Numbers 3

Nu 3:1-51.

THE

LEVITES'

SERVICE.

1. These . . . are the generations of Aaron and Moses, &c.--This

chapter contains an account of their families; and although that of

Moses is not detailed like his brother's, his children are included

under the general designation of the Amramites

(Nu 3:27),

a term which comprehends all the descendants of their common father

Amram. The reason why the family of Moses was so undistinguished in

this record is that they were in the private ranks of the Levites, the

dignity of the priesthood being conferred exclusively on the posterity

of Aaron; and hence, as the sacerdotal order is the subject of this

chapter, Aaron, contrary to the usual style of the sacred history, is

mentioned before Moses.

in the day that the Lord spake with Moses in mount Sinai--This is

added, because at the date of the following record the family of Aaron

was unbroken.

2-4. And these are the names of the sons of Aaron--All the sons of

Aaron, four in number, were consecrated to minister in the priest's

office. The two oldest enjoyed but a brief term of office

(Le 10:1, 2;

Nu 3:4; 26:61);

but Eleazar and Ithamar, the other two, were dutiful, and performed the

sacred service during the lifetime of their father, as his assistants,

and under his superintendence.

5-10. Bring the tribe of Levi near--The Hebrew word "bring near"

is a sacrificial term, denoting the presentation of an offering to God;

and the use of the word, therefore, in connection with the Levites,

signifies that they were devoted as an offering to the sanctuary, no

longer to be employed in any common offices. They were subordinate to

the priests, who alone enjoyed the privilege of entering the holy

place; but they were employed in discharging many of the humbler duties

which belonged to the sanctuary, as well as in various offices of great

utility and importance to the religion and morals of the people.

9. they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel,

&c.--The priests hold the place of God, and the Levites are the

servants of God in the obedience they render to the priests.

11-13. I have taken the Levites, &c.--The consecration of this tribe

did not originate in the legislative wisdom of Moses, but in the

special appointment of God, who chose them as substitutes for the

first-born. By an appointment made in memory of the last solemn judgment

on Egypt (from which the Israelitish households were miraculously exempt)

all the first-born were consecrated to God

(Ex 13:12; 22:29),

who thus, under peculiar circumstances, seemed to adopt the patriarchal

usage of appointing the oldest to act as the priest of the family. But

the privilege of redemption that was allowed the first-born opened the

way for a change; and accordingly, on the full organization of the

Mosaic economy, the administration of sacred things formerly committed

to the first-born was transferred from them to the Levites, who

received that honor partly as a tribute to Moses and Aaron, partly

because this tribe had distinguished themselves by their zeal in the

affair of the golden calf

(Ex 32:29),

and also because, being the smallest of the tribes, they could ill find

suitable employment and support in the work. (See on

De 33:8).

The designation of a special class for the sacred offices of religion

was a wise arrangement; for, on their settlement in Canaan, the people

would be so occupied that they might not be at leisure to wait on the

service of the sanctuary, and sacred things might, from various causes,

fall into neglect. But the appointment of an entire tribe to the divine

service ensured the regular performance of the rites of religion. The

subsequent portion of the chapter relates to the formal substitution of

this tribe.

I am the Lord--that is, I decree it to be so; and being possessed of

sovereign authority, I expect full obedience.

14-31. Number the children of Levi--They were numbered as well as the

other tribes; but the enumeration was made on a different

principle--for while in the other tribes the number of males was

calculated from twenty years and upward

[Nu 1:3],

in that of Levi they were counted "from a month old and upward." The

reason for the distinction is obvious. In the other tribes the survey

was made for purposes of war

[Nu 1:3],

from which the Levites were totally exempt. But the Levites were

appointed to a work on which they entered as soon as they were capable

of instruction. They are mentioned under the names of Gershon, Kohath,

and Merari, sons of Levi, and chiefs or ancestral heads of three

subdivisions into which this tribe was distributed. Their duties were

to assist in the conveyance of the tabernacle when the people were

removing the various encampments, and to form its guard while

stationary--the Gershonites being stationed on the west, the Kohathites

on the south, and the families of Merari on the north. The Kohathites

had the principal place about the tabernacle, and charge of the most

precious and sacred things--a distinction with which they were honored,

probably, because the Aaronic family belonged to this division of the

Levitical tribe. The Gershonites, being the oldest, had the next

honorable post assigned them, while the burden of the drudgery was

thrown on the division of Merari.

32. chief--rather, "chiefs" of the Levites. Three persons are

mentioned as chiefs of these respective divisions

[Nu 3:24, 30, 35].

And Eleazar presided over them; whence he is called "the second priest"

(2Ki 25:18);

and in the case of the high priest's absence from illness or other

necessary occasions, he performed the duties

(1Ki 4:4).

38. those that encamp, &c.--That being the entrance side, it was the

post of honor, and consequently reserved to Moses and the priestly

family. But the sons of Moses had no station here.

39. twenty and two thousand--The result of this census, though made on

conditions most advantageous to Levi, proved it to be by far the

smallest in Israel. The separate numbers stated in

Nu 3:22, 28, 34,

when added together, amount to twenty-two thousand three hundred. The

omission of the three hundred is variously accounted for--by some,

because they might be first-born who were already devoted to God and

could not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because in

Scripture style, the sum is reckoned in round numbers. The most

probable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employed for

figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, taken for

another of like form but smaller value.

40-51. Number all the first-born of the males of the children of

Israel, &c.--The principle on which the enumeration of the Levites

had been made was now to be applied to the other tribes. The number of

their male children, from a month old and upward, was to be reckoned,

in order that a comparison might be instituted with that of the

Levites, for the formal adoption of the latter as substitutes for the

first-born. The Levites, amounting to twenty-two thousand, were given

in exchange for an equal number of the first-born from the other

tribes, leaving an excess of two hundred seventy-three; and as there

were no substitutes for these, they were redeemed at the rate of five

shekels for each

(Nu 18:15, 16).

Every Israelite would naturally wish that his son might be redeemed by

a Levite without the payment of this tax, and yet some would have to

incur the expense, for there were not Levites enough to make an equal

exchange. Jewish writers say the matter was determined by lot, in this

manner: Moses put into an urn twenty-two thousand pieces of parchment,

on each of which he wrote "a son of Levi," and two hundred

seventy-three more, containing the words, "five shekels." These being

shaken, he ordered each of the first-born to put in his hand and take

out a slip. If it contained the first inscription, the boy was redeemed

which, reckoning the shekel at half a crown, would amount to

12s. 6d. each, was appropriated to the use of the

sanctuary. The excess of the general over the Levitical first-born is

so small, that the only way of accounting for it is, by supposing those

first-born only were counted as were males remaining in their parents'

household, or that those first-born only were numbered which had been

born since the departure from Egypt, when God claimed all the

first-born as his special property.

41. the cattle of the Levites--These, which they kept to graze on

the glebes and meadows in the suburbs of their cities, to supply their

families with dairy produce and animal food, were also taken as an

equivalent for all the firstlings of the cattle which the Israelites at

that time possessed. In consequence of this exchange the firstlings

were not brought then, as afterwards, to the altar and the priests.