Numbers 30:24

4–7 . The Feast of Tabernacles 4 . They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written ] The manner of keeping the feast of tabernacles is described in Leviticus 23:34-42 ; Deuteronomy 16:13-15 . It was the autumn or vintage feast, the most joyous of all the great annual festivals. It commemorated the wanderings in the Desert. It would henceforth commemorate also the return from the Exile. At this festival Solomon dedicated his Temple, 1 Kings 8:65 ; and with this festival was connected the reading of the Law by Ezra under Nehemiah ( Nehemiah 8:14-16 ). ‘As it is written’, a shorter phrase for that which occurs in Ezra 3:2 . Cf. 2 Chronicles 30:5 ; 2 Chronicles 30:18 . by number, according to the custom , R.V. ordinance ] The words in the original are clearly a reference to the passage in Numbers 29. where the sacrifices for the feast of tabernacles are detailed, i.e. 13 young bullocks &c. on the first day, 12 &c. on the second, 11 &c. on the third, and so on. It is to be regretted that the same English words ‘according to their number, after the ordinance’, which occur as a kind of refrain in that chapter ( Numbers 29:18 ; Numbers 29:21 ; Numbers 29:24 ; Numbers 29:27 ; Numbers 29:30 ; Numbers 29:33 ; Numbers 29:37 ), were not either exactly reproduced here by the R.V., or altered there to ‘by their number, according to ordinance’.

[Reformed Biblical] not by abstaining so long from all servile works, but by offering extraordinary sacrifices each day. Numbers 29:13 ## Thirteen young bullocks; more sacrifices than at any other feast, partly because this feast was in the close of the year, when it was meet to supply the defects of the year past, and when they had gathered in all their fruits, Deu_16:13 ,15 and therefore ought to make the larger returns and acknowledgment to God; partly because it was God’s pleasure so to order it, for reasons known to himself, in whose will we ought to acquiesce. And the same reason holds why these sacrifices grew fewer and fewer every day. Numbers 29:14 Numbers 29:15 Numbers 29:16 Numbers 29:17 Numbers 29:18 ## Of which see for meat-offerings, Num_29:3 ,4,9,10 ; and for drink- offerings, Num_28:7 ,14 Numbers 29:19 Numbers 29:20 Numbers 29:21 Numbers 29:22 Numbers 29:23 Numbers 29:24 Numbers 29:25 Numbers 29:26 Numbers 29:27 Numbers 29:28 Numbers 29:29 Numbers 29:30 Numbers 29:31 Numbers 29:32 Numbers 29:33 Numbers 29:34 Numbers 29:35 Numbers 29:36 This was the last and great day of the feast, as it is called Joh_7:37, and yet the sacrifices were fewer than any other day, to teach them not to trust to the multitude of their sacrifices, nor to expect remission of sins from them, but from the one and only sacrifice of Christ. Numbers 29:37 Numbers 29:38 Numbers 29:39

[Reformed Biblical] named or called , to wit, by Moses and by God’s appointment, to manage this affair, and others as there was occasion. Compare Num_16:2 26:9 . ## Heads of thousands. See Exo_18:21 Num_10:4. Numbers 1:17 Numbers 1:18 Numbers 1:19 Numbers 1:20 ## By their generations, Heb. to wit, their generations , i.e. the persons begotten of Reuben’s immediate children, who are here subdivided into families, and they into houses, and they into particular persons. Numbers 1:21 Numbers 1:22 Numbers 1:23 Numbers 1:24 Numbers 1:25 Numbers 1:26 Numbers 1:27 ## Far more than any other tribe, in accomplishing of Jacob’s prophecy, Ge 49 . Numbers 1:28 Numbers 1:29 Numbers 1:30 Numbers 1:31 Numbers 1:32 Numbers 1:33 ## Above eight thousand more than Manasseh, towards the accomplishment of that promise, Gen_48:20, which the devil in vain attempted to defeat by stirring up the men of Gath against them, 1Ch_7:21 ,22 Numbers 1:34 Numbers 1:35 Numbers 1:36 Numbers 1:37 The smallest number, except one, though Benjamin had more immediate children than any of his brethren, Gen_46:21; whereas Dan had but one immediate son, Gen_46:23, yet now his number is the biggest but one of all the tribes, and is almost double to that of Benjamin. Such great and strange changes God easily can, and frequently doth, make in families, 1Sa_2:5. And therefore let none boast or please themselves too much in their numerous offspring.

According to Numbers 4:3; Numbers 4:23; Numbers 4:30; Numbers 4:35; Numbers 4:43; Numbers 4:47, the Levites were bound to serve “from thirty years old and upward” to fifty years of age; whereas Numbers 8:24-25, fixes the age “from twenty and five years old and upward” to fifty; and this, according to Ewald, is the more exact account. It appears from 2Chronicles 31:17, that the later practice, at all events, was for the Levites to enter on their sacred functions at the age of twenty. Accordingly, the older commentators have supposed that David twice numbered the Levites: first, as the Law required, from the age of thirty (1Chronicles 23:3); and again, towards the close of his reign (1Chronicles 23:27), from the age of twenty, because he perceived that the duties had become less onerous, and might therefore be borne by younger men. (Comp. however, Numbers 1:3, from which it appears that the military age, i.e., the age of full virile strength, was reckoned “from twenty years old and upward.’)

(7) Tilgath - pilneser. —The Assyrian monarch known as Tiglath Pileser II. See 2Kings 15:29 , for his deportation of the people of the northern and trans-Jordanic districts of Israel, in the reign of Pekah. Some MSS., with LXX. and Syriac, read Tiglath, which is more correct than Tilgath. Vat., LXX., ΘαγλαΦαλλασὰρ , Syr., Teglath-Palsar. The Assyrian name, of which these forms are transcripts, is Tu-kulti-pal-Esarra, “the servant of the son of Esarra.” (The “Son of Esarra” is a title of the god Ninip.) Tilgath-Pilneser (Vulg., Thelgath-Phalnasar) is the invariable spelling of Chronicles. He was prince of the Reubenites.—Beerah was tribal prince of Reuben, and not merely chief of a Reubenite clan, as some will have it. The Hebrew construction is parallel to that of Numbers 7:24; Numbers 7:30 seq., with which comp. Numbers 7:18. (7) And his brethren by their families.—“And his fellow-tribesmen, each after his clan (Numbers 2:34), in the registration after their pedigrees, were the chief, Jeiel, and Zechariah.” Jeiel was the chief of the second Reubenite clan, as Beerah of the first. Zechariah and Bela were heads of the other chief houses. It appears that these four chieftains correspond to the four divisions of Reuben mentioned in 1Chronicles 5:3. Numbers 26:7 says expressly that “the Hanochite, the Palluite, the Hezronite, and the Carmite” were “the clans of the Reubenite.”

Psalm 58:8 ; Psalm 58:10 ), but elsewhere is applied in particular to beholding , or gazing in prophetic vision : Numbers 24:4 ; Numbers 24:16 , Isaiah 30:10 “which say to the seers ( rô’îm ), See not; and to the gazers ( ḥôzîm ). Gaze not for us right things, speak unto us smooth things, gaze deceits” (i.e. illusory visions of peace and security), Ezekiel 12:27 ; of false prophecies, Ezekiel 13:6-9 ; Ezekiel 13:16 ; Ezekiel 13:23 ; Ezekiel 21:29 ; Ezekiel 22:28 , Lamentations 2:14 , Zechariah 10:2 ; and, as here, in the titles of prophecies, Isaiah 1:1 ; Isaiah 2:1 ; Isaiah 13:1 ; Micah 1:1 ; Habakkuk 1:1 ). The vision, especially in the earlier history of prophecy, appears often as a form of prophetic intuition: comp. ḥôzeh , “gazer,” Amos 7:12 (see note): ḥâzôn , vision ( 1 Samuel 3:1 ; Isaiah 1:1 , &c.; Ezekiel 7:26 ; Lamentations 2:9 ), more rarely ḥizzâyôn ( 2 Samuel 7:17 ; Isaiah 22:1 ; Isaiah 22:5 ), ḥâzûth ( Isaiah 21:2 ; Isaiah 29:11 ), or maḥǎzeh ( Genesis 15:1 ; Numbers 24:4 ; Numbers 24:16 ). An interesting passage, illustrating the early frequency of the vision, is Hosea 12:10 : comp. also Amos 7-9. As the vision was once the predominant form of prophetic intuition, ḥâzôn becomes a general designation of “prophecy,” or “revelation”; and ḥâzâh , “to behold,” is even applied inexactly to word or utterance ( Isaiah 2:1 ; Isaiah 13:1 ; Micah 1:1 ; Habakkuk 1:1 ), as here to words .

Do ye not know ... - In this verse Paul illustrates the doctrine that the ministers of religion were, entitled to a support from the fact that those who were appointed to offer sacrifice receive a maintenance in their work. They which minister about holy things - Probably the "Levites." Their office was to render assistance to the priests, to keep guard around the tabernacle, and subsequently around the temple. It was also their duty to see that the temple was kept clean, and to prepare supplies for the sanctuary, such as oil, wine, incense, etc. They had the care of the revenues, and after the time of David were required to sing in the temple, and to play upon instruments. Numbers 3:1-36; Numbers 4:1, Numbers 4:30, Numbers 4:35, Numbers 4:42; Numbers 8:5-22; 1 Chronicles 23:3-5, 1 Chronicles 23:24, 1 Chronicles 23:27; 1 Chronicles 24:20-31. Live of the things of the temple - Margin, "Feed;" that is, are supported in their work by the offerings of the people, and by the provisions which were made for the temple service; see Numbers 18:24-32. And they which wait at the altar - Probably the priests who were employed in offering sacrifice. Are partakers with the altar - That is, a part of the animal offered in sacrifice is burned as an offering to God, and a part becomes the property of the priest for his support; and thus the altar and the priest become joint participators of the sacrifice.