Numbers 3

Chap. III. Ver. 1—51. Levites appointed—The sons of Moses are not particularly mentioned on this occasion, having no distinction conferred on them above their brethren. This was a singular instance of his disinterested moderation, and submission to the appointment of God; who, in proof of the divine legation of his servant, willed him to act in a manner so seek the advancement of their posterity.—Aaron is here first mentioned, because the honour of the priesthood was conferred upon him and his sons; while those of Moses were only common Levites, and therefore classed among them. There was at this time much work to be done, and only three priests to perform it: some assistants were therefore necessary to attend on the more ordinary services, whilst they sprinkled the blood, burned the fat, and offered incense especially when the tabernacle was to be taken down, and carried with them in their marches.

That no improper persons, none “who were not called of God,” might be employed, the tribe of Levi was on this occasion set apart for these services. To this tribe Moses and Aaron belonged: it had been signalized by its zeal against idolatry in the matter of the golden calf. It was by far the smallest tribe of all: and, in short, it seemed good in the sight of God to choose the Levites to approach to him, in preference to the other Israelites. Several intimations had before been given of this purpose of God, but it was now more fully and expressly declared.—The services allotted to the Levites, at this time and in subsequent ages, may be most exactly known by carefully consulting the Scriptures referred to and the notes made on them.—7°.

Scott.:

Notes on the verses

Total. Tribe of Judah, 298 3-5 cubits. 250 cubits. 74,600 cubits. Issachar, 217 3-5 cubits. 250 cubits, 54,400 cubits. Gad, 140 5-11 cubits. 325 cubits. 45,650 cubits. Zebulun, 229 3-4 cubits. 250 cubits. 57,400 cubits. Ephraim, 202 1-2 cubits. 200 cubits. 40,500 cubits. Reuben, 143 1-5 cubits. 325 cubits. 46,500 cubits. Manasseh, 161 cubits. 200 cubits. 32,200 cubits. Simeon, 182 6-13 cubits. 325 cubits. 59,300 cubits. Benjamin, 177 cubits. 200 cubits. 35,400 cubits. Dan, 156 3-4 cubits, 400 cubits. 62,700 cubits. Asher, 106 3-4 cubits. 400 cubits, 41,500 cubits. Naphtali, 133 1-2 cubits. 100 cubits. 53,400 cubits. If we make the ichnography, or even the scenography, of the camp on this plan, in following it, we must first, in the centre form a parallelogram cubits long, and 50 broad, for the court of the tabernacle.

with a line all round of 50 cubits broad. We must then place the camp of the Dan on wards the west, viz. S: Length. Total. The Gershonites, 30 cubits. 250 cubits. 7,500 cubits. South, the Kohathites, 86 cubits. 100 cubits. 8,600 cubits. North, the Merarites, 62 cubits. 100 cubits. 6,200 cubits. On the east, we must place the tents for Moses and Aaron and his sons; and at the place where the camp of the Levites ends, a space must be left of 2,000 square cubits, after which we must take the dimensions of the camp of the twelve tribes. In order to represent the whole camp of the Israelites in that order which appears most proper, we must extract the square roots of the preceding spaces, in order to assign to each tribe square areas or rectangular images. We find therefore for Judah, 3,049; Issachar, 3,298; Gad, 3,019; Zebulun, 3,388; Ephraim, 2,846; Reuben, 3,049; Manasseh, 2,537; Simeon, 3,443; Benjamin, 2,660; Dan, 3,541; Asher, 2,880; Naphtali, 3,268; Gershonites, 1,224; Kohathites, 1,311; Merarites, 1,113.

The tabernacle, which was 100 cubits long and 50 broad, being placed in the centre of the camp, 840 feet from the camp of the Levites, the white space of the camp was therefore 259,600,000 feet. Now, according to the above division of the camp, the sum total being 125,210,000, it follows that the space between the tents contained 134,390,000. Now, if we reckon 21,141,604 square feet to the Roman mile, the Israelitish camp will contain a little more than twelve such square miles. ]—Bagster. Chap. III. Ver. 6. Tribe of (Leviticus 1)—Hakraiv, here rendered, bring near, is properly a sacrificial word, and signifies the presenting of a sacrifice or offering to the Lord. As an offering, the tribe of Levi was entirely given up to the service of the sanctuary, to be no longer their own, but the Lord’s.

}—Bagster. Ver. 12. Instead of all the first-born.—In (Exodus 13:1), &c. we find all the first-born of Israel claimed by the Lord, as having been spared when the first-born of Egypt were destroyed. Here, however, the tribe of Levi (the smallest of the tribes) is taken, instead of the first-born, for the service of the tabernacle, and that they may bear a proportion to them, they are numbered from one year old, instead of from twenty, as the other tribes. It may be here observed, that in all the numbering of the people, they are reckoned decimally, (or by tens,) and no odd numbers are inserted. So they were officered, according to the advice of Jethro, (Exodus 18:21). ‘‘Rulers of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.”

F Ver. 22. Month old, &c.—{The males of all the other tribes were numbered from twenty years old and upwards; but, had the Levites been numbered in this way, they would not have been nearly equal in number to the first-born of the twelve tribes. Add to this, that as there must have been first-born of all ages in the other tribes, it was necessary that the Levites, who were to be their substitutes, should also be of all ages; and it appears to have been partly on this account, that the Levites were numbered from month old and upwards.) Ver. 25. Sons of Gershon.—{From this and the following chapter, we see the very severe labour which the Levites were obliged to perform, while the journeyings of the Israelites lasted.

When we consider, that there was not less than 14 tons, 266 lbs. of metal employed in the tabernacle (see note on (Exodus 38:24).) besides the immense weight of the skins, hangings, cords, boards, and posts, we shall find it was no easy matter to transport this moveable temple from place to place. The Gershonites, who were 7,500 in number, had to carry the tent, coverings, vail, hangings of the court, cords, &c. (v. 25, 26.) the Kohathites, who were 8,600, the ark, table, candlestick, altars, and instruments of the sanctuary, (ver. 31.;) and the Merarites, who were 6,200, the boards, bars, sockets, and all matters connected with these belonging to the tabernacle, with the pillars of the court, their sockets, pins, and cords, ver.

36, 37.]—Bagster. Ver. 39. Twenty and two thousand.—(This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites, 8,600, and the Merarites, 6,200, which make a total of 22,300. Several methods of solving this difficulty have been proposed by learned men. | Houbigant supposes there is an error in the enumeration of the Kohathites in ver. 23, the numeral shesh, “six,” being written instead of shalosh, “three,” before “hundred.” Dr. Kennicott’s mode of reconciling the discrepancy, however, is the most simple. Ver. 22. where instead of 7,500 we should read 7,200, as caph final, which Lee He supposes that an error has crept into the number of the Gershonites stands for 500, might have been easily mistaken for resh, 200.

Either of these modes will equally reconcile the difference.]—Bagster. Ver. 46. Two hundred, &c.—[As the number of the Levites was 22,000, and the first-born males of the Israelites were 22,273, there were therefore 273 more of the latter than of the former, which are here ordered to be redeemed. The price of redemption is fixed at five shekels, or about $3.32 each, in ver. 47. The money, amounting to 1,365 shekels, equal to $953.48 was taken of the firstborn. There is some difficulty, however, in determining which of the firstborn should be redeemed by paying this sum, and which should be exchanged for the Levites; for every Israelite, no doubt, would rather have his first-born redeemed by a Levite, than pay five shekels; and yet some of them must have incurred this expense.

Rabbi Solomon Jarchi says, to prevent contention, Moses took 22,000 slips of parchment, and wrote on each a son of Levi, and 273 more, on which he wrote five shekels; then putting them in an urn, and shaking them together, he ordered every one of the first-born to draw out a slip. If he drew out one with the first inscription, he said to him, a Levite hath redeemed thee: but if he drew out one of the latter, he said, pay thy price. This is pronounced by Dr. A. Clarke to be a stupid, silly tale; but when we know that the determination by lot was used among the Israelites, it does not seem improbable that it was now resorted to, though we cannot vouch for the accuracy of the detail. This species of redeeming men is referred to by St.

Peter in his first epistle ch. i. 18, 19. oan