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Texts -- Numbers 8:6-26 (NET)

Context
8:6 “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and purify them. 8:7 And do this to them to purify them: Sprinkle water of purification on them; then have them shave all their body and wash their clothes , and so purify themselves. 8:8 Then they are to take a young bull with its grain offering of fine flour mixed with olive oil ; and you are to take a second young bull for a purification offering. 8:9 You are to bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the entire community of the Israelites . 8:10 Then you are to bring the Levites before the Lord , and the Israelites are to lay their hands on the Levites ; 8:11 and Aaron is to offer the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites , that they may do the work of the Lord . 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

  • Water of purification

    [ebd] used in cases of ceremonial cleansings at the consecration of the Levites (Num. 8:7). It signified, figuratively, that purifying of the heart which must characterize the servants of God.

  • 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...

  • SACRIFICE, IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, 2

    [isbe] SACRIFICE, IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, 2 - V. The Mosaic Sacrificial System. 1. The Covenant Sacrifice: The fundamental function of Moses' work was to establish the covenant between Israel and God. This important transaction took ...

  • Nail

    [ebd] for fastening. (1.) Hebrew yathed, "piercing," a peg or nail of any material (Ezek. 15:3), more especially a tent-peg (Ex. 27:19; 35:18; 38:20), with one of which Jael (q.v.) pierced the temples of Sisera (Judg. 4:21, 22). T...

  • NUMBERS, BOOK OF

    [isbe] NUMBERS, BOOK OF - num'-berz: I. TITLE AND CONTENTS 1. Title 2. Contents II. LITERARY STRUCTURE 1. Alleged Grounds of Distribution 2. Objections to Same (1) Hypothesis Unproved (2) Written Record Not Impossible (3) No Book E...

  • 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 ...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • HAND

    [isbe] HAND - (yadh, "hand"; kaph, "the hollow hand," "palm"; yamin, "the right hand"; semo'l, "the left hand"; cheir, "hand"; dexia, "the right hand"; aristera, "the left hand" (only Lk 23:33; 2 Cor 6:7), or euphemistically (for e...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • FLESH

    [isbe] FLESH - @basar, she'er): 1. Etymology: Used in all senses of the word, the latter, however, most frequently in the sense of kin, family, relationship (compare sha'arah, "kins-woman," Lev 18:17): Lev 18:6; 25:49; Prov 11:17; ...

  • 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...

  • EXPIATION

    [isbe] EXPIATION - eks-pi-a'-shun: This word represents no Hebrew or Greek word not rendered also by "atonement." In Nu 8:7 it is employed in the Revised Version (British and American) to translate chaTath and in Dt 32:43, kipper. ...

  • 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...

  • CLEANSE

    [isbe] CLEANSE - klenz: "Make clean," "purify" being a frequent rendering of the original. It is found often (American Revised Version) instead of "purge," "purify" (the King James Version), renders nearly the same roots, and has t...

  • Birthright

    [ebd] (1.) This word denotes the special privileges and advantages belonging to the first-born son among the Jews. He became the priest of the family. Thus Reuben was the first-born of the patriarchs, and so the priesthood of the ...

  • BAPTISM (NON-IMMERSIONIST VIEW)

    [isbe] BAPTISM (NON-IMMERSIONIST VIEW) - || I. THE SCRIPTURAL NAMES FOR THE RITE II. PRE-CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 1. Baptism of Proselytes 2. Baptism of John 3. Baptism in the Pagan Mysteries III. CHRISTIAN BAPTISM 1. The administration o...

  • BAPTISM (LUTHERAN DOCTRINE)

    [isbe] BAPTISM (LUTHERAN DOCTRINE) - || I. THE TERM 1. The Derivation 2. The Meaning 3. The Application 4. Equivalent Terms II. THE ORDINANCE 1. The Teaching of Scripture (1) An Authoritative Command (2) A Clear Declaration of the ...

  • 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...

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 ...
  • The writer began with a three-fold admonition, which is all one sentence in the Greek text. The long sentence intensifies the writer's appeal.306"In view of all that has been accomplished for us by Christ, he says, let us con...
  • 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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