Bilangan 3:39 Komentar

This chapter and the next are concerning the tribe of Levi, which was to be mustered and marshalled by itself, and not in common with the other tribes, intimating the particular honour put upon them and the particular duty and service required from them. The Levites are in this chapter considered, I. As attendants on, and assistants to, the priests in the temple-service. And so we have an account, 1. Of the priests themselves (Num 3:1-4) and their work (Num 3:10). 2. Of the gift of the Levites to them (Num 3:5-9), in order to which they are mustered (Num 3:14-16), and the sum of them taken (Num 3:39). Each particular family of them is mustered, has its place assigned and its charge, the Gershonites (Num 3:17-26), the Kohathites (Num 3:27-32), the Merarites (Num 3:33-39). II. As equivalents for the first-born (Num 3:11-13). 1. The first-born are numbered, and the Levites taken instead of them, as far as the number of the Levites went (Num 3:40-45). 2. What first-born there were more than the Levites were redeemed (Num 3:46, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 3 In this chapter an account is given of the genealogy of the priests and Levites, and of the gift of the Levites to the priests, of the numbering of them, and the service they were to perform; and first of the priests, the sons of Aaron, Num 3:1; and then of the Levites, as given unto them, to wait upon them, and assist them, Num 3:5; and these were taken instead of the firstborn, Num 3:11; and ordered to be numbered, which was done accordingly by their families, Num 3:14; and the sum of each is given, and the particular work assigned to them; of the Gershonites, Num 3:21; of the Kohathites, Num 3:27; of the Merarites, Num 3:33; the sum total of them is given, Num 3:39; then the firstborn of the children of Israel, from a month old are ordered to be numbered, and were, Num 3:40; and these appearing to be more in number than the Levites, by two hundred seventy three a direction is given that the two hundred seventy three should be redeemed at the rate of five, shekels apiece, and the money paid to Aaron and his sons, Num 3:44; which was accordingly done, Num 3:49.

And the Lord said unto Moses,.... After he had taken the number of the Levites: number all the firstborn of the children of Israel, from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names; that they might be compared with the number of the Levites, and the difference between them observed.

The war with Og, king of Bashan, Deu 3:1, Deu 3:2. He is defeated, Deu 3:3. Sixty fortified cities with many unwalled towns taken, Deu 3:4, Deu 3:5. The utter destruction of the people, Deu 3:6. The spoils, Deu 3:7; and extent of the land taken, Deu 3:8-10. Account of Og's iron bedstead, Deu 3:11. The land given to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh, Deu 3:12, Deu 3:13. Jair takes the country of Argob, Deu 3:14. Gilead is given unto Machir, Deu 3:15. And the rest of the land possessed by the Reubenites and Gadites, Deu 3:16, Deu 3:17. The directions given to those tribes, Deu 3:18-20. The counsel given to Joshua, Deu 3:21, Deu 3:22. Moses's prayer to God for permission to go into the promised land, Deu 3:23-25; and God's refusal, Deu 3:26. He is commanded to go up to Mount Pisgah to see it, Deu 3:27; and to encourage Joshua, Deu 3:28. They continue in the valley opposite to Beth-peor, Deu 3:29.

Which Moses and Aaron numbered - The word ואהרן veaharon, "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; it is wanting also in eight of Dr. Kennicott's MSS., and in four of De Rossi's. Moses alone, as Houbigant observes, is commanded to take the number of the Levites; see Num 3:5, Num 3:11, Num 3:40, Num 3:44, and Num 3:51. All the males - were twenty and two thousand - This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites 8,600, the Merarites 6,200, total 22,300. Several methods of solving this difficulty have been proposed by learned men; Dr. Kennicott's is the most simple. Formerly the numbers in the Hebrew Bible were expressed by letters, and not by words at full length; and if two nearly similar letters were mistaken for each other, many errors in the numbers must be the consequence. Now it is probable that an error has crept into the number of the Gershonites, Num 3:22, where, instead of 7,500, we should read 7,200, as ך caph, 500, might have been easily mistaken for ר resh, 200, especially if the down stroke of the caph had been a little shorter than ordinary, which is often the case in MSS. The extra 300 being taken off, the total is just 22,000, as mentioned in the 39th verse.

THE LEVITES' SERVICE. (Num. 3:1-51) 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 (Num 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.

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 Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34, 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.