Numbers 8:23

Into the court of the tabernacle, being at the door of it when the above rites and ceremonies of their consecration were performed: to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation, before Aaron and his sons; in their presence, and by their order, as they should direct them: as the Lord had commanded Moses, so did they unto them; Aaron and his sons did to the then present Levites according to the command of God by Moses; they exactly observed every punctilio of it, and complied with it; and this the sons of Aaron did continually to the sons of the Levites, as Aben Ezra remarks, in all succeeding ages; when the Levites were consecrated to their service, the same things were done unto them that are here ordered. Numbers 8:23 Ver. 23. And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... At the same time he gave the instructions about the consecration of the Levites, the time of their entrance on their service, and of leaving it, was fixed: saying; as follows. Numbers 8:24 Ver. 24. This [is it] that [belongeth] unto the Levites,....

8:5-26 Here we have directions for the solemn ordination of the Levites. All Israel must know that they took not this honour to themselves, but were called of God to it; nor was it enough that they were distinguished from others. All who are employed for God, must be dedicated to him, according to the employment. Christians must be baptized, ministers must be ordained; we must first give ourselves unto the Lord, and then our services. The Levites must be cleansed. They must be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. Moses must sprinkle the water of purifying upon them. This signifies the application of the blood of Christ to our souls by faith, that we may be fit to serve the living God. God declares his acceptance of them. All who expect to share in the privileges of the tabernacle, must resolve to do the service of the tabernacle. As, on the one hand, none of God's creatures are his necessary servants, he needs not the service of any of them; so none are merely honorary servants, to do nothing. All whom God owns, he employs; angels themselves have their services.

19. to make an atonement for the children of Israel, &c.—to aid the priests in that expiatory work; or, as the words may be rendered, "to make redemption for" the Levites being exchanged or substituted for the first-born for this important end, that there might be a sanctified body of men appointed to guard the sanctuary, and the people not allowed to approach or presumptuously meddle with holy things, which would expose them to the angry judgments of Heaven.

The Levitical period of service is fixed here at twenty-five years of age and upwards to the fiftieth year. "This is what concerns the Levites," i.e., what follows applies to the Levites. "From the age of twenty-five years shall he (the Levite) come to do service at the work of the tabernacle; and at fifty years of age shall he return from the service of the work, and not work any further, but only serve his brethren at the tabernacle in keeping charge," i.e., help them to look after the furniture of the tabernacle. "Charge" (mishmereth), as distinguished from "work," signified the oversight of all the furniture of the tabernacle (see Numbers 3:8 ); "work" (service) applied to laborious service, e.g., the taking down and setting up of the tabernacle and cleaning it, carrying wood and water for the sacrificial worship, slaying the animals for the daily and festal sacrifices of the congregation, etc.

[Reformed Biblical] e priests alone might do, but by assisting the priests in that expiatory work, and by a diligent performance of all the parts of their office, whereby God was pleased both with them and with the people. That there be no plague : this is added as a reason why God appointed them to serve in or about the tabernacle, that they might watch and guard it, and not suffer any of the people to come near it, or meddle with holy things, which if they did, it would certainly bring a plague upon them. Numbers 8:20 Numbers 8:21 The Levites were purified by washing and sprinkling and sacrifices. See Lev_15:13-15 Num_19:11, &c. Numbers 8:22 ## Before Aaron and his sons; in their presence, and by their direction and appointment. Numbers 8:23 Numbers 8:24 ## From twenty and five years old. See Poole " Num_4:3 " . Numbers 8:25 i.e. Upon the difficult and cumbersome part of their work. Numbers 8:26 ## With t heir brethren, by way of advice, and assistance in lesser and easier works. ## Numbers 9:1 NUMBERS CHAPTER 9 The passover kept in the wilderness on the fourteenth day of the first month, Num_9:1-5. By those who were then unclean or journeying, the fourteenth day of the second month, Num_9:6-12. They who otherwise neglect it to be put to death, Num_9:13. Proselytes are to observe the same, Num_9:14. God manifests himself to Israel in a cloud by day, and fire b

The Levites were numbered from thirty years old and upwards. This statement agrees with that in Numbers 4:3 , Numbers 4:23 , Numbers 4:30 , Numbers 4:39 ., where Moses caused those from thirty to fifty years of age to be numbered, and appointed them for service about the tabernacle during the journey through the wilderness. But Moses himself, at a later time, determined that their period of service should be from twenty-five to fifty; Numbers 8:23-26 . It is consequently not probable that David confined the numbering to those of thirty and upwards. But besides that, we have a distinct statement in 1 Chronicles 23:24 that they were numbered from twenty years of age, the change being grounded by David upon the nature of their service; and that this was the proper age is confirmed by 2 Chronicles 31:17 and Ezra 3:8 , according to which the Levites under Hezekiah, and afterwards, had to take part in the service from their twentieth year. We must therefore regard שׁלשׂים in Ezra 3:3 as having crept into the text through the error of copyists, who were thinking of the Mosaic census in Numbers 4 , and must read עשׂרים instead of it. The various attempts of commentators to get rid of the discrepancy between 1 Chronicles 23:3 and 1 Chronicles 23:24 are mere makeshifts; and the hypothesis that David took two censuses is as little supported by the text, as that other, that our chapter contains divergent accounts drawn from two different sources; see on 1 Chronicles 23:24 .

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.’)

Verse 3. - Now the Levites were numbered from the age of thirty years and upward. The thing which Joab had rightly resisted ( 1 Chronicles 21:3-6 ) and shrunk from doing was now rightly done. There was now a practical and a legitimate object for doing it. This consideration helps to determine what it was that "displeased the Lord" in the former general census of David. In connection with this clause, 1 Chronicles 27:23 should be noted, where we read, "But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the Lord had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens." The period from the age of thirty years up to fifty ( Numbers 4:3, 23, 35, 39 ) was fixed under Moses, for those "that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation" ( Numbers 4:47 ). It is not certain, however, that this census did not inquire, in point of fact, respecting some below this limit of age. For we may note ver. 24 in the first place, and this is partly explained by Numbers 8:23-25 . The number "thirty and eight thousand" of our present verse may be compared with the "eight thousand and five hundred and four score" of Numbers 4:47, 48 .