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Texts -- Numbers 8:12-26 (NET)

Context
8:12 When the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bulls , offer the one for a purification offering and the other for a whole burnt offering to the Lord , to make atonement for the Levites . 8:13 You are to have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons , and then offer them as a wave offering to the Lord . 8:14 And so you are to separate the Levites from among the Israelites , and the Levites will be mine. 8:15 “After this, the Levites will go in to do the work of the tent of meeting . So you must cleanse them and offer them like a wave offering . 8:16 For they are entirely given to me from among the Israelites . I have taken them for myself instead of all who open the womb , the firstborn sons of all the Israelites . 8:17 For all the firstborn males among the Israelites are mine, both humans and animals ; when I destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I set them apart for myself. 8:18 So I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn sons among the Israelites . 8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites , to do the work for the Israelites in the tent of meeting , and to make atonement for the Israelites , so there will be no plague among the Israelites when the Israelites come near the sanctuary .” 8:20 So Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did this with the Levites . According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites , this is what the Israelites did with them. 8:21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothing ; then Aaron presented them like a wave offering before the Lord , and Aaron made atonement for them to purify them. 8:22 After this , the Levites went in to do their work in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before his sons . As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites , so they did .
The Work of the Levites
8:23 Then the Lord spoke to Moses : 8:24 “This is what pertains to the Levites : At the age of twenty-five years and upward one may begin to join the company in the work of the tent of meeting , 8:25 and at the age of fifty years they must retire from performing the work and may no longer work . 8:26 They may assist their colleagues in the tent of meeting , to attend to needs , but they must do no work . This is the way you must establish the Levites regarding their duties .”

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • Levites

    [smith] (descendants of Levi). Sometimes the name extends to the whole tribe, the priests included, (Exodus 6:25; Leviticus 25:32; Numbers 35:2; Joshua 21:3,41) etc; sometimes only to those members of the tribe who were not priests, ...
    [nave] LEVITES The descendants of Levi. Set apart as ministers of religion, Num. 1:47-54; 3:6-16; 16:9; 26:57-62; Deut. 10:8; 1 Chr. 15:2. Substituted in the place of the firstborn, Num. 3:12, 41-45; 8:14, 16-18; 18:6. Religious ...

  • Priest

    [nave] PRIEST. Before Moses Melchizedek, Gen. 14:18; Heb. 5:6, 10, 11; 6:20; 7:1-21. Jethro, Ex. 2:16. Priests in Israel before the giving of the law, Ex. 19:22, 24. Called angel, Eccl. 5:6. Mosaic Ex. 28:1-4; 29:9, 44; Num....

  • SERVICE

    [isbe] SERVICE - sur'-vis: Six Hebrew, two Aramaic and four Greek words are so rendered. 1. In the Old Testament: In the Old Testament the word most used for "service" is (1) `abhodhah, from `abhadh, which is the general word, mean...

  • Firstborn

    [nave] FIRSTBORN, of human and beast, reserved to himself by God, Ex. 13:2, 12-16; 22:29, 30; 34:19, 20; Lev. 27:26; Num. 3:13; 8:17, 18; Deut. 15:19-23; Neh. 10:36. Redemption of, Ex. 13:13; 34:20; Lev. 27:27; Num. 3:40-51; 18:15-...

  • Jacob

    [ebd] one who follows on another's heels; supplanter, (Gen. 25:26; 27:36; Hos. 12:2-4), the second born of the twin sons of Isaac by Rebekah. He was born probably at Lahai-roi, when his father was fifty-nine and Abraham one hundre...

  • Substitution

    [nave] SUBSTITUTION, Ex. 28:38. The offering for the offerer, Lev. 1:4; 16:21, 22. The Levites for the firstborn of the Israelites, Num. 3:12, 41, 45; 8:18. The life of Ahab for that of Ben-hadad, 1 Kin. 20:42. See: Suffering,...

  • WAIT

    [isbe] WAIT - wat: 1. The Substantive: The word is used in the Old Testament both as a substantive add as a verb. In the New Testament it appears as a verb only. 'erebh, ma'arabh, mean a concealed hiding-place for purposes of sudde...

  • NETHINIM

    [smith] (given, dedicated), As applied specifically to a distinct body of men connected with the services of the temple, this name first meets us in the later books of the Old Testament-- in 1 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, The word ...

  • SET

    [isbe] SET - Few words in the English language have such a rich variety of meaning and are used in so rich a variety of idiomatic expression as the word "set." A glance at any of the great dictionaries will convince anyone of the t...

  • Atonement

    [nave] ATONEMENT For tabernacle and furniture, Lev. 16:15-20, 33. In consecration of the Levites, Num. 8:21. For those defiled by the dead, Num. 6:11. Made for houses, Lev. 14:53. For sin, see below. By meat offerings, Lev. 5:...

  • Offerings

    [nave] OFFERINGS Offered at the door of the tabernacle, Lev. 1:3; 3:2; 17:4, 8, 9; of the temple, 2 Chr. 7:12; 1 Kin. 8:62; 12:27. All animal sacrifices must be eight days old or over, Lev. 22:27. Must be salted, Lev. 2:13; Ezek....

  • Church

    [nave] CHURCH, place of worship. Called Courts, Psa. 65:4; 84:2, 10; 92:13; 96:8; 100:4; 116:19; Isa. 1:12; 62:9; Zech. 3:7; House of God, Gen. 28:17, 22; Josh. 9:23; Judg. 18:31; 20:18, 26; 21:2; 1 Chr. 9:11; 24:5; 2 Chr. 5:14; 22:...

  • Purification

    [nave] PURIFICATION, sanitary and symbolical. For women before marriage, Esth. 2:12; after childbirth, Lev. 12:6-8; Luke 2:22; after menstruation, Lev. 15:19-33; 2 Sam. 11:4. Of the Jews before the passover, John 11:55. For those ...

  • SANCTIFICATION

    [isbe] SANCTIFICATION - sank-ti-fi-ka'-shun: Etymology I. THE FORMAL SENSE 1. In the Old Testament 2. In the New Testament II. THE ETHICAL SENSE 1. Transformation of Formal to Ethical Idea 2. Our Relation to God as Personal: New Te...

  • EXODUS, THE BOOK OF, 3-4

    [isbe] EXODUS, THE BOOK OF, 3-4 - III. Historical Character. 1. General Consideration: The fact that extra-Israelitish and especially Egyptian sources that can lay claim to historical value have reported nothing authentic concernin...

  • AGE; OLD AGE

    [isbe] AGE; OLD AGE - In individual lives (cheledh; helikia): We have scarcely any word in the Old Testament or New Testament which denotes "age" in the familiar modern sense; the nearest in the Old Testament is perhaps heledh, "li...

  • Levite

    [ebd] a descendant of the tribe of Levi (Ex. 6:25; Lev. 25:32; Num. 35:2; Josh. 21:3, 41). This name is, however, generally used as the title of that portion of the tribe which was set apart for the subordinate offices of the sanc...

  • First-born, Redemption of

    [ebd] From the beginning the office of the priesthood in each family belonged to the eldest son. But when the extensive plan of sacrificial worship was introduced, requiring a company of men to be exclusively devoted to this minis...

  • EZEKIEL, 2

    [isbe] EZEKIEL, 2 - II. Significance of Ezekiel in Israel's Religious History. Under the first head we will consider the formal characteristics and significance of the book; and the examination of its contents will form the subject...

  • GIFT

    [isbe] GIFT - gift (mattanah, minchah, shochadh; doron, dorea, chairisma): In Gen 25:6; Ex 28:38; Nu 18:6,7,29; Ezek 20:26, etc., mattanah, "a gift," is so rendered; minchah, an offering or present, used especially of the "meat off...
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Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The angel struck the Egyptians at midnight, the symbolic hour of judgment (v. 29; cf. Matt. 25:5-6), when they were asleep ". . . to startle the king and his subjects out of their sleep of sin."216Pharaoh had originally met M...
  • When the book opens the Israelites were in the second month of the second year after they departed from Egypt (1:1). In chapters 7-10 we read things that happened in the nation before that. These things happened when Moses fi...
  • To formulate a statement that summarizes the teaching of this book it will be helpful to identify some of the major revelations in Numbers. These constitute the unique values of the book.The first major value of Numbers is th...
  • I. Experiences of the older generation in the wilderness chs. 1-25A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-101. The first census and the organization of the people chs. 1-42. Commands and rituals t...
  • Note the recurrance of a key word in the Pentateuch in verse l: toledot."For the first time after the formative events of the Exodus deliverance and the revelation on Mount Sinai, the people of Israel are organized into a hol...
  • Moses did not arrange the three Levitical families in the text here in the order of the ages of their founders. He arranged them in the order of the holiness of the articles that they managed.The Kohathites--who included Mose...
  • The consecration of the priests had taken place earlier (cf. Lev. 8). Then the people only looked on (Lev. 8:3-4). On the present occasion God set apart to His service the whole tribe of Levi that He had taken in place of the...
  • "As the laws increase and the constraints grow, the people seem less willing or less capable of following them. At this point in the narrative we see that the whole order of the priesthood is thrown open to direct confrontati...
  • This list clearly defines the priests and Levites' line of descent. Only the descendants of Aaron, the priests, could serve in the temple by offering sacrifices on the incense altar (v. 49; cf. Num. 3:5-38). Nehemiah correctl...
  • As Solomon had done, these Jews contracted with the Phoenicians to the north to supply wood for the temple (cf. 2 Chron. 2:16). The people needed several months of preparations before actual construction began on the site in ...
  • Peter proceeded to clarify the nature of the church and in doing so explained the duty of Christians in the world.2:9 All the figures of the church that Peter chose here originally referred to Israel. However with Israel's re...
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