Numbers 8:22-26

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: ¹  At the age of twenty-five years ²  and upward one may begin to join the company ³  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 ⁴  their colleagues ⁵  in the tent of meeting, to attend to needs, but they must do no work. This is the way you must establish ⁶  the Levites regarding their duties.”

Numbers 18:6

18:6 I myself have chosen ⁷  your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are given to you as a gift from the Lord, to perform the duties ⁸  of the tent of meeting.

Numbers 18:1

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ⁹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ¹⁰  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ¹¹  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Numbers 23:3-6

23:3 Balaam said to Balak, “Station yourself ¹²  by your burnt offering, and I will go off; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever he reveals to me ¹³  I will tell you.” ¹⁴  Then he went to a deserted height. ¹⁵ 

23:4 Then God met Balaam, who ¹⁶  said to him, “I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.” 23:5 Then the Lord put a message ¹⁷  in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak what I tell you.” ¹⁸ 

23:6 So he returned to him, and he was still ¹⁹  standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

Numbers 23:26

23:26 But Balaam replied ²⁰  to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘All that the Lord speaks, ²¹  I must do’?”

Titus 1:5

Titus’ Task on Crete

1:5 The reason I left you in Crete was to set in order the remaining matters and to appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.

[8:24]  ¹ tn The Hebrew text has “this [is that] which [pertains] to the Levites.” “This is what concerns the Levites, meaning, the following rulings are for them.

[8:24]  ² tc The age of twenty-five indicated in v. 24 should be compared with the age of thirty indicated in Num 4:3,23,30. In order to harmonize the numbers given in chapter 4 with the number given in Num 8:24 the LXX (and perhaps its Hebrew Vorlage) has thirty in all of these references. See further G. J. Wenham, Numbers (TOTC 4), 97-98.

[8:24]  ³ tn The infinitive is לִצְבֹא (litsvo’), related to the word for “host, army, company,” and so “to serve as a company.” The meaning is strengthened by the cognate accusative following it.

[8:26]  ⁴ tn The verb is the Piel perfect of שָׁרַת (sharat, “to serve, minister”). Here the form has the vav (ו) consecutive, and so is equal to the imperfect tense stressing permission. After the Levites reached the age of retirement, they were permitted to assist the others, but were not permitted to do the work themselves.

[8:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “brothers,” but the meaning in this context is “fellow Levites.”

[8:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “you shall do, make.”

[18:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “taken.”

[18:6]  ⁸ tn The infinitive construct in this sentence is from עָבַד (’avad), and so is the noun that serves as its object: to serve the service.

[18:1]  ⁹ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ¹¹ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[23:3]  ¹² tn The verb הִתְיַצֵּב (hityatsev) means “to take a stand, station oneself.” It is more intentional than simply standing by something. He was to position himself by the sacrifice as Balaam withdrew to seek the oracle.

[23:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the word of what he shows me.” The noun is in construct, and so the clause that follows functions as a noun clause in the genitive. The point is that the word will consist of divine revelation.

[23:3]  ¹⁴ tn The verb is the perfect tense with vav (ו) consecutive. This clause is dependent on the clause that precedes it.

[23:3]  ¹⁵ sn He went up to a bald spot, to a barren height. The statement underscores the general belief that such tops were the closest things to the gods. On such heights people built their shrines and temples.

[23:4]  ¹⁶ tn The relative pronoun is added here in place of the conjunction to clarify that Balaam is speaking to God and not vice versa.

[23:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “word.”

[23:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and thus you shall speak.”

[23:6]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew text draws the vividness of the scene with the deictic particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) – Balaam returned, and there he was, standing there.

[23:26]  ²⁰ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[23:26]  ²¹ tn This first clause, “all that the Lord speaks” – is a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb that comes at the end of the verse. It is something of an independent accusative case, since it is picked up with the sign of the accusative: “all that the Lord speaks, it I must do.”