Genesis 26:5

26:5 All this will come to pass ¹  because Abraham obeyed me ²  and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.” ³ 

Numbers 9:19

9:19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle many days, then the Israelites obeyed the instructions ⁴  of the Lord and did not journey.

Ezekiel 44:8

44:8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners ⁵  to keep charge of my sanctuary for you.

Ezekiel 44:15

The Levitical Priests

44:15 “‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ⁶  who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

Ezekiel 48:11

48:11 This will be for the priests who are set apart from the descendants of Zadok who kept my charge and did not go astray when the people of Israel strayed off, like the Levites did. ⁷ 

[26:5]  ¹ tn The words “All this will come to pass” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons.

[26:5]  ² tn Heb “listened to my voice.”

[26:5]  ³ sn My charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. The language of this verse is clearly interpretive, for Abraham did not have all these laws. The terms are legal designations for sections of the Mosaic law and presuppose the existence of the law. Some Rabbinic views actually conclude that Abraham had fulfilled the whole law before it was given (see m. Qiddushin 4:14). Some scholars argue that this story could only have been written after the law was given (C. Westermann, Genesis, 2:424-25). But the simplest explanation is that the narrator (traditionally taken to be Moses the Lawgiver) elaborated on the simple report of Abraham’s obedience by using terms with which the Israelites were familiar. In this way he depicts Abraham as the model of obedience to God’s commands, whose example Israel should follow.

[9:19]  ⁴ tn This is the same Hebrew expression that was used earlier for the Levites “keeping their charge” or more clearly, “fulfilling their obligations” to take care of the needs of the people and the sanctuary. It is a general expression using שָׁמַר (shamar) followed by its cognate noun מִשְׁמֶרֶת (mishmeret).

[44:8]  ⁵ tc Instead of an energic nun (ן), the text may have read a third masculine plural suffix ם (mem), “them,” which was confused with ן (nun) in the old script. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:621.

[44:15]  ⁶ sn Zadok was a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar (1 Chr 6:50-53), who served as a priest during David’s reign (2 Sam 8:17).

[48:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “strayed off.”