Numbers 18:2

_AND THY BRETHREN ALSO OF THE TRIBE OF LEVI, THE TRIBE OF THY FATHER, BRING THOU WITH THEE, THAT THEY MAY BE JOINED UNTO THEE, AND MINISTER UNTO THEE: BUT THOU AND THY SONS WITH THEE SHALL MINISTER BEFORE THE TABERNACLE OF WITNESS._ Thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi. The departments of the sacred office to be filled respectively by the priests and Levites are here assigned to each. To the priests were committed the charge of the sanctuary and the altar, while the Levites were to take care of everything else about the tabernacle. The Levites were to attend the priests as servants-bestowed on them as 'gifts' to aid in the service of the tabernacle-while the high and dignified office of the priesthood was a "service of gift....

2._And thy brethren also. _He here assigns their duties to the Levites, that they also may minister, but, as it were, under the hand of the priests, viz., that they may be ruled by their commands. Thus the authority was in the hands of the priests, but the Levites afforded them their assistance. On this ground they are prohibited from approaching the altar, or entering the greater sanctuary; in fact, a lower degree is assigned to them, half-way between the priests and the people. Hence did all learn how reverently God’s majesty must be served; for although He had adopted the whole people, yet so far was it from being lawful that any of the multitude should penetrate to the altar, that the Law even kept back the Levites from thence, although they were God’s peculiar ministers. Moreover, in this figure, we perceive how necessary is a Mediator for us to conciliate God’s favor towards us; fo...

1-7 The people complained of their difficulty and peril in drawing near to God. God here gives them to understand, that the priests should come near for them. Aaron would see reason not to be proud of his preferment, when he considered the great care and charge upon him. Be not high-minded, but fear. The greater the trust of work and power that is committed to us, the greater danger there is of betraying that trust. This is a good reason why we should neither envy others' honours, nor desire high places....

Verse Numbers 18:2. _THY BRETHREN ALSO OF THE TRIBE OF LEVI - MAY BE JOINED_ _UNTO THEE_] There is a fine paronomasia, or play upon words, in the original. לוי _Levi_ comes from the root לוה _lavah, to join_ _to, couple, associate_: hence Moses says, the _Levites_, ילוו yillavu, shall be _joined_, or _associated_ with the priests; they shall conjointly perform the whole of the sacred office, but the priests shall be _principal_, the Levites only their _associates_ or _assistants_. For an explanation of many parts of this chapter, see the notes on several of the passages referred to in the _margin_....

EXPOSITION STATUS AND REVENUES OF PRIESTS AND LEVITES (Numbers 18:1). NUMBERS 18:1 THE LORD SPAKE UNTO AARON. This clear and comprehensive instruction as to the position and support of the sons of Aaron on the one hand, and of the Levites on the other, may very naturally have been given in connection with the events just narrated. There is, however, no direct reference to those events, and it is quite possible that the only connection was one of subject-matter in the mind of the writer. That the regulations which follow were addressed to Aaron directly is a thing unusual, and indeed unexampled. The ever-recurring statement elsewher

AND TO THY BRETHREN ALSO OF THE TRIBE OF LEVI, THE TRIBE OF THY FATHER,.... For his father Amram was of that tribe, and so the Levites were his brethren, as he is directed to consider them; which might serve to conciliate their minds, and make them easy with respect to his enjoyment of the priesthood: BRING THEM WITH THEE; into the court of the tabernacle, for further they might not go: THAT THEY MAYBE JOINED UNTO THEE: as their name of Levites signifies, persons joined and united to others, as they were to the priests: see reason of their patriarch's name Levi in Genesis 29:34; AND MINISTER UNTO THEE: be assisting to the priests in killing the sacrifices, receiving the blood, and flaying the beasts, and in other things about the sanctuary, Numbers 3:6

8. PRIESTHOOD AND INIQUITY AND THE RECOMPENSE OF THE PRIESTHOOD CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The iniquity borne by the priesthood (Numbers 18:1)_ 2. The recompense of the priests (Numbers 18:8) 3. The inheritance of the priests (Numbers 18:20) “Aaron, thou and thy sons and thy father's house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.” This is evidently in answer to the question, “Shall we be consumed with dying?” (Numbers 17:13) The ministry of the priests and the Levites keeping the charge of the tabernacle and the charge of

THE DUTIES OF THE LEVITES. The functions of the Levites are here defined in relation both to the priestly order and to the people. In respect of the priests, they are to act as their ministers, and to be responsible for the custody of the Tabernacle, but not for the care of its contents (with which they are forbidden to come in contact). In respect of the people, they are to constitute a fence, safeguarding the laity from the danger attending profanation of the holy things by a near approach to them. The general trend of the passage is in accord with Numbers 1:49; Numbers 3:5; Numbers 4:15. NUMBERS 18:1. BEAR. PRIESTHOOD: i.e

TRIBE. _matteh =_ staff. LEVI... JOINED. Figure of speech _Paronomasia._ App-6. Hebrew. _Levi... veyillavu._ TRIBE. _shebet_. rod. TABERNACLE. tent. Hebrew. _'ohel._ App-40....

The duties of priests and Levites. The priests are to have charge of the sanctuary, and the Levites are to help them; the latter, however, may not come into contact with the sacred utensils or the altar. No layman may approach on pain of death. The subject has already been treated in Numbers 1:50-53; Numbers 3:5-10; Numbers 3:38; and the principle of the disabilities of laymen has been illustrated in ch. 14....