Numbers 3:39

_ALL THAT WERE NUMBERED OF THE LEVITES, WHICH MOSES AND AARON NUMBERED AT THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD, THROUGHOUT THEIR FAMILIES, ALL THE MALES FROM A MONTH OLD AND UPWARD, WERE TWENTY AND TWO THOUSAND._ Twenty and two thousand. The result of this census, though made on conditions most advantageous to Levi, proved it to be by far the smallest recorded in Israel. The separate numbers stated in Numbers 3:22; Numbers 3:28; Numbers 3:34, when added together, amount to 22,300. The omission of the 300 is variously accounted for-by some, because they might be firstborn who were already devoted to God, and could not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because, in Scripture style, the sum is reckoned in round num

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 3:39. _WHICH MOSES AND AARON NUMBERED_] The word ואהרן _veaharon_, "_and Aaron_." has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of _spuriousness_. The word is wanting in the _Samaritan, Syriac_, and _Coptic_; it is wanting also in _eight_ of Dr. _Kennicott's_ MSS., and in _four_ of De _Rossi's_. Moses alone, as _Houbigant_ observes, is commanded to take the number of the _Levites_; see Numbers 3:5; Numbers 3:11; Numbers 3:40; Numbers 3:44;...

TWENTY AND TWO THOUSAND - A number on which the commutation with the firstborn of the twelve tribes depends Numbers 3:43. The actual total of the male Levites is 22,300 (compare Numbers 3:22, Numbers 3:28, Numbers 3:34): and the extra 300 are considered by some to represent those who, being first-born themselves in the tribe of Levi, could not be available to redeem the first-born in other tribes. Others consider the difference due to an error in the Hebrew text. The tribe of Levi is shown by this census to have been by far the smallest of the tribes....

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, _

ALL THAT WERE NUMBERED OF THE LEVITES, WHICH MOSES AND AARON, NUMBERED AT THE COMMANDMENT OF THE LORD, THROUGHOUT THEIR FAMILIES,.... Whence it appears, that Moses was not alone, but Aaron with him, in numbering the Levites, and that by the appointment of the Lord. The word "Aaron", in the Hebrew text, has a dot on every letter, for what reason it is not certain; the word itself is left out in the Samaritan and Syriac versions: ALL THE MALES, FROM A MONTH OLD AND UPWARD, [WERE] TWENTY AND TWO THOUSAND; 22,000 men; but by putting the sums together they amount to three hundred more; for of the Gershonites there were 7,500, and of the Kohathites 8,600, and of the Merarites 6,200, in all 22,300; which difficulty some endeavour to remove by saying, as Aben Ezra observes, that the Scripture takes a short way, mentioning the thousands, and leaving out the hundreds but this, he says, is not ri...

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...

AND AARON. These two words are dotted in the Hebrew. See App-31. The command was given to Moses alone (verses: Numbers 3:14; Numbers 3:15), and was carried out by him alone (Numbers 3:16). As Aaron took part, according to Numbers 1:3; Numbers 1:4, and Numbers 4:41; Numbers 4:45; Numbers 4:46, his name was included here by

The Levitical families and their duties. Notice that _narrative_in Numbers 3:21 f., Numbers 3:27 f., Numbers 3:33 f., Numbers 3:39 alternates with _commands in Numbers 3:23; Numbers 3:29; Numbers 3:35_. It is one of the many indications that the priestly portions of the book were the composite work of more than one writer....