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Text -- Numbers 3:39 (NET)

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Context
3:39 All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the word of the Lord, according to their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000.
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics

Names, People and Places:
 · Aaron a son of Amram; brother of Moses,son of Amram (Kohath Levi); patriarch of Israel's priests,the clan or priestly line founded by Aaron
 · Levites relating to Levi and the priesthood given to him,a tribal name describing people and ceremonies as sacred
 · Moses a son of Amram; the Levite who led Israel out of Egypt and gave them The Law of Moses,a Levite who led Israel out of Egypt and gave them the law


Dictionary Themes and Topics: TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT | Levites | Encamp | Census | Camp | more
Table of Contents

Word/Phrase Notes
Wesley , JFB , Clarke , TSK

Word/Phrase Notes
Barnes , Poole , Haydock , Gill

Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes , Geneva Bible

Verse Range Notes
TSK Synopsis , MHCC , Matthew Henry , Keil-Delitzsch , Constable , Guzik

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

Wesley: Num 3:39 - -- If the particular numbers mentioned Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34, be put together, they make 22,300. But the odd 300 are omitted here, either accordin...

If the particular numbers mentioned Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34, be put together, they make 22,300. But the odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the holy scripture, where in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or, because they were the first-born of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other first-born.

Wesley: Num 3:39 - -- born seem small to come from 22,000 Levites, it must be considered, that only such first-born are here named as were males, and such as continued in t...

born seem small to come from 22,000 Levites, it must be considered, that only such first-born are here named as were males, and such as continued in their parents families, not such as had erected new families of their own. Add to this, that God so ordered things by his wise providence for divers weighty reasons, that this tribe should be much the least of all the tribes, as is evident by comparing the numbers of the other tribes, from twenty years old, Num. 1:3-49, with the number of this from a month old; and therefore it is not strange if the number of their first-born be less than in other tribes.

JFB: Num 3:39 - -- The result of this census, though made on conditions most advantageous to Levi, proved it to be by far the smallest in Israel. The separate numbers st...

The result of this census, though made on conditions most advantageous to Levi, proved it to be by far the smallest in Israel. The separate numbers stated in Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34, when added together, amount to twenty-two thousand three hundred. The omission of the three hundred is variously accounted for--by some, because they might be first-born who were already devoted to God and could not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because in Scripture style, the sum is reckoned in round numbers. The most probable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employed for figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, taken for another of like form but smaller value.|| 03733||1||12||0||@Number all the first-born of the males of the children of Israel, &c.==--The principle on which the enumeration of the Levites had been made was now to be applied to the other tribes. The number of their male children, from a month old and upward, was to be reckoned, in order that a comparison might be instituted with that of the Levites, for the formal adoption of the latter as substitutes for the first-born. The Levites, amounting to twenty-two thousand, were given in exchange for an equal number of the first-born from the other tribes, leaving an excess of two hundred seventy-three; and as there were no substitutes for these, they were redeemed at the rate of five shekels for each (Num 18:15-16). Every Israelite would naturally wish that his son might be redeemed by a Levite without the payment of this tax, and yet some would have to incur the expense, for there were not Levites enough to make an equal exchange. Jewish writers say the matter was determined by lot, in this manner: Moses put into an urn twenty-two thousand pieces of parchment, on each of which he wrote "a son of Levi," and two hundred seventy-three more, containing the words, "five shekels." These being shaken, he ordered each of the first-born to put in his hand and take out a slip. If it contained the first inscription, the boy was redeemed by a Levite; if the latter, the parent had to pay. The ransom-money, which, reckoning the shekel at half a crown, would amount to 12s. 6d. each, was appropriated to the use of the sanctuary. The excess of the general over the Levitical first-born is so small, that the only way of accounting for it is, by supposing those first-born only were counted as were males remaining in their parents' household, or that those first-born only were numbered which had been born since the departure from Egypt, when God claimed all the first-born as his special property.

Clarke: Num 3:39 - -- Which Moses and Aaron numbered - The word ואהרן veaharon , "and Aaron."has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of sp...

Which Moses and Aaron numbered - The word ואהרן veaharon , "and Aaron."has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of spuriousness. The word is wanting in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Coptic; it is wanting also in eight of Dr. Kennicott’ s MSS., and in four of De Rossi’ s. Moses alone, as Houbigant observes, is commanded to take the number of the Levites; see Num 3:5, Num 3:11, Num 3:40, Num 3:44, and Num 3:51

Clarke: Num 3:39 - -- All the males - were twenty and two thousand - This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites 8,600,...

All the males - were twenty and two thousand - This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites 8,600, the Merarites 6,200, total 22,300. Several methods of solving this difficulty have been proposed by learned men; Dr. Kennicott’ s is the most simple. Formerly the numbers in the Hebrew Bible were expressed by letters, and not by words at full length; and if two nearly similar letters were mistaken for each other, many errors in the numbers must be the consequence. Now it is probable that an error has crept into the number of the Gershonites, Num 3:22, where, instead of 7,500, we should read 7,200, as ך caph , 500, might have been easily mistaken for ר resh , 200, especially if the down stroke of the caph had been a little shorter than ordinary, which is often the case in MSS. The extra 300 being taken off, the total is just 22,000, as mentioned in the 39th verse.

TSK: Num 3:39 - -- and Aaron : The word וֹאֹהֹרֹןֹ , weaharon , ""and Aaron,""has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of spuriousne...

and Aaron : The word וֹאֹהֹרֹןֹ , weaharon , ""and Aaron,""has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of spuriousness. The word is wanting in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Coptic, and also in eight of Dr. Kennicott’ s and in four of De Rossi’ s manuscripts. Moses alone, as Houbigant observes, was commanded to number the Levites (Num 3:5, Num 3:11, Num 3:40, Num 3:44, Num 3:51) for as the money with which the first-born were redeemed was to be paid to Aaron and his sons (Num 3:48), it was decent that he, whose advantage it was that the number of the first-born should exceed, should not be authorized to take that number himself. twenty and two thousand. This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites 8,600, and the Merarites 6,200, which make a total of 22,300. Several methods of solving this difficulty have been proposed by learned men. Houbigant supposes there is an error in the enumeration of the Kohathites in Num 3:28; the numeral shesh , ""six,""being written instead of shalosh , ""three,""before ""hundred.""Dr. Kennicott’ s mode of reconciling the discrepancy, however, is the most simple. He supposes that an error has crept into the number of the Gershonites in Num 3:22, where instead of 7,500 we should read 7,200, as ך , caph final , which stands for 500, might have been easily mistaken for ר , resh , 200 ( Dr. Kennicott on the Hebrew Text , vol. II. p. 212). Either of these modes will equally reconcile the difference. Num 4:47, Num 4:48, Num 26:62; Mat 7:14

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Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: Num 3:39 - -- twenty and two thousand - A number on which the commutation with the firstborn of the twelve tribes depends Num 3:43-46. The actual total of th...

twenty and two thousand - A number on which the commutation with the firstborn of the twelve tribes depends Num 3:43-46. The actual total of the male Levites is 22,300 (compare Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34): and the extra 300 are considered by some to represent those who, being first-born themselves in the tribe of Levi, could not be available to redeem the first-born in other tribes. Others consider the difference due to an error in the Hebrew text.

The tribe of Levi is shown by this census to have been by far the smallest of the tribes.

Poole: Num 3:39 - -- Object But if the particular numbers, mentioned Num 3:22,28,34 , be put together, they make exactly 22,300. Answ The odd 300 are omitted here, eith...

Object But if the particular numbers, mentioned Num 3:22,28,34 , be put together, they make exactly 22,300.

Answ The odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the Holy Scripture, which in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or because they were the first-born of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other first-born. See Lev 27:26 . If this number of first-born seem very small to come from 22,000 Levites, it must be considered, that only such first-born are here named as were males, and such as continued in their parents families, not such as had erected new families of their own. Add to this, that God so ordered things by his wise providence for divers weighty reasons, that this tribe should be much the least of all the tribes, as is evident by comparing the numbers of the other tribes from twenty years old, Nu 1 , with the number of this from a month old; and therefore it is not strange if the number of their first-born be less than in other tribes. Although if the other tribes had been computed from a month old, as this was, their number of 600,000 had probably been double or treble to that; and consequently the number of their first-born being 22,273 Num 3:43 , would have been as unproportionable to their whole sum, as this of 300 first-born Levites seems to their whole number. And some add, that only those first-born are numbered, both in this and in the other tribes, which were born since they came out of Egypt, when God challenged all the first-born to be his.

Haydock: Num 3:39 - -- And Aaron; a word omitted in the Samaritan and Syriac, and in the oldest Hebrew manuscript, and marked in the printed copies as dubious. (Kennicott)...

And Aaron; a word omitted in the Samaritan and Syriac, and in the oldest Hebrew manuscript, and marked in the printed copies as dubious. (Kennicott) ---

Thousand. If we collect the different sums, we shall find other 300; so that the Levites would be 27 more than the first-born of the other tribes, though Moses says (ver. 43-46) that they were fewer by 273. Some say that the 28th verse has been corrupted, (Calmet) or the 22nd, where we read 500 instead of 200. (Haydock) ---

Others observe, that in the 22,000, the first-born of the Levites and the priests of Aaron's family are not included, and these might amount to 300 men. (Lyranus) ---

But Bonfrere rightly observes that this number is too small, as only one is allowed for 74 people. He thinks that the first-born, who were heads of families, are omitted, and those also who were born before the angel destroyed the Egyptians. On this supposition, however, 22,000 will appear too great a number to be produced by the Levites in the space of a year, when some were too young, and others too old, to have children, and others had children already before that event. We may, therefore, either admit the solution of Lyranus, or confess that some fault has crept into the number, though this must be very difficult, since Moses argues in the sequel on the supposition of its certainty. (Calmet) ---

St. Jerome hence infers, that these numbers are full of mystery; Origen (hom. 4,) says, that the exact number, 22,000, may signify the perfection which God requires from those whom the takes into his service, as there are just 22 Hebrew letters, and 22 patriarchs, from Adam to Jacob, the father of the Israelites. (Worthington) ---

The 22,000 might be accepted by God, instead of so many Israelites; and the 300 other Levites might be due to him on their own account, being the first-born since the Hebrews left Egypt. (Tirinus) (Du Hamel)

Gill: Num 3:39 - -- All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron, numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families,.... Whence it app...

All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron,

numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families,.... Whence it appears, that Moses was not alone, but Aaron with him, in numbering the Levites, and that by the appointment of the Lord. The word "Aaron", in the Hebrew text, has a dot on every letter, for what reason it is not certain; the word itself is left out in the Samaritan and Syriac versions:

all the males, from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand; 22,000 men; but by putting the sums together they amount to three hundred more; for of the Gershonites there were 7,500, and of the Kohathites 8,600, and of the Merarites 6,200, in all 22,300; which difficulty some endeavour to remove by saying, as Aben Ezra observes, that the Scripture takes a short way, mentioning the thousands, and leaving out the hundreds but this, he says, is not right, nor is it the way of the Scripture in this chapter: and in an after account of the firstborn of the Israelites, not only the hundreds are mentioned, but the broken number of seventy three. Others think there is a corruption crept into the text somewhere in the particular numbers, through the inadvertency of some copyist; and suppose it to be in the number of the Kohathites, where they fancy שש, six, is put instead of שלש, three: but there is no occasion to suppose either of these, for which there is no foundation, since the reason why three hundred are left out in the sum total may be, because there were so many firstborn among the Levites, and these could not be exchanged for the firstborn of the other tribes; they, as such, being the Lord's, and one firstborn could not redeem another; and so it is said in the Talmud t, these three hundred were firstborn, and there is no firstborn redeems a firstborn, or frees from the redemption price of five shekels.

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Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Num 3:39 The total is a rounded off number; it does not duplicate the precise total of 22,300. Some modern scholars try to explain it by positing an error in v...

Geneva Bible: Num 3:39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a ...

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Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: Num 3:1-51 - --1 The sons of Aaron.5 The Levites are given to the priests instead of the first-born;14 are numbered by their families.21 The families, number, and ch...

MHCC: Num 3:14-39 - --The Levites were in three classes, according to the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; and these were subdivided into families. The posterity ...

Matthew Henry: Num 3:14-39 - -- The Levites being granted to Aaron to minister to him, they are here delivered to him by tale, that he might know what he had, and employ them accor...

Keil-Delitzsch: Num 3:38-39 - -- Moses and Aaron, with the sons of the latter (the priests), were to encamp in front, before the tabernacle, viz., on the eastern side, " as keepers ...

Constable: Num 1:1--10:36 - --A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-10 The first 10 chapters in Numbers...

Constable: Num 3:1-51 - --The placement and number of the Levites and first-born of Israel ch. 3 Note the recurran...

Guzik: Num 3:1-51 - --Numbers 3 - The Census of the Levites A. Priests and Levites. 1. (1-5) The priests: The family of Aaron. Now these are the records of Aaron and Mo...

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Introduction / Outline

JFB: Numbers (Book Introduction) NUMBERS. This book is so called because it contains an account of the enumeration and arrangement of the Israelites. The early part of it, from the fi...

JFB: Numbers (Outline) MOSES NUMBERING THE MEN OF WAR. (Num. 1:1-54) THE ORDER OF THE TRIBES IN THEIR TENTS. (Num. 2:1-34) THE LEVITES' SERVICE. (Num. 3:1-51) OF THE LEVITE...

TSK: Numbers (Book Introduction) The book of Numbers is a book containing a series of the most astonishing providences and events. Every where and in every circumstance God appears; ...

TSK: Numbers 3 (Chapter Introduction) Overview Num 3:1, The sons of Aaron; Num 3:5, The Levites are given to the priests instead of the first-born; Num 3:14, are numbered by their fami...

Poole: Numbers (Book Introduction) FOURTH BOOK OF MOSES, CALLED NUMBERS THE ARGUMENT This Book giveth us a history of almost forty years travel of the children of Israel through th...

Poole: Numbers 3 (Chapter Introduction) CHAPTER 3 The genealogy of Moses, Aaron, and his sons, Nadab and Abihu, Num 3:1-4 . The Levites are joined with them in the administration of the t...

MHCC: Numbers (Book Introduction) This book is called NUMBERS from the several numberings of the people contained in it. It extends from the giving of the law at Sinai, till their arri...

MHCC: Numbers 3 (Chapter Introduction) (Num 3:1-13) The sons of Aaron, The Levites taken instead of the first-born. (v. 14-39) The Levites numbered by their families, Their duties. (Num 3...

Matthew Henry: Numbers (Book Introduction) An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Fourth Book of Moses, Called Numbers The titles of the five books of Moses, which we use in our Bib...

Matthew Henry: Numbers 3 (Chapter Introduction) This chapter and the next are concerning the tribe of Levi, which was to be mustered and marshalled by itself, and not in common with the other tri...

Constable: Numbers (Book Introduction) Introduction Title The title the Jews used in their Hebrew Old Testament for this book...

Constable: Numbers (Outline) Outline I. Experiences of the older generation in the wilderness chs. 1-25 A. Preparations f...

Constable: Numbers Numbers Bibliography Aharoni, Yohanan. The Land of the Bible. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979. ...

Haydock: Numbers (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION. This fourth Book of Moses is called Numbers , because it begins with the numbering of the people. The Hebrews, from its first words...

Gill: Numbers (Book Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS This book has its name from the account it gives of the "numbers" of the children of Israel, twice taken particularly; whic...

Gill: Numbers 3 (Chapter Introduction) INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 3 In this chapter an account is given of the genealogy of the priests and Levites, and of the gift of the Levites to the pr...

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