Numbers 3:10-13

3:10 So you are to appoint Aaron and his sons, and they will be responsible for their priesthood; ¹  but the unauthorized person ²  who comes near must be put to death.”

3:11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 3:12 “Look, ³  I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites instead of ⁴  every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. So the Levites belong to me, 3:13 because all the firstborn are mine. When I destroyed ⁵  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. They belong to me. I am the Lord.” ⁶ 

Numbers 4:15

4:15 “When Aaron and his sons have finished ⁷  covering ⁸  the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is ready to journey, then ⁹  the Kohathites will come to carry them; ¹⁰  but they must not touch ¹¹  any ¹²  holy thing, or they will die. ¹³  These are the responsibilities ¹⁴  of the Kohathites with the tent of meeting.

Numbers 16:40

16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of ¹⁵  Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority ¹⁶  of Moses.

Numbers 17:7

17:7 Then Moses placed the staffs before the Lord in the tent of the testimony. ¹⁷ 

Numbers 17:1

The Budding of Aaron’s Staff

17:1 ¹⁸ The Lord spoke to Moses:

Numbers 16:39-40

16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who had been burned up, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar. 16:40 It was a memorial for the Israelites, that no outsider who is not a descendant of ¹⁹  Aaron should approach to burn incense before the Lord, that he might not become like Korah and his company – just as the Lord had spoken by the authority ²⁰  of Moses.

Numbers 16:2

16:2 and rebelled against Moses, along with some of the Israelites, 250 leaders ²¹  of the community, chosen from the assembly, ²²  famous men. ²³ 

Numbers 30:16

30:16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses, relating to ²⁴  a man and his wife, and a father and his young daughter who is still living in her father’s house.

Ezekiel 44:15

The Levitical Priests

44:15 “‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ²⁵  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.

[3:10]  ¹ tc The LXX includes the following words here: “and all things pertaining to the altar and within the veil.” Cf. Num 18:7.

[3:10]  ² tn The word is זָר (zar), usually rendered “stranger, foreigner, pagan.” But in this context it simply refers to anyone who is not a Levite or a priest, an unauthorized person or intruder in the tabernacle. That person would be put to death.

[3:12]  ³ tn The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) here carries its deictic force, calling attention to the fact that is being declared. It is underscoring the fact that the Lord himself chose Levi.

[3:12]  ⁴ tn Literally “in the place of.”

[3:13]  ⁵ tn The form הַכֹּתִי (hakkoti) is the Hiphil infinitive construct of the verb נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike, smite, attack”). Here, after the idiomatic “in the day of,” the form functions in an adverbial clause of time – “when I destroyed.”

[3:13]  ⁶ sn In the Exodus event of the Passover night the principle of substitution was presented. The firstborn child was redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and so belonged to God, but then God chose the Levites to serve in the place of the firstborn. The ritual of consecrating the firstborn son to the Lord was nevertheless carried out, even with Jesus, the firstborn son of Mary (Luke 2:22-23).

[4:15]  ⁷ tn The verb form is the Piel perfect with a vav (ו) consecutive; it continues the future sequence, but in this verse forms a subordinate clause to the parallel sequential verb to follow.

[4:15]  ⁸ tn The Piel infinitive construct with the preposition serves as the direct object of the preceding verbal form, answering the question of what it was that they finished.

[4:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “after this.”

[4:15]  ¹⁰ tn The form is the Qal infinitive construct from נָשָׂא (nasa’, “to lift, carry”); here it indicates the purpose clause after the verb “come.”

[4:15]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect tense may be given the nuance of negated instruction (“they are not to”) or negated obligation (“they must not”).

[4:15]  ¹² tn Here the article expresses the generic idea of any holy thing (R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 19, §92).

[4:15]  ¹³ tn The verb is the perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive, following the imperfect tense warning against touching the holy thing. The form shows the consequence of touching the holy thing, and so could be translated “or they will die” or “lest they die.” The first is stronger.

[4:15]  ¹⁴ tn The word מַשָּׂא (massa’) is normally rendered “burden,” especially in prophetic literature. It indicates the load that one must carry, whether an oracle, or here the physical responsibility.

[16:40]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the seed of.”

[16:40]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “hand.”

[17:7]  ¹⁷ tn The name of the tent now attests to the centrality of the ark of the covenant. Instead of the “tent of meeting” (מוֹעֵד, mo’ed) we now find the “the tent of the testimony” (הָעֵדֻת, ha’edut).

[17:1]  ¹⁸ sn Num 17:1 in the English Bible is 17:16 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See also the note on 16:36.

[16:40]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “from the seed of.”

[16:40]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hand.”

[16:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “princes” (so KJV, ASV).

[16:2]  ²² tn These men must have been counselors or judges of some kind.

[16:2]  ²³ tn Heb “men of name,” or “men of renown.”

[30:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “between.”

[44:15]  ²⁵ 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).