of the tabernacle, and pitched their tents around it; the tents of Moses, Aaron and the priests, occupying the most honourable place, fronting the entrance to the tabernacle, or rather to the court which contained it. The Jewish writers say that the circumference of the entire encampment was about twelve miles; a statement which would seem sufficiently moderate when we recollect the hollow square in the centre, and consider the vast extent of ground required for the tents of two millions of people. This regular and admirable arrangement of so vast a host, under their ensigns, around the tabernacle, must have given a most striking and impressive appearance to the camp, as viewed from the hills. We know the effect which the view of it produced upon one person, who did view it from the hills, and then broke forth in rapture, exclaiming, "How goodly are they tents, O Jacob! and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters." (Num. xxiv. 5, 6.) NORTH.-FOURTH DIVISION-CAMP OF DAN: 157,600. SOUTH.-SECOND DIVISION-CAMP OF REUBEN: 151,450. CHAPTER III. 1 The sons of Aaron. 5 The Levites are given to the priests for the service of the tabernacle, 11 instead of the firstborn. 14 The Levites are numbered by their families. 21 The families, number, and charge of the Gershonites, 27 of the Kohathtes, 33 of the Merarites. 38 The place and charge of Moses and Aaron. 40 The firstborn are freed by the Levites. 44 The overplus are redeemed. THESE also are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the LORD spake with Moses in mount Sinai. 2 And these are the names of the sons of Aaron; Nadab the 'firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of 1 Exod, 6. 23. 2 Heb. whose hand he filled. Aaron, the priests which were anointed, 2whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office. 4 And Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD, when they offered strange fire before the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children: and Eleazar and Ithamar ministered in the priest's office in the sight of Aaron their father. 5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 6 Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. 7 And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before Levit. 10. 1. Chap 26. 61, 1 Chron. 24. 2. the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. 8 And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. 9 And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. 10 And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 12 And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast: mine shall they be: I am the LORD. 14 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15 Number the children of Levi after the house of their fathers, by their families: every male from a month old and upward shalt thou number them. 16 And Moses numbered them according to the word of the LORD, as he was commanded. 17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. 18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their families; Libni, and Shimei. 19 And the sons of Kohath by their families; Amram, and Izehar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 13 Because all the firstborn are mine; for on the day that I smote all the firstborn Exod. 13.2. Levit. 27. 26. Chap. 8. 16. Luke 2; 23. 5 Heb. mouth. 20 And the sons of Merari by their fami6 Gen. 46. 11. Exod. 6. 16. Chap. 26. 57. 1 Chron. 6. 1. lies; Mahli, and Mushi. These are the, families of the Levites according to the house of their fathers. 21 Of Gershon was the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites: these are the families of the Gershonites. 22 Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those that were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred. 23 The families of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the tabernacle westward. 24 And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael. 25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, 26 And the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof. 27 And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites: these are the families of the Kohathites. 28 In the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. 29 The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle southward. 30 And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan the son of Uzziel. 31 And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof. 32 And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest shall be chief over the chief of the Levites, and have the oversight of them that keep the charge of the sanctuary. 33 Of Merari was the family of the 33¶Of Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari. 34 And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred. 35 And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail: these shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle northward. 36 And 'under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and all the vessels thereof, and all that serveth thereto, 37 And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords. 38 But those that encamp before the tabernacle towards the east, even before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from à month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand. 40 And the LORD said unto Moses, Number all the firstborn of the males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. 41 And thou shalt take the Levites for me (I am the LORD) instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel; and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstlings among the cattle of the children of Israel. 42 And Moses numbered, as the LORD commanded him, all the firstborn among the children of Israel. 43 And all the firstborn males by the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen. 44 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 45 Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be mine: I am the LORD. 46 And for those that are to be redeemed of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites; 47 Thou shalt even take five shekels apiece by the poll, after the shekel of the sanctuary shalt thou take them: ("the shekel is twenty gerahs :) 48 And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to be redeemed, unto Aaron and to his sons. 49 And Moses took the redemption money of them that were over and above them that were redeemed by the Levites: 50 Of the firstborn of the children of Israel took he the money; a thousand three hundred and threescore and five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary: 51 And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed unto Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of the LORD, as the LORD commanded Moses. Levit. 27. 25. Chap. 18. 16. Ezek. 45. 12. 12. “I have taken the Levites...instead of all the firstborn," &c.-In memory of his avenging the cause of the Israelites upon the Egyptians by destroying their firstborn, it pleased God to direct that all the firstborn males should be set apart to himself (Exod. xiii. 12-16); and as the services of the Levites had not then been appropriated, it appears, in the first instance, as if it had been intended that the firstborn should occupy the position which was afterwards assigned to them. But God at the same time provided the opening for the future substitution of the Levites, by allowing the firstborn to be redeemed. Accordingly, when the Levites had signalized their zeal in the affair of the golden calf, the distinction of being consecrated to the Lord's service was transferred to the whole tribe of Levi, instead of being assigned to the firstborn of every tribe. The substitution was, in the first instance, formally made, as we see in this chapter: the firstborn of all the tribes, and the whole tribe of Levi, being respectively numbered, the former were found to exceed the latter by 273; the Levites were then understood to be taken in exchange for an equivalent number of firstborn, who of course paid no ransom; but there being no living substitutes for the surplus number of firstborn, they were redeemed at the rate of five shekels for each, the produce going to the use of the sanctuary. Besides serving as a memorial of God's judgment upon the Egyptians, the consecration of the firstborn was, in fact, a sort of recognition of the patriarchal usage, which assigned the priestly functions to him; and even the fine of redemption was a sort of declaration of his prior claim or obligation to perform those duties which the Lord saw fit to transfer to the tribe of Levi. The memorial and recognition did not, however, cease with the act of personal substitution, which seems to have cleared the redemption fine only in the instance before us. The previous law on this subject is repeated in chap. xviii., and seems to have been still in force in the time of our Saviour. (See Luke ii. 23.) 15. "From a month old and upward."-The males in the other tribes were numbered from twenty years old and upwards. The cause of the distinction is obvious. The general numeration was chiefly for military purposes, and therefore only comprehended those supposed to be fit for war; but the Levites being exempt from military service, the distinction was not necessary, and all the males above a month old were numbered. The result displays remarkably the very inferior numbers of this tribe; for with all this advantage of nearly an hundred per cent. in the calculation, its numbers only reach to 22,000, being about 10,000 less than the males above twenty in Manasseh, which was, at this census, the smallest of the secular tribes. It should be observed that the total number stated in verse 39 is less by 300 than is obtained by casting up the component numbers as given in verses 22, 28, and 34. The mistake is doubtless in one of the items, but it is not agreed in which. It probably arose from one letter being mistaken for another of similar form, but different numerical value, which is a fruitful source of many errors in numbers found in the present Hebrew text and propagated in translations. 17. "Gershon, Kohath, and Merari."-These were, as the text informs us, the sons of Levi, and ancestors of the three sub-tribes, to which Moses found it convenient to assign distinct departments of service about the tabernacle. This distinction had a particular reference to the migratory state of the Israelites at the time these regulations were established; and their duties, of course, underwent considerable modification when the nation became settled in Canaan, and particularly after the Temple was built. David and Solomon, in particular, made a new and different arrangement of their duties and distribution of their numbers, as we shall hereafter have occasion to notice. Their duties, as defined here and elsewhere in the Pentateuch, were to act as general assistants to the priests in various capacities. They set up the tabernacle, took it down, and conveyed it from place to place. They also formed its guard when stationary; and although they might not themselves offer sacrifices, they rendered important services by killing, flaying, and preparing the victims; for the duties in sacrifice to which the priests alone were competent seem to be only those of sprinkling the blood, and laying on the altar the parts to be consumed. In the distribution of duties to the three families, we perceive that the Kohathites had the charge of removing the most sacred and precious things of the sanctuary. This was doubtless intended as an honourable distinction, for which they were probably indebted to the circumstance that the priestly family was taken from this division of the Levitical tribe. |