Numbers 1:49-53
appoint <06485> [thou shalt.]
tabernacle .................. tabernacle ............... it <04908> [the tabernacle.]
camp <02583> [shall encamp.]
Levites ............... Levites <03881> [the Levites.]
unauthorized person <02114> [the stranger.]
camp <02583> [shall pitch.]
anger <07110> [there be]
Levites ....................... Levites <03881> [and the.]
Numbers 3:5-43
The word {hakraiv,} here rendered bring near, is properly a sacrificial word, and signifies the presenting of a sacrifice or offering to the Lord. As an offering, the tribe of Levi was entirely given up to the service of the sanctuary, to be no longer their own, but the Lord's.
responsible <08104> [keep.]
attending .... service <05647 05656> [to do the.]
be responsible <08104> [they shall.]
unauthorized <02114> [and the stranger.]
When God miraculously destroyed all the first-born of the Egyptians, (Ex 12:29,) he spared those of the Israelites; and, in commemoration of that event, he was pleased to appoint that all the first-born males "should be set apart unto himself." (Ex 13:12-16.) God is here pleased to relinquish this claim, and to appoint the whole tribe of Levi to attend his immediate service in their stead.
firstborn ......... firstborn .............. firstborn <01060> [Because.]
When <03117> [on the day.]
<06310> [word. Heb. mouth.]
[Gershom.]
month old <02320 01121> [from a month old.]
The males of all the other tribes were numbered from twenty years old and upwards; but, had the Levites been numbered in this way, they would not have been nearly equal in number to the first-born of the twelve tribes. Add to this, that as there must have been first-born of all ages in the other tribes, it was necessary that the Levites, who were to be their substitutes, should also be of all ages; and it appears to have been partly on this ground, that the Levites were numbered from a month old and upwards.
responsibilities <04931> [the charge.]
From this and the next chapter, we see the very severe labour which the Levites were to perform, while the journeyings of the Israelites lasted. When we consider, that there was not less than 14 tons 266 lbs. of metal employed in the tabernacle, (see note on Ex 38:24,) besides the immense weight of the skins, hangings, cords, boards, and posts, we shall find it was no easy matter to transport this moveable temple from place to place. The Gershonites, who were 7,500 in number had to carry the tent, coverings, vail, hangings of the court, cords, etc. (ver. 25, 26); the Kohathites, who were 8,600, the ark, table, candlestick, altars, and instruments of the sanctuary (ver. 31); and the Merarites, who were 6,200, the boards, bars, sockets, and all matters connected with these belonging to the tabernacle, with the pillars of the court, their sockets, pins, and cords (ver. 36, 37).
tent ........ tent ............ tent <0168> [the tabernacle and.]
curtain <04539> [and the hanging.]
hangings <07050> [the hangings.]
ropes <04340> [the cords.]
8,600 <0505 08083> [eight thousand.]
responsible <08104> [keeping.]
ark <0727> [the ark.]
altars <04196> [the altars.]
curtain <04539> [and the hanging.]
camp <02583> [shall.]
north <06828> [northward.]
appointed responsibilities <04931 06486> [under the custody and charge. Heb. the office of the charge. the boards.]
east <06924> [toward.]
responsible <08104> [keeping.]
needs ........ needs <04931> [for the charge.]
Aaron <0175> [and Aaron.]
The word [w'hrn,] {we„haron,} 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 MSS. Moses alone, as Houbigant observes, was commanded to number the Levites, (ver. 5, 11, 40, 44, 51:) for as the money with which the first-born were redeemed was to be paid to Aaron and his sons, (ver. 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 ver. 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 ver. 22, where instead of 7,500 we should read 7,200, as [k,] {caph} final, which stands for 500, might have been easily mistaken for [r,] resh, 200. (Dr. Kennicott on the Hebrew Text, vol. II. p. 212.) Either of these modes will equally reconcile the difference.
