Numbers 4:19

4:19 but in order that they will live ¹  and not die when they approach the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons will go in and appoint ²  each man ³  to his service and his responsibility.

Numbers 8:22

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.

Numbers 18:2

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ⁴  with you and minister to you while ⁵  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Numbers 20:28

20:28 And Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

Numbers 27:3

27:3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although ⁶  he was not part of ⁷  the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah; but he died for his own sin, ⁸  and he had no sons.

Numbers 31:6

Campaign Against the Midianites

31:6 So Moses sent them to the war, one thousand from every tribe, with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, who was in charge ⁹  of the holy articles ¹⁰  and the signal trumpets.

Numbers 31:8

31:8 They killed the kings of Midian in addition to those slain – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba – five Midianite kings. ¹¹  They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword. ¹² 

¹ tn The word order is different in the Hebrew text: Do this…and they will live. Consequently, the verb “and they will live” is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive to express the future consequence of “doing this” for them.

² tn The perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive continues the instruction for Aaron.

³ tn The distributive sense is obtained by the repetition, “a man” and “a man.”

⁴ sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.

⁵ tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

⁷ tn This clause begins with a vav (ו) on a pronoun, marking it out as a disjunctive vav. In this context it fits best to take it as a circumstantial clause introducing concession.

⁸ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

⁹ tn The word order is emphatic: “but in/on account of his own sins he died.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text uses the idiom that these “were in his hand,” meaning that he had the responsibility over them.

¹¹ sn It is not clear what articles from the sanctuary were included. Tg. Ps.-J. adds (interpretively) “the Urim and Thummim.”

¹³ sn Here again we see that there was no unified empire, but Midianite tribal groups.

¹⁴ sn And what was Balaam doing among the Midianites? The implication is strong. This pagan diviner had to submit to the revealed will of God in the oracles, but he nonetheless could be hired. He had been a part of the attempt to destroy Israel that failed; he then apparently became part of the plan, if not the adviser, to destroy them with sexual immorality and pagan ritual.