Numbers 1:47

_BUT THE LEVITES AFTER THE TRIBE OF THEIR FATHERS WERE NOT NUMBERED AMONG THEM._ But the Levites ... were not numbered. They were obliged to keep a register of their own. They were consecrated to the priestly office, which in all countries has been exempted customarily, and in Israel by the express authority of God, from military service. The custody of the things devoted, to the divine service was assigned to them so exclusively that 'no stranger' - i:e., no person, not even an Israelite of any other tribe-was allowed, under penalty of death, to approach these; and hence, they encamped around the tabernacle, that there should be no manifestation of the divine displeasure among the people. Thus, the numbering of the people was subservient to the separation of the Levites from those Israelites who were fit for military service, and to the practical introduction of the law respecting the...

47._But the Levites, after the tribe of their fathers _We shall indeed hereafter see that they also were numbered, but Moses means that they were not included in the general _census _of the people, because God had chosen them to be His own property, and thus had severed them from the rest of the people. He writes, therefore, that they “were not numbered in the midst of the others,” (419) _i.e., _so as promiscuously to form a part of the multitude. Now, lest any one should object that Moses acted ambitiously in thus bestowing on his own tribe extraordinary distinction, he declares that he did not do this spontaneously, but that it was at God’s bidding that the Levites had a separate class assigned to them; for translators render this passage amiss, “And God said to Moses,” (420) as if he stated that the tribe of Levi was then first set apart when the sum of the peop

47-54 Care is here taken to distinguish the tribe of Levi, which, in the matter of the golden calf, had distinguished itself. Singular services shall be recompensed by singular honours. It was to the honour of the Levites, that to them was committed the care of the tabernacle and its treasures, in their camps and in their marches. It was for the honour of the holy things that none should see them, or touch them, but those who were called of God to the service. We all are unfit and unworthy to have fellowship with God, till called by his grace into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord; and so, being the spiritual seed of that great High Priest, we are made priests to our God. Great care must be taken to prevent sin, for preventing sin is preventing wrath. Being a holy tribe, they were not reckoned among other Israelites. They that minister about holy things, should neither ent...

When a census of the tribe of Levi takes place. Numbers 3:15; Numbers 26:62, “all” the males are counted from a month old and upward, and not, as in the other tribes, those only who were of age for service in the field. Numbers 1:48 HAD SPOKEN - Render spake. The formal appointment is only now made, in reward for their zeal Exodus 32:26, though reference to their future office appears previously in Leviticus 25:32 ff, and they had already acted as assistants to the priests (com

EXPOSITION THE LEVITES (Numbers 1:47-4). NUMBERS 1:47 NOT NUMBERED AMONG THEM. They _were _numbered (Numbers 3:39), but not among the rest; their census was taken separately, and on a different basis. NUMBERS 1:48 HAD SPOKEN. Rather, "spake," and so Septuagint. This was the formal command to separate, although it had been anticipated to a considerable extent. The Levites had been marked out from the others (1) as the tribesmen of Moses and Aaron,...

BUT THE LEVITES,.... The tribe of Levi were excepted from this muster, they being employed in a kind of warfare, and therefore not to be engaged in another: AFTER THE TRIBE OF THEIR FATHERS, WERE NOT NUMBERED AMONG THEM: the rest of the tribes; the reason follows....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE PREPARATION FOR THE JOURNEY 1. The People Numbered CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The command to number (Numbers 1:1)_ 2. The appointed helpers for the work (Numbers 1:5) 3. The congregation assembled (Numbers 1:17) 4. The twelve tribes numbered (Numbers 1:20) 5. The Levites separated unto the tabernacle service (Numbers 1:47) It was exactly one month after the erection of the tabernacle that the Lord gave the commandment to Moses to number the people. This is seen by comparing

LEVITES not numbered here with the nation, but separately in Numbers 3:14....

The Levites were not to be numbered as fighting men, but were assigned other duties on the march. These duties are stated more fully in chs. 3, 4....

BUT THE LEVITES—WERE NOT NUMBERED— We find in chap. Numbers 3:16, &c. that the Levites were to keep a distinct register of their own; though, as being separated from the rest of their brethren for the service of the tabernacle, and therefore excused from war, they are not numbered here with those who were to go to war, Numbers 1:3. In all nations, the ministers of religion have been exempted from war, as incongruous to their profession. Strabo notes this custom to have been as old as Homer's time; and Caesar observes of the ancient Druids in Britain, that they were freed not only from the wars, but from tribute also: _Druides a bello abesse consueverunt; neque tributa una cum reliquis pendunt, militiae vacationem omniumque rerum habent immunitatem._ "The Druids were never engaged in military affairs, neit