Numbers 3:16

_AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES IN THE WILDERNESS OF SINAI, SAYING,_ Number the children of Levi. They were numbered as well as the other tribes, but the enumeration was made on a different principle; for while in the other tribes the amount of males was calculated from twenty years and upward, in that of Levi they were counted from a month old and upwards. The reason of the distinction is obvious. In the other tribes the survey was made for purposes of war, from which the Levites were totally exempt, and were appointed to a work on which they entered as soon as they were capable of instruction (cf. 1 Samuel 1:28). They are mentioned under the names of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, sons of Levi, and chiefs or ancestral heads of three subdivisions into which this tribe was distributed. Their duties were to assist in the conveyance of the tabernacle when the people were

14-39 The Levites were in three classes, according to the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; and these were subdivided into families. The posterity of Moses were not at all honoured or privileged, but stood upon the level with other Levites; thus it was plain, that Moses did not seek the advancement of his own family, or to secure any honours to it. The tribe of Levi was by much the least of all the tribes. God's chosen are but a little flock in comparison with the world....

Verse Numbers 3:16. _MOSES NUMBERED THEM_] Though Moses and Aaron conjointly numbered the _twelve tribes_, yet Moses alone numbered the Levites; "for as the money with which the first-born of Israel, who exceeded the number of Levites, were redeemed, was to be paid to Aaron and his sons, Numbers 3:48, it was decent that he, whose advantage it was that the number of the first-born of Israel should _exceed_, should not be authorized to take that number himself." - _Dodd_, from Bishop _Kidder_....

EXPOSITION THE NUMBERS AND DUTIES OF THE LEVITES; THEIR SUBSTITUTION FOR THE FIRSTBORN (Numbers 3:1). NUMBERS 3:1 THESE … ARE THE GENERATIONS OF AARON AND MOSES. The word "generations" (_toledoth_)_ _is used here in a peculiar and, so to speak, technical sense, with reference to what follows, as in Genesis 2:4; Genesis 6:9. It marks a new departure,_ _looking _down, _

AND MOSES NUMBERED THEM ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD,.... Took the account of all of a month old in the several houses and families of the tribe of Levi; though Moses is only here mentioned, yet it seems from Numbers 3:39; that Aaron was concerned with him in it; yea, in an after numbering of the Levites who were fit for business from thirty to fifty years of age, the chief of the children of Israel were assisting to him and Aaron, Numbers 4:46; AS HE COMMANDED; he was obedient to the divine will in all things, and so in this, though it was his own tribe and his own posterity, which in all successive ages were to be no other than ministering servants to the priests, and to have no inheritance in the land of Israel....

3. THE LEVITES AND THEIR MINISTRATIONS CHAPTER 3 _ 1. The generations of the priests (Numbers 3:1)_ 2. The tribe of Levi and their ministry (Numbers 3:5) 3. The Levites substituted for all the first-born (Numbers 3:11) 4. The numbering of the Levites ordered (Numbers 3:14) 5. Gershon (Numbers 3:21) 6. Kohath (Numbers 3:27) 7. Merari ...

THE NUMBERS OF THE LEVITES, THEIR POSITION AND DUTIES. The census here described included all Levites above one month, whose numbers amounted to 22,000. Their three divisions, when the camp was stationary, formed a _cordon_ round the Tabernacle. The Gershonites on the W. had the care of the external hangings, the Kohathites on the S. that of the contents, the Merarites on the N. that of the framework. On the E., the position of most honour, Moses, Aaron, and the priests had their station. NUMBERS 3:25. THE TABERNACLE: _ i.e._ the linen curtains of Exodus 26:1 *. THE TENT: _ i.e._ the goats-' -hair curtains of Exodus 26:7_._ THE COVERING: _ i.e._ the rams'skins of...

WORD. Hebrew "mouth", put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for words spoken by it. AS. according as....

Summary of the Levitical families....

B. THE LEVITES COUNTED AND ASSIGNED DUTIES vv. 5-39 TEXT Numbers 3:5. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 6. Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him. 7. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. 8. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the children of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle. 9. And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons: they are wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. 10. And thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall wait on their priest's office: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death. 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 12. And I, behold, I have taken the Levite