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Numbers 1:51 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

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51 `And in the journeying of the tabernacle, the Levites take it down, and in the encamping of the tabernacle, the Levites raise it up; and the stranger who is coming near is put to death.'

Cross Reference

Leviticus 22:10-13 YLT

KJV ASV DARBY WEB BBE STRONG

`And no stranger doth eat of the holy thing; a settler of a priest and an hireling doth not eat of the holy thing; and when a priest buyeth a person, the purchase of his money, he doth eat of it, also one born in his house; they do eat of his bread. `And a priest's daughter, when she is a strange man's, -- she, of the heave-offering of the holy things doth not eat; and a priest's daughter, when she is a widow, or cast out, and hath no seed, and hath turned back unto the house of her father, as `in' her youth, of her father's bread she doth eat; but no stranger doth eat of it.

Numbers 4:1-33 YLT

KJV ASV DARBY WEB BBE STRONG

And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying, `Take up the sum of the sons of Kohath from the midst of the sons of Levi, by their families, by the house of their fathers; from a son of thirty years and upward, even till a son of fifty years, every one going in to the host, to do work in the tent of meeting. `This `is' the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, the holy of holies: that Aaron and his sons have come in, in the journeying of the camp, and have taken down the vail of the hanging, and have covered with it the ark of the testimony; and have put on it a covering of badger skin, and have spread a garment completely of blue above, and have placed its staves. `And on the table of the presence they spread a garment of blue, and have put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the libation, and the bread of continuity is on it, and they have spread over them a garment of scarlet, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves, and have taken a garment of blue, and have covered the candlestick of the lamp, and its lights, and its snuffers, and its snuff-dishes, and all its oil vessels wherewith they minister to it; and they have put it and all its vessels unto a covering of badger skin, and have put `it' on the bar. `And on the golden altar they spread a garment of blue, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves; and have taken all the vessels of ministry wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and have put `them' unto a garment of blue, and have covered them with a covering of badger skin, and have put `them' on the bar, and have removed the ashes of the altar, and have spread over it a garment of purple; and have put on it all its vessels wherewith they minister about it, the censers, the hooks, and the shovels, and the bowls, all the vessels of the altar, and have spread on it a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves: `And Aaron hath finished -- his sons also -- covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, in the journeying of the camp, and afterwards do the sons of Kohath come in to bear `it', and they do not come unto the holy thing, that they have died; these `things are' the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting. `And the oversight of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, `is' the oil of the lamp, and the spice-perfume, and the present of continuity, and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that `is' in it, in the sanctuary, and in its vessels.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, `Ye do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathite from the midst of the Levites; but this do to them, and they have lived, and do not die in their drawing nigh the holy of holies: -- Aaron and his sons go in, and have set them, each man to his service, and unto his burden, and they go not in to see when the holy thing is swallowed, that they have died.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Take up the sum of the sons of Gershon also by the house of their fathers, by their families; from a son of thirty years and upward, till a son of fifty years thou dost number them, every one who is going in to serve the host, to do the service in the tent of meeting. `This `is' the service of the families of the Gershonite, to serve -- and for burden, and they have borne the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tent of meeting, its covering, and the covering of the badger `skin' which `is' on it above, and the vail at the opening of the tent of meeting, and the hangings of the court, and the vail at the opening of the gate of the court which `is' by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the vessels of their service, and all that is made for them -- and they have served. `By the command of Aaron and his sons is all the service of the sons of the Gershonite in all their burden, and in all their service; and ye have laid a charge on them concerning the charge of all their burden. This `is' the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonite in the tent of meeting; and their charge `is' under the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. `The sons of Merari, by their families, by the house of their fathers, thou dost number them; from a son of thirty years and upward even unto a son of fifty years thou dost number them, every one who is going in to the host, to do the service of the tent of meeting. `And this `is' the charge of their burden, of all their service in the tent of meeting; the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, of all their vessels, and of all their service; and by name ye do number the vessels of the charge of their burden. `This `is' the service of the families of the sons of Merari, for all their service, in the tent of meeting, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.'

Numbers 10:17-21 YLT

KJV ASV DARBY WEB BBE STRONG

And the tabernacle hath been taken down, and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari have journeyed, bearing the tabernacle. And the standard of the camp of Reuben hath journeyed, by their hosts, and over its host `is' Elizur son of Shedeur. And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Simeon `is' Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai. And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Gad `is' Eliasaph son of Deuel; And the Kohathites have journeyed, bearing the tabernacle, and the `others' have raised up the tabernacle until their coming in.

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 1

Commentary on Numbers 1 Matthew Henry Commentary

John Gill   Keil & Delitzsch   Robert Jamieson: Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible  

An Exposition, With Practical Observations, of

The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers

Chapter 1

Israel was now to be formed into a commonwealth, or rather a kingdom; for "the Lord was their King' (1 Sa. 12:12), their government a theocracy, and Moses under him was king in Jeshurun, Deu. 33:5. Now, for the right settlement of this holy state, next to the institution of good laws was necessary the institution of good order; and account therefore must be taken of the subjects of this kingdom, which is done in this chapter, where we have,

  • I. Orders given to Moses to number the people (v. 1-4).
  • II. Persons nominated to assist him herein (v. 5-16).
  • III. The particular number of each tribe, as it was given in to Moses (v. 17-43).
  • IV. The sum total of all together (v. 44-46).
  • V. An exception of the Levites (v. 47, etc.).

Num 1:1-16

  • I. We have here a commission issued out for the numbering of the people of Israel; and David, long after, paid dearly for doing it without a commission. Here is,
    • 1. The date of this commission, v. 1.
      • (1.) The place: it is given at God's court in the wilderness of Sinai, from his royal palace, the tabernacle of the congregation.
      • (2.) The time: In the second year after they came up out of Egypt; we may call it the second year of that reign. The laws in Leviticus were given in the first month of that year; these orders were given in the beginning of the second month.
    • 2. The directions given for the execution of it, v. 2, 3.
      • (1.) None were to be numbered but the males, and those only such as were fit for war. None under twenty years old; for, though some such might have bulk and strength enough for military service, yet, in compassion to their tender years, God would not have them put upon it to bear arms.
      • (2.) Nor were any to be numbered who through age, or bodily infirmity, blindness, lameness, or chronical diseases, were unfit for war. The church being militant, those only are reputed the true members of it that have enlisted themselves soldiers of Jesus Christ; for our life, our Christian life, is a warfare.
      • (3.) The account was to be taken according to their families, that it might not only be known how many they were, and what were their names, but of what tribe and family, or clan, nay, of what particular house every person was; or, reckoning it the muster of an army, to what regiment every man belonged, that he might know his place himself and the government might know where to find him. They were numbered a little before this, when their poll-money was paid for the service of the tabernacle, Ex. 38:25, 26. But it should seem they were not then registered by the house of their fathers, as now they were. Their number was the same then that it was now: 603,550 men; for as many as had died since then, and were lost in the account, so many had arrived to be twenty years old, and were added to the account. Note, As one generation passeth away another generation cometh. As vacancies are daily made, so recruits are daily raised to fill up the vacancies, and Providence takes care that, one time or other, in one place or other, the births shall balance the burials, that the race of mankind and the holy seed may not be cut off and become extinct.
    • 3. Commissioners are named for the doing of this work. Moses and Aaron were to preside (v. 3), and one man of every tribe, that was renowned in his tribe, and was presumed to know it well, was to assist in it-the princes of the tribes, v. 16. Note, Those that are honourable should study to be serviceable; he that is great, let him be your minister, and show, by his knowing the public, that he deserves to be publicly known. The charge of this muster was committed to him who was the lord-lieutenant of that tribe. Now,
  • II. Why was this account ordered to be taken and kept? For several reasons.
    • 1. To prove the accomplishment of the promise made to Abraham, that God would multiply his seed exceedingly, which promise was renewed to Jacob (Gen. 28:14), that his seed should be as the dust of the earth. Now it appears that there did not fail one tittle of that good promise, which was an encouragement to them to hope that the other promise of the land of Canaan for an inheritance should also be fulfilled in its season. When the number of a body of men is only guessed at, upon the view, it is easy for one that is disposed to cavil to surmise that the conjecture is mistaken, and that, if they were to be counted, they would not be found half so many; therefore God would have Israel numbered, that it might be upon record how vastly they were increased in a little time, that the power of God's providence and the truth of his promise may be seen and acknowledged by all. It could not have been expected, in any ordinary course of nature, that seventy-five souls (which was the number of Jacob's family when he went down into Egypt) should in 215 years (and it was no longer) multiply into so many hundred thousands. It is therefore to be attributed to an extraordinary virtue in the divine promise and blessing.
    • 2. It was to intimate the particular care which God himself would take of his Israel, and which Moses and the inferior rulers were expected to take of them. God is called the Shepherd of Israel, Ps. 80:1. Now the shepherds always kept count of their flocks, and delivered them by number to their under-shepherds, that they might know if any were missing; in like manner God numbers his flock, that of all which he took into his fold he might lose none but upon a valuable consideration, even those that were sacrificed to his justice.
    • 3. It was to put a difference between the true born Israelites and the mixed multitude that were among them; none were numbered but Israelites: all the world is but lumber in comparison with those jewels. Little account is made of others, but the saints God has a particular property in and concern for. The Lord knows those that are his (2 Tim. 2:19), knows them by name, Phil. 4:3. The hairs of their head are numbered; but he will say to others, "I never knew you, never made any account of you.'
    • 4. It was in order to their being marshalled into several districts, for the more easy administration of justice, and their more regular march through the wilderness. It is a rout and a rabble, not an army, that is not mustered and put in order.

Num 1:17-43

We have here the speedy execution of the orders given for the numbering of the people. It was begun the same day that the orders were given, The first day of the second month; compare v. 18 with v. 1. Note, When any work is to be done for God it is good to set about it quickly, while the sense of duty is strong and pressing. And, for aught that appears, it was but one day's work, for many other things were done between this and the twentieth day of this month, when they removed their camp, ch. 10:11. Joab was almost ten months numbering the people in David's time (2 Sa. 24:8); but then they were dispersed, now they lived closely together; then Satan proposed the doing of it, now God commanded it. It was the sooner and more easily done now because it had been done but a little while ago, and they needed but review the old books, with the alterations since made, which probably they had kept an account of as they occurred.

In the particulars here left upon record, we may observe,

  • 1. That the numbers are registered in words at length (as I may say), and not in figures; to every one of the twelve tribes it is repeated, for the greater ceremony and solemnity of the account, that they were numbered by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, to show that every tribe took and gave in the account by the same rule and in the same method, though so many hands were employed in it, setting down the genealogy first, to show that their family descended from Israel, then the families themselves in their order, then dividing each family into the houses, or subordinate families, that branched from it, and under these the names of the particular persons, according to the rules of heraldry. Thus every man might know who were his relations or next of kin, on which some laws we have already met with did depend: besides that the nearer any are to us in relation the more ready we should be to do them good.
  • 2. That they all end with hundreds, only Gad with fifty (v. 25), but none of the numbers descend to units or tens. Some think it was a special providence that ordered all the tribes just at this time to be even numbers, and no odd or broken numbers among them, to show them that there was something more than ordinary designed in their increase, there being this uncommon in the circumstance of it. It is rather probable that Moses having some time before appointed rulers of hundreds, and rulers of fifties (Ex. 18:25), they numbered the people by their respective rulers, which would bring the numbers to even hundreds or fifties.
  • 3. That Judah is the must numerous of them all, more than double to Benjamin and Manasseh, and almost 12,000 more than any other tribe, v. 27. It was Judah whom his brethren must praise because from him Messiah the Prince was to descend; but, because that was a thing at a distance, God did in many ways honour that tribe in the mean time, particularly by the great increase of it, for his sake who was to spring out of Judah (Heb. 7:14) in the fulness of time. Judah was to lead the van through the wilderness, and therefore was furnished accordingly with greater strength than any other tribe.
  • 4. Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, are numbered as distinct tribes, and both together made up almost as many as Judah; this was in pursuance of Jacob's adoption of them, by which they were equalled with their uncles Reuben and Simeon, Gen. 48:5. It was also the effect of the blessing of Joseph, who was to be a fruitful bough, Gen. 49:22. And Ephraim the younger is put first, and is more numerous than Manasseh, for Jacob had crossed hands, and foreseen ten thousands of Ephraim and thousands of Manasseh. The fulfilling of this confirms our faith in the spirit of prophecy with which the patriarchs were endued.
  • 5. When they came down into Egypt Dan had but one son (Gen. 46:23), and so his tribe was but one family, ch. 26:42. Benjamin had then ten sons (Gen. 46:21), yet now the tribe of Dan is almost double in number to that of Benjamin. Note, The increasing and diminishing of families do not always go by probabilities. Some are multiplied greatly, and again are diminished, while others that were poor have families made them like a flock, Ps. 107:38, 39, 41; and see Job 12:23.
  • 6. It is said of each of the tribes that those were numbered who were able to go forth to war, to remind them that they had wars before them, though now they were in peace and met with no opposition. Let not him that girdeth on the harness boast as though he had put it off.

Num 1:44-46

We have here the sum total at the foot of the account; they were in all 600,000 fighting men, and 3550 over. Some think that when this was their number some months before (Ex. 38:26) the Levites were reckoned with them, but now that tribe was separated for the service of God, yet so many more had by this time attained to the age of twenty years as that still they were the same number, to show that whatever we part with for the honour and service of God it shall certainly be made up to us one way of other. Now we see what a vast body of men they were. Let us consider,

  • 1. How much went to maintain all these (besides twice as many more, no question, of women and children, sick and aged, and the mixed multitude) for forty years together in the wilderness; and they were all at God's finding every day, having their food from the dew of heaven, and not from the fatness of the earth. O what a great and good housekeeper is our God, that has such numbers depending on him and receiving from him every day!
  • 2. What work sin makes with a people; within forty years most of them would indeed have died of course for the common sin of mankind; for, when sin entered into the world, death came with it, and how great are the desolations which it makes in the earth! But, for the particular sin of unbelief and murmuring, all those that were now numbered, except two, laid their bones under their iniquity, and perished in the wilderness.
  • 3. What a great multitude God's spiritual Israel will amount to at last; though at one time, and in one place, they seem to be but a little flock, yet when they come all together they shall be a great multitude, innumerable, Rev. 7:9. And, though the church's beginning be small, its latter end shall greatly increase. A little one shall become a thousand.

Num 1:47-54

Care is here taken to distinguish from the rest of the tribes the tribe of Levi, which, in the matter of the golden calf, had distinguished itself, Ex. 32:26. Note, Singular services shall be recompensed with singular honours. Now,

  • I. It was the honour of the Levites that they were made guardians of the spiritualities; to them was committed the care of the tabernacle and the treasures thereof, both in their camps and in their marches.
    • 1. When they moved the Levites were to take down the tabernacle, to carry it and all that belonged to it, and then to set it up again in the place appointed, v. 50, 51. It was for the honour of the holy things that none should be permitted to see them, or touch them, but those only who were called of God to the service. Thus we all are unfit and unworthy to have fellowship with God until we are first called by his grace into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and so, being the spiritual seed of that great high priest, are made priests to our God; and it is promised that God would take Levites to himself, even from the Gentiles, Isa. 66:21.
    • 2. When they rested the Levites were to encamp round about the tabernacle (v. 50, 53), that they might be near their work, and resident upon their charge, always ready to attend, and that they might be a guard upon the tabernacle, to preserve it from being either plundered or profaned. They must pitch round about the tabernacle, that there be no wrath upon the congregation, as there would be if the tabernacle and the charge of it were neglected, or those crowded upon it that were not allowed to come near. Note, Great care must be taken to prevent sin, because the preventing of sin is the preventing of wrath.
  • II. It was their further honour that as Israel, being a holy people, was not reckoned among the nations, so they, being a holy tribe, were not reckoned among other Israelites, but numbered afterwards by themselves, v. 49. The service which the Levites were to do about the sanctuary is called (as we render it in the margin) a warfare, ch. 4:23. And, being engaged in that warfare, they were discharged from military services, and therefore not numbered with those that were to go out to war. Note, Those that minister about holy things should neither entangle themselves, nor be entangled, in secular affairs. The ministry is itself work enough for a whole man, and all little enough to be employed in it. It is an admonition to ministers to distinguish themselves by their exemplary conversation from common Israelites, not affecting to seem greater, but aiming to be really better, every way better than others.