service to which he was consecrated, but also to shew that he was the intercessor for the people; and, in that capacity, the type of HIM, who, being essentially holy and undefiled, intercedes for, and makes acceptable to God, all his believing people. See Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 7:28. For an exact description of the mitre, as well as the other parts of the sacerdotal dress, we refer to Josephus, b. 3: ch. 7.