Historical chapter commentary
Verse 1. Generations; descendants of Aaron, whose names are specified; and of Moses, whose children are left unnoticed among the rest of the Levites, verse 27. This enhances the merit of the Jewish legislator, and shews his modesty and disinterestedness. Bible.
Verse 4. Presence; or as it is expressed, (1 Chronicles 24:9,) under the hand of Aaron, by his direction, and in quality of his assistant, ( Calmet.) while he lived. Eleazar succeeded him in the high priesthood; (Joshua 24:33,) and his children possessed that dignity, till the posterity of Ithamar came in under Heli. Calmet. 25:3. Bible.
Verse 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. Calmet.
Verse 7. And. Hebrew “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. Bible.—All were bound to prevent any sacrilegious abuse. Menochius.
Verse 10. To whom. Sam. and Septuagint “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. Joshua 9:23.—Over. Hebrew “they shall retain,” and so forth 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. Calmet.
Verse 12. Mine. God claimed the first-born, on account of having spared them. Exodus 12:23. He requires that all 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. Exodus 32:29. Deuteronomy 33:9. 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. Exodus 19:22. 24. 24:1. Calmet.
Verse 15. Month; at which time the first-born were to be redeemed. Calmet. 18:16. Menochius.—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. Calmet.
Verse 17. Names. These had been long ago dead. Menochius.
Verse 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 Kennicott. 23:8 and 1 Chronicles 11:11, for other mistakes. Bible.
Verse 26. Thereof. The Gersonites had the care of the veils around the court, and of the cords and gates. The priests guarded the tabernacle, verse 32. The sons of Caath carried the altars, (verse 31,) and the Merarites took care of the cords, which were attached to the pillars of the court, verse 37. Hebrew 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.” Calmet.—Whatsoever, in the Vulg. must only be referred to the curtains.
Verse 28. Sanctuary, with respect to the things mentioned, verse 31. Menochius.—The Samaritan copy observes, that they also carried the brazen laver, as we find they did, Calmet. 4:14. 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. Calmet. 4:5. Some pretend that the number here specified ought to be 830, to obviate a difficulty, verse 39. But this amendment has no solid foundation. Calmet.
Verse 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. Matthew 2:4. 16:21. Lu. 3:2. Eleazar had also a particular charge of the Caathites, (Calmet. 4:16,) and was to take care that they handled the sacred vessels with due respect. Calmet.
Verse 38. Sons, the children of Aaron. Those of Moses were among the Levites. 1 Chronicles 23:13. They did not remain with their father.—In the, and so forth Hebrew “to guard the,” and so forth in order to supply for the rest of the Israelites, verse 9. Saint Augustine q. 4.
Verse 39. And Aaron; a word omitted in the Sam. and Syriac, and in the oldest Hebrew 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, ( Calmet.) or the 22nd, where we read 500 instead of 200. Bible.—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. Calmet.—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 the takes into his service, as there are just 22 Hebrew letters, and 22 patriarchs, from Adam to Jacob, the father of the Israelites. Worthington.—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. Tirinus. D.
Verse 41. Cattle. These were kept by the Levites, and were not intended for sacrifice. Menochius.
Verse 46. Levites, omitting the 300, as verse 39. For each of these 273, five sicles were to be paid, the price of the redemption of a child who had been vowed. Leviticus 27:6. 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. Calmet.
“Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.
+ 22,000 is the sum rounded to 2 significant digits. The sum of the Gershonites, Kohathites, and Merarites given above is 22,300, but the traditional Hebrew text has the number rounded to 2 significant digits, not 3 significant digits.
A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces.
A gerah is about 0.5 grams or about 7.7 grains.
A shekel is about 10 grams or about 0.35 ounces, so 1365 shekels is about 13.65 kilograms or about 30 pounds.