Numbers 3:9

_AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES, SAYING,_ Bring the tribe of Levi near, х_ HAQªREEB_ (H7126)] - make approach. It is a sacrificial term, denoting the presentation of an offering to God (Leviticus 16:9); and the use of the word, therefore, in connection with the Levites, signifies that they were devoted as an offering to the sanctuary, no longer to be employed in any common offices. They were subordinate to the priests, who alone enjoyed the privilege of entering the holy place; but they were employed in discharging many of the humbler duties which belonged to the sanctuary, as well as in various offices of great utility and importance to the religion and morals of the people. Verse 9. THEY ARE WHOLLY GIVEN ... The priests hold the place of God, and the Levites are the servants of God Verse 9. They are whol

1-13 There was much work belonging to the priests' office, and there were now only Aaron and his two sons to do it; God appoints the Levites to attend them. Those whom God finds work for, he will find help for. The Levites were taken instead of the first-born. When He that made us, saves us, as the first-born of Israel were saved, we are laid under further obligations to serve him faithfully. God's right to us by redemption, confirms the right he has to us by creation....

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 THOU SHALT GIVE THE LEVITES UNTO AARON AND TO HIS SONS,.... To be their ministers and servants: THEY [ARE] WHOLLY GIVEN UNTO HIM OUT OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL: even all of them entirely, none excepted; the whole tribe which were not in the priestly office; those were separated from the rest of the tribes of Israel, and appointed for the service of the priests: or they were "given, given" q; which is repeated not only to show that they were wholly given, as we render it, but to denote the certainty of it, that they were really given; and especially to declare the freeness of the gift; the priests had them as free gifts, nor did they pay them any thing for, their service; they were maintained another way, namely, by the tithes of the people; and indeed the priests received a tithe out of the tithe of the Levites; so far were they from contributing any thing to their support, or in con...

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 RELATIONS OF THE LEVITES TO THE PRIESTS. The Levites (_i.e._ the non-Aaronite descendants of Levi), who are here regarded as given (Numbers 3:9) by Israel to the priests to be their servants, are to have no share in the priesthood itself, which is limited to the descendants of Aaron (Numbers 3:10; Numbers 18:7). This limitation seems to have been of late origin. In early times there was no restriction to a particular family or tribe, for, according to Exodus 24:5, sacrifice was offered by young men of the children of Israel (without any mention of their belonging to a special priestly tribe); and in the time of David, his sons (of the tribe o

WHOLLY GIVEN. Hebrew "given, given". Figure of speech _Epizeuxis_ (App-6), for emphasis. Hence called _nethunim =_ given ones....

The appointment of the Levites as an inferior, though sacred, body of priests" servants....

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

3:9 of (c-20) Or 'on behalf of.'...