11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave offering, on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh.
"Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, neither shall you take a census of them among the children of Israel; but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle, and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it. When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death. The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions. But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony."
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. They shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle. They shall keep all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting, and the obligations of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. They are wholly given to him on the behalf of the children of Israel. You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall keep their priesthood. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death." Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn who open the womb among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine: for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I made holy to me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and animal. They shall be mine. I am Yahweh." Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, "Number the children of Levi by their fathers' houses, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shall you number." Moses numbered them according to the word of Yahweh, as he was commanded. These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. These are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei. The sons of Kohath by their families: Amram, and Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. The sons of Merari by their families: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' houses. Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimeites: these are the families of the Gershonites. Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those who were numbered of them were seven thousand five hundred. The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward. The prince of the fathers' house of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael. The charge of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting, and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and around the altar, and its cords for all of its service. Of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites. According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. The families of the sons of Kohath shall encamp on the south side of the tabernacle. The prince of the fathers' house of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. Their charge shall be the ark, the table, the lamp stand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which they minister, and the screen, and all its service. Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be prince of the princes of the Levites, with the oversight of those who keep the charge of the sanctuary. Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites. These are the families of Merari. Those who were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred. The prince of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They shall encamp on the north side of the tabernacle. The appointed charge of the sons of Merari shall be the tabernacle's boards, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its instruments, all its service, the pillars of the court around it, their sockets, their pins, and their cords. Those who encamp before the tabernacle eastward, in front of the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death. All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of Yahweh, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand. Yahweh said to Moses, "Number all the firstborn males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. You shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel." Moses numbered, as Yahweh commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel. All the firstborn males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those who were numbered of them, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Numbers 8
Commentary on Numbers 8 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 8
Nu 8:1-4. How the Lamps Are to Be Lighted.
1. the Lord spake unto Moses—The order of this chapter suggests the idea that the following instructions were given to Moses while he was within the tabernacle of the congregation, after the princes had completed their offering. But from the tenor of the instructions, it is more likely that they were given immediately after the Levites had been given to the priests (see on Nu 3:1-4:49), and that the record of these instructions had been postponed till the narrative of other transactions in the camp had been made [Patrick].
2. Speak unto Aaron, &c.—The candlestick, which was made of one solid, massive piece of pure gold, with six lamps supported on as many branches, a seventh in the center surmounting the shaft itself (Ex 25:31; 37:17), and completed according to the pattern shown in the mount, was now to be lighted, when the other things in the sanctuary began to be applied to religious service. It was Aaron's personal duty, as the servant of God, to light His house, which, being without windows, required the aid of lights (2Pe 1:19). And the course he was ordered to follow was first to light the middle lamp from the altar-fire, and then the other lamps from each other—a course symbolical of all the light of heavenly truth being derived from Christ, and diffused by His ministers throughout the world (Re 4:5).
the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick—The candlestick stood close to the boards of the sanctuary, on the south side, in full view of the table of showbread on the north (Ex 26:35), having one set of its lamps turned towards the east, and another towards the west; so that all parts of the tabernacle were thus lighted up.
Nu 8:5-22. The Consecration of the Levites.
6, 7. Take the Levites … and cleanse them—This passage describes the consecration of the Levites. Although the tribe was to be devoted to the divine service, their hereditary descent alone was not a sufficient qualification for entering on the duties of the sacred office. They were to be set apart by a special ceremony, which, however, was much simpler than that appointed for the priests; neither washing nor anointing, nor investiture with official robes, was necessary. Their purification consisted, along with the offering of the requisite sacrifices (Le 1:4; 3:2; 4:4), in being sprinkled by water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer (Nu 19:9), and shaved all over, and their clothes washed—a combination of symbolical acts which was intended to remind them of the mortification of carnal and worldly desires, and the maintenance of that purity in heart and life which became the servants of God.
9, 10. thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together, &c.—As it was plainly impossible that the whole multitude of the Israelites could do this, a select portion of them must be meant. This party, who laid their hands upon the Levites, are supposed by some to have been the first-born, who by that act, transferred their peculiar privilege of acting as God's ministers to the Levitical tribe; and by others, to have been the princes, who thus blessed them. It appears, from this passage, that the imposition of hands was a ceremony used in consecrating persons to holy offices in the ancient, as, from the example of our Lord and His apostles, it has been perpetuated in the Christian Church.
11-13. And Aaron shall offer the Levites—Hebrew, "as a wave offering"; and it has been thought probable that the high priest, in bringing the Levites one by one to the altar, directed them to make some simple movements of their persons, analogous to what was done at the presentation of the wave offerings before the Lord. Thus were they first devoted as an offering to God, and by Him surrendered to the priests to be employed in His service. The consecration ceremonial was repeated in the case of every Levite who was taken (as was done at a later period) to assist the priests in the tabernacle and temple. (See on 2Ch 29:34).
14. and the Levites shall be mine—that is, exempt from all military duty or secular work—free from all pecuniary imposition and wholly devoted to the custody and service of the sanctuary.
15. after that, shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation—into the court, to assist the priests; and at removal into the tabernacle—that is, into the door of it—to receive the covered furniture.
19. to make an atonement for the children of Israel, &c.—to aid the priests in that expiatory work; or, as the words may be rendered, "to make redemption for" the Levites being exchanged or substituted for the first-born for this important end, that there might be a sanctified body of men appointed to guard the sanctuary, and the people not allowed to approach or presumptuously meddle with holy things, which would expose them to the angry judgments of Heaven.
24. from twenty and five years old, &c.—(Compare Nu 4:3). They entered on their work in their twenty-fifth year, as pupils and probationers, under the superintendence and direction of their senior brethren; and at thirty they were admitted to the full discharge of their official functions.
25. from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, &c.—that is, on the laborious and exhausting parts of their work.
26. But shall minister with their brethren—in the performance of easier and higher duties, instructing and directing the young, or superintending important trusts. "They also serve who only wait" [Milton].