The priestly garments in (Exodus 28:1-43) are already elaborate in the Hebrew Bible. The Targum Jonathan turns them into theological weapons. Every piece of clothing becomes an instrument of cosmic power, atonement, and divine judgment.
The most extraordinary addition comes with the Urim and Thummim. The Hebrew text simply says to place them on the breastplate of judgment. The Targum explodes this into a full mystical description. The Urim, it says, "illuminate their words and manifest the hidden things of the house of Israel." The Thummim "fulfill their work to the high priest, who seeks instruction by them before the Lord."
But then the Targum goes further. Engraved within the Urim and Thummim was "the Great and Holy Name by which were created the three hundred and ten worlds." That same Name was "engraven and expressed in the foundation stone wherewith the Lord of the world sealed up the mouth of the great deep at the beginning." Whoever remembered that Name in the hour of necessity would be delivered.
The breastplate's four rows of gemstones are mapped to the four corners of the world. Each stone bears the name of a tribe, not as mere decoration but as a "memorial of righteousness." The Targum specifies seventy-one bells on the robe's hem, a number conspicuously matching the seventy-one members of the Sanhedrin (the supreme rabbinic court).
Each garment atones for a specific sin. The tunic expiates the shedding of innocent blood. The tiara expiates pride of thought. The golden plate on Aaron's forehead atones for "boldness of face." Anyone who approached the altar without proper consecration would be "consumed by the fiery flame from before the Lord."
The Targum transforms priestly clothing from ceremonial garb into armor against divine wrath and a conduit for the creative power that built the universe.