Numbers 18:2

18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join ¹  with you and minister to you while ²  you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.

Exodus 38:21

The Materials of the Construction

38:21 This is the inventory ³  of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the testimony, which was counted ⁴  by the order ⁵  of Moses, being the work ⁶  of the Levites under the direction ⁷  of Ithamar, son of Aaron the priest.

Acts 7:44

7:44 Our ancestors ⁸  had the tabernacle ⁹  of testimony in the wilderness, ¹⁰  just as God ¹¹  who spoke to Moses ordered him ¹²  to make it according to the design he had seen.

[18:2]  ¹ 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.

[18:2]  ² tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.

[38:21]  ³ tn The Hebrew word is פְּקוּדֵי (pÿqude), which in a slavishly literal way would be “visitations of” the tabernacle. But the word often has the idea of “numbering” or “appointing” as well. Here it is an accounting or enumeration of the materials that people brought, so the contemporary term “inventory” is a close approximation. By using this Hebrew word there is also the indication that whatever was given, i.e., appointed for the tabernacle, was changed forever in its use. This is consistent with this Hebrew root, which does have a sense of changing the destiny of someone (“God will surely visit you”). The list in this section will also be tied to the numbering of the people.

[38:21]  ⁴ tn The same verb is used here, but now in the Pual perfect tense, third masculine singular. A translation “was numbered” or “was counted” works. The verb is singular because it refers to the tabernacle as a unit. This section will list what made up the tabernacle.

[38:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “at/by the mouth of.”

[38:21]  ⁶ tn The noun is “work” or “service.” S. R. Driver explains that the reckonings were not made for the Levites, but that they were the work of the Levites, done by them under the direction of Ithamar (Exodus, 393).

[38:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “by the hand of.”

[7:44]  ⁸ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “fathers.”

[7:44]  ⁹ tn Or “tent.”

[7:44]  ¹⁰ tn Or “desert.”

[7:44]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the one”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:44]  ¹² tn The word “him” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.