*H These are the generations of Aaron and Moses in the day that the Lord spoke to Moses in mount Sinai.
Ver. 1. Generations; descendants of Aaron, whose names are specified; and of Moses, whose children are left unnoticed among the rest of the Levites, v. 27. This enhances the merit of the Jewish legislator, and shews his modesty and disinterestedness. H.
* Footnote * Exodus 6 : 23
And Aaron took to wife Elizabeth the daughter of Aminadab, sister of Nahason, who bore him Nadab, and Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.*H Now Nadab and Abiu died, without children, when they offered strange fire before the Lord, in the desert of Sinai: and Eleazar and Ithamar performed the priestly office in the presence of Aaron their father.
Ver. 4. Presence; or as it is expressed, (1 Par. xxiv. 9,) under the hand of Aaron, by his direction, and in quality of his assistant, (C.) while he lived, Eleazar succeeded him in the high priesthood; (Jos. xxiv. 33,) and his children possessed that dignity, till the posterity of Ithamar came in under Heli. C. xxv. 13. H.
* Footnote * Leviticus 10 : 1
And Nadab and Abiu, the sons of Aaron, taking their censers, put fire therein, and incense on it, offering before the Lord strange fire: which was not commanded them.* Footnote * Leviticus 10 : 2
And fire coming out from the Lord destroyed them: and they died before the Lord.* Footnote * 1_Paralipomenon 24 : 2
But Nadab and Abiu died before their father, and had no children: so Eleazar, and Ithamar did the office of the priesthood.*H Bring the tribe of Levi, and make them stand in the sight of Aaron the priest to minister to him, and let them watch,
Ver. 6. To him, and to the other priests, who had to perform the higher offices. The Levites did not approach near the altar, except when they had to carry it and the tabernacle. C.
*H And observe whatsoever appertaineth to the service of the multitude before the tabernacle of the testimony,
Ver. 7. And. Heb. "They shall watch over him, and over all the congregation," to assist the priests in their sacred office, and to take care that the people behave respectfully. H. — All were bound to prevent any sacrilegious abuse. M.
*H To Aaron and to his sons, to whom they are delivered by the children of Israel. But thou shalt appoint Aaron and his sons over the service of priesthood. The stranger that approacheth to minister, shall be put to death.
Ver. 10. To whom. Sam. and Sept. "to me." They must serve God in the persons of his priests. They are called a gift, people bestowed, as the Nothnim, to serve in the meanest functions; and hence the Nathineans take their name. The Gabaonites were employed by Josue in this quality. Jos. ix. 23. — Over. Heb. "they shall retain," &c. They shall permit no stranger to interfere. Cuneus (Rep ii. 11,) observes, that if a Levite undertook to do the office allotted to another, he was to be slain, after sentence had been passed by the judge. C.
*H I have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, for every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
Ver. 12. Mine. God claimed the first-born, on account of having spared them. Ex. xii. 23. He requires that all the males shall be redeemed, except those of the tribe of Levi, whom he claims as his peculiar portion, as the price of the redemption of those who were living in Egypt, when the destroying angel passed by. This honour was wholly gratuitous, though the Levites deserved to obtain a confirmation of it by their zeal. Ex. xxxii. 29. Deut. xxxiii. 9. God seems to have revealed to Moses the destination of Aaron's family, long before they were appointed to exercise the functions of the priesthood. Ex. xix. 22. 24. xxiv. 1. C.
* Footnote * Exodus 13 : 2
Sanctify unto me every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, as well of men as of beasts: for they are all mine.*H Number the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers and their families, every male from one month and upward.
Ver. 15. Month; at which time the first-born were to be redeemed. C. xviii. 16. M. — If only those of 20 years of age had been counted, they could not have amounted to nearly an equal number with the first-born of all the other tribes. C.
*H And there were found sons of Levi by their names, Gerson and Caath Merari.
Ver. 17. Names. These had been long ago dead. M.
* Footnote * Exodus 6 : 16
And these are the names of the sons of Levi by their kindreds: Gerson, and Caath, and Merari. And the years of the life of Levi were a hundred and thirty-seven.*H Of which were numbered, people of the male sex from one month and upward, seven thousand five hundred.
Ver. 22. Five hundred, expressed by the letter c, has, according to Kennicott, been put for 200, which the Hebrews denote by a similar letter, r. See 2 K. xxiii. 8. and 1 Par. xi. 11, for other mistakes. H.
*H The tabernacle itself and the cover thereof, the hanging that is drawn before the doors of the tabernacle of the covenant, and the curtains of the court: the hanging also that is hanged in the entry of the court of the tabernacle, and whatsoever belongeth to the rite of the altar, the cords of the tabernacle, and all the furniture thereof.
Ver. 26. Thereof. The Gersonites had the care of the veils round the court, and of the cords and gates. The priests guarded the tabernacle, v. 32. The sons of Caath carried the altars, (v. 31,) and the Merarites took care of the cords, which were attached to the pillars of the court, v. 37. Heb. may be translated "(among the vessels of) the tabernacle, the covering thereof, and the hanging for the door of the sanctuary, (or tabernacle of the congregation) and the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which is beside the tabernacle, and by the altar round about, and the cords belonging to the service of the tabernacle." C. — Whatsoever, in the Vulg. must only be referred to the curtains.
*H All of the male sex from one month and upward, eight thousand six hundred: they shall have the guard of the sanctuary,
Ver. 28. Sanctuary, with respect to the things mentioned, v. 31. M. — The Sam. copy observes, that they also carried the brazen laver, as we find they did, C. iv. 14. All these things were folded up in the violet curtains of the sanctuary, while the ark was covered with the veil which hung before it. C. iv. 5. Some pretend that the number here specified ought to be 830, to obviate a difficulty, v. 39. But this amendment has no solid foundation. C.
*H And the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, shall be over them that watch for the guard of the sanctuary.
Ver. 32. Eleazar had authority over the Levites, as his father had over the priests also. Thus we find princes of the priests, different from the sovereign pontiff. Matt. ii. 4. xvi. 21. Lu. iii. 2. Eleazar had also a particular charge of the Caathites, (C. iv. 16,) and was to take care that they handled the sacred vessels with due respect. C.
*H Before the tabernacle of the covenant, that is to say on the east side shall Moses and Aaron camp, with their sons, having the custody of the sanctuary, in the midst of the children of Israel. What stranger soever cometh unto it, shall be put to death.
Ver. 38. Sons, the children of Aaron. Those of Moses were among the Levites. 1 Par. xxiii. 13. They did not remain with their father. — In thee, &c. Heb. "to guard the," &c. in order to supply for the rest of the Israelites, v. 9. S. Aug. q. 4.
*H All the Levites, that I Moses and Aaron numbered according to the precept of the Lord, by their f families, of the male kind from one month and upward, were twenty-two thousand.
Ver. 39. And Aaron; a word omitted in the Sam. and Syriac, and in the oldest Heb. MS. and marked in the printed copies as dubious. Kennicott. — Thousand. If we collect the different sums, we shall find other 300; so that the Levites would be 27 more than the first-born of the other tribes, though Moses says (ver. 43-6,) that they were fewer by 273. Some say that the 28th verse has been corrupted, (C.) or the 22d, where we read 500 instead of 200. H. — Others observe, that in the 22,000, the first-born of the Levites and the priests of Aaron's family are not included, and these might amount to 300 men. Lyran. — But Bonfrere rightly observes that this number is too small, as only one is allowed for 74 people. He thinks that the first-born, who were heads of families, are omitted, and those also who were born before the angel destroyed the Egyptians. On this supposition, however, 22,000 will appear too great a number to be produced by the Levites in the space of a year, when some were too young, and others too old, to have children, and others had children already before that event. We may, therefore, either admit the solution of Lyranus, or confess that some fault has crept into the number, though this must be very difficult, since Moses argues in the sequel on the supposition of its certainty. C. — S. Jerom hence infers, that these numbers are full of mystery; Origen (hom. 4,) says, that the exact number, 22,000, may signify the perfection which God requires from those whom he takes into his service, as there are just 22 Hebrew letters, and 22 patriarchs, from Adam to Jacob, the father of the Israelites. W. — The 22,000 might be accepted by God, instead of so many Israelites; and the 300 other Levites might be due to him on their own account, being the first-born since the Hebrews left Egypt. T. D.
*H And thou shalt take the Levites to me for all the firstborn of the children of Israel, I am the Lord: and their cattle for all the firstborn of the cattle of the children of Israel:
Ver. 41. Cattle. These were kept by the Levites, and were not intended for sacrifice. M.
*H But for the price of the two hundred and seventy-three, of the firstborn of the children of Israel, that exceed the number of the Levites,
Ver. 46. Levites, omitting the 300, as v. 39. For each of these 273, five sicles were to be paid, the price of the redemption of a child who had been vowed. Lev. xxvii. 6. The money was to be paid either by those who were counted last, or by a tax laid upon all the people, or it was determined by lot who should pay it. The Scripture is silent on this head. C.