Numbers 1:51

_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...

47-54 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,...

AND WHEN THE TABERNACLE SETTETH FORWARD,.... Or was about to set forward; that is, the congregation were about to journey, and take the tabernacle with them, as they always did, when and wherever they journeyed: THE LEVITES SHALL TAKE IT DOWN; unpin it, take the boards and pillars out of their sockets, and the bars out of their places, and the whole into pieces, in order to be put into wagons prepared to carry them, of which mention is made in a following chapter; AND WHEN THE TABERNACLE IS PITCHED, THE LEVITES SHALL SET IT UP; at whatsoever place the congregation encamped and took up their abode for any time: the tabernacle was pitched in the manner as tents are, when the Levites put the several parts together, laid the sockets, put in the boards and the bars, and also the pillars of the court and elsewhere, and hung the hangings upon them; and set the candlestick, tables, altars, ark...

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

PUT TO DEATH. Probably by Jehovah. Compare 1 Chronicles 13:10....

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....

III. SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS TO THE LEVITES (NUMBERS 1:47-54) TEXT Numbers 1:47. But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. 48. For the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying, 49. Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel: 50. But thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong _to_ it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and all the vessels thereof; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. 51. And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put

THE FIRST NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE At Sinai Moses receives the command to take the number of the males over twenty years of age in the eleven secular tribes, the tribe of Levi being enumerated separately (Numbers 1:47; Numbers 3:14). The result shows a total of 603,550 (cp. Exodus 12:37; Exodus 38:26; Numbers 11:21). The result of the second numbering, made in the plains of Moab thirty-eight years afterwards (Numbers 26), is 601,730. The credibility of these figures has b