Numbers 8:1 Ulasan

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.).

Directions were given long before this for the making of the golden candlestick (Exo 25:31), and it was made according to the pattern shown to Moses in the mount, Exo 38:17. But now it was that the lamps were first ordered to be lighted, when other things began to be used. Observe, 1. Who must light the lamps; Aaron himself, he lighted the lamps, Num 8:3. As the people's representative to God, he thus did the office of a servant in God's house, lighting his Master's candle; as the representative of God to the people, he thus gave them the intimations of God's will and favour, thus expressed (Psa 18:28), Thou wilt light my candle; and thus Aaron himself was now lately directed to bless the people, The Lord make his face to shine upon thee, Num 6:25. The commandment is a lamp, Pro 6:23. The scripture is a light shining in a dark place, Pe2 1:19. And a dark place indeed even the church would be without it, as the tabernacle (which had no window in it) without the lamps. Now the work of ministers is to light these lamps, by expounding and applying the word of God. The priest lighted the middle lamp from the fire of the altar, and the rest of the lamps he lighted one from another, which (says Mr. Ainsworth) signifies that the fountain of all light and knowledge is in Christ, who has the seven spirits of God figured by the seven lamps of fire (Rev 4:5), but that in the expounding of scripture one passage must borrow light from another. He also supposes that, seven being a number of perfection, by the seven branches of the candlestick is shown the full perfection of the scriptures, which are able to make us wise to salvation. 2. To what end the lamps were lighted, that they might give light over against the candlestick, that is, to that part of the tabernacle where the table stood, with the show-bread upon it, over against the candlestick. They were not lighted like tapers in an urn, to burn to themselves, but to give light to the other side of the tabernacle, for therefore candles are lighted, Mat 5:15. Note, The lights of the world, the lights of the church, must shine as lights. Therefore we have light, that we may give light.

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.

And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Whether immediately after the offerings of the princes, or at another time, is not certain; Aben Ezra thinks it was in the night God spake unto him, because then the lamps were lighted and burning: saying; as follows.

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].

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.