Numeri 8:6 Commento

This chapter is concerning the lamps or lights of the sanctuary. I. The burning lamps in the candlestick, which the priests were charged to tend (Num 8:1-4). II. The living lamps (if I may so call them), The Levites, who as ministers were burning and shining lights. The ordination of the priests we had an account of, Lev. 8. Here we have an account of the ordination of the Levites, the inferior clergy. 1. How they were purified (Lev 8:5-8). 2. How they were parted with by the people (Lev 8:9, Lev 8:10). 3. How they were presented to God in lieu of the firstborn (Lev 8:11-18). 4. How they were consigned to Aaron and his sons, to be ministers to them (Lev 8:19). 5. How all these orders were duly executed (Lev 8:20-22). And, lastly, the age appointed for their ministration (Lev 8:23, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 8 In this chapter orders are given for the lighting the seven lamps of the candlestick, Num 8:1; and for the consecration of the Levites to their office, by a purification of them, Num 8:5; by a separation of them from the children of Israel, and the imposition of their hands on them, and of the hands of the Levites on the offerings offered for them, Num 8:9; and being thus given to the Lord, and claimed as his, instead of the firstborn of Israel, they are given to Aaron and his sons to do service in the tabernacle, Num 8:16; and their age at which they were to enter into service and cease from it is fixed, Num 8:23.

Take the Levites from among the children of Israel,.... Among whom they were mixed, as were all the tribes mixed together as Aben Ezra says, before they took their journey from Mount Sinai; however, from hence forward, they were distinguished from Israelites, as they are both in Scripture and in Jewish writings; see Ch1 9:2; though this seems to design no other but their appointment and separation to their work and service, as ministers to the priests of the Lord; and so as Aaron did not assume the honour of priesthood to himself but was called of God, the Levites did not take the honour of their office to themselves but had it by the appointment and call of God: and cleanse them; with water, by sprinkling the water of purification on them, and by washing their bodies and clothes with water; which outward washing was a sign of moral purity, which was necessary to their employment in the service of the sanctuary; for though there was no particular uncleanness on them, either ceremonial or moral, but what was common to men; yet it was proper, by such outward rites, to put them and others in mind, that they which are employed about holy things should be eminently pure and holy; and as their business was to carry holy things, to bear the sacred vessels of the sanctuary from place to place when needful, they ought of all men to be clean, Isa 52:11, and in this they were emblems of the ministers of the word, who ought to be pure, as in heart, so in life and conversation, and be examples of purity to others, Co2 6:6.

An exhortation to obedience from a consideration of God's past mercies, Deu 8:1, Deu 8:2. Man is not to live by bread only, but by every word of God, Deu 8:3. How God provided for them in the wilderness, Deu 8:4. The Lord chastened them that they might be obedient, Deu 8:5, Deu 8:6. A description of the land into which they were going, Deu 8:7-9. Cautions lest they should forget God in their prosperity, Deu 8:10-16, and lest they should attribute that prosperity to themselves, and not to God, Deu 8:17, Deu 8:18. The terrible judgments that shall fall upon them, should they prove unfaithful, Deu 8:19, Deu 8:20.

HOW THE LAMPS ARE TO BE LIGHTED. (Num 8:1-4) the Lord spake unto Moses--The order of this chapter suggests the idea that the following instructions were given to Moses while he was within the tabernacle of the congregation, after the princes had completed their offering. But from the tenor of the instructions, it is more likely that they were given immediately after the Levites had been given to the priests (see on Num. 3:1-4:49), and that the record of these instructions had been postponed till the narrative of other transactions in the camp had been made [PATRICK].

THE CONSECRATION OF THE LEVITES. (Num. 8:5-22) Take the Levites . . . and cleanse them--This passage describes the consecration of the Levites. Although the tribe was to be devoted to the divine service, their hereditary descent alone was not a sufficient qualification for entering on the duties of the sacred office. They were to be set apart by a special ceremony, which, however, was much simpler than that appointed for the priests; neither washing nor anointing, nor investiture with official robes, was necessary. Their purification consisted, along with the offering of the requisite sacrifices (Lev 1:4; Lev 3:2; Lev 4:4), in being sprinkled by water mixed with the ashes of a red heifer (Num 19:9), and shaved all over, and their clothes washed--a combination of symbolical acts which was intended to remind them of the mortification of carnal and worldly desires, and the maintenance of that purity in heart and life which became the servants of God.

Consecration of the Levites. - The command of God to consecrate the Levites for their service, is introduced in Num 8:1-4 by directions issued to Aaron with regard to the lighting of the candlestick in the dwelling of the tabernacle. Aaron was to place the seven lamps upon the candlestick in such a manner that they would shine פּניו אל־מוּל. These directions are not a mere repetition, but also a more precise definition, of the general instructions given in Exo 25:37, when the candlestick was made, to place the seven lamps upon the candlestick in such a manner that each should give light over against its front, i.e., should throw its light upon the side opposite to the front of the candlestick. In itself, therefore, there is nothing at all striking in the renewal and explanation of those directions, which committed the task of lighting the lamps to Aaron; for this had not been done before, as Exo 27:21 merely assigns the daily preparation of the candlestick to Aaron and his sons; and their being placed in the connection in which we find them may be explained from the signification of the seven lamps in relation to the dwelling of God, viz., as indicating that Israel was thereby to be represented perpetually before the Lord as a people causing its light to shine in the darkness of this world. And when Aaron is commanded to attend to the lighting of the candlestick, so that it may light up the dwelling, in these special instructions the entire fulfilment of his service in the dwelling is enforced upon him as a duty. In this respect the instructions themselves, coupled with the statement of the fact that Aaron had fulfilled them, stand quite appropriately between the account of what the tribe-princes had done for the consecration of the altar service as representatives of the congregation, and the account of the solemn inauguration of the Levites in their service in the sanctuary. The repetition on this occasion (Exo 27:4) of an allusion to the artistic character of the candlestick, which had been made according to the pattern seen by Moses in the mount (Exo 25:31.), is quite in keeping with the antiquated style of narrative adopted in these books.