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Numbers 4:16 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

16 `And the oversight of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, `is' the oil of the lamp, and the spice-perfume, and the present of continuity, and the anointing oil, the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that `is' in it, in the sanctuary, and in its vessels.'

Cross Reference

Exodus 25:6 YLT

oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the perfume of the spices,

Leviticus 24:2 YLT

`Command the sons of Israel, and they bring unto thee pure olive oil, beaten, for the lamp, to cause a light to go up continually;

Exodus 30:23-38 YLT

`And thou, take to thyself principal spices, wild honey five hundred `shekels'; and spice-cinnamon, the half of that, two hundred and fifty; and spice-cane two hundred and fifty; and cassia five hundred, by the shekel of the sanctuary, and olive oil a hin; and thou hast made it a holy anointing oil, a compound mixture, work of a compounder; it is a holy anointing oil. `And thou hast anointed with it the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony, and the table and all its vessels, and the candlestick and its vessels, and the altar of perfume, and the altar of burnt-offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its base; and thou hast sanctified them, and they have been most holy; all that is coming against them is holy; and Aaron and his sons thou dost anoint, and hast sanctified them for being priests to Me. `And unto the sons of Israel thou dost speak, saying, A holy anointing oil is this to Me, to your generations; on flesh of man it is not poured, and with its proper proportion ye make none like it; it `is' holy; it is holy to you; a man who compoundeth `any' like it, or who putteth of it on a stranger -- hath even been cut off from his people.' And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take to thee spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense; they are part for part; and thou hast made it a perfume, a compound, work of a compounder, salted, pure, holy; and thou hast beaten `some' of it small, and hast put of it before the testimony, in the tent of meeting, whither I am met with thee; most holy it is to you. `As to the perfume which thou makest, with its proper proportion ye do not make to yourselves, holy it is to thee to Jehovah; a man who maketh `any' like it -- to be refreshed by it -- hath even been cut off from his people.'

1 Corinthians 4:1 YLT

Let a man so reckon us as officers of Christ, and stewards of the secrets of God,

1 Peter 5:2 YLT

feed the flock of God that `is' among you, overseeing not constrainedly, but willingly, neither for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind,

1 Peter 2:25 YLT

for ye were as sheep going astray, but ye turned back now to the shepherd and overseer of your souls.

Hebrews 3:6 YLT

and Christ, as a Son over his house, whose house are we, if the boldness and the rejoicing of the hope unto the end we hold fast.

Hebrews 3:1 YLT

Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the apostle and chief priest of our profession, Christ Jesus,

1 Timothy 2:5 YLT

for one `is' God, one also `is' mediator of God and of men, the man Christ Jesus,

Exodus 27:20-21 YLT

`And thou -- thou dost command the sons of Israel, and they bring unto thee pure beaten olive oil for the light, to cause the lamp to go up continually; in the tent of meeting, at the outside of the vail, which `is' over the testimony, doth Aaron -- his sons also -- arrange it from evening till morning before Jehovah -- a statute age-during to their generations, from the sons of Israel.

Acts 20:28 YLT

`Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit made you overseers, to feed the assembly of God that He acquired through His own blood,

Luke 4:18 YLT

`The Spirit of the Lord `is' upon me, Because He did anoint me; To proclaim good news to the poor, Sent me to heal the broken of heart, To proclaim to captives deliverance, And to blind receiving of sight, To send away the bruised with deliverance,

Numbers 3:32 YLT

And `to' the prince of the princes of the Levites, Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, `is' the oversight of the keepers of the charge of the sanctuary.

Leviticus 6:20 YLT

`This `is' an offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they bring near to Jehovah in the day of his being anointed; a tenth of the ephah of flour `for' a continual present, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening;

Exodus 37:29 YLT

and he maketh the holy anointing oil, and the pure spice-perfume -- work of a compounder.

Exodus 31:11 YLT

and the anointing oil, and the perfume of the spices for the sanctuary; according to all that I have commanded thee -- they do.'

Exodus 29:39-41 YLT

the one lamb thou dost prepare in the morning, and the second lamb thou dost prepare between the evenings; and a tenth `deal' of fine flour, mixed with beaten oil, a fourth part of a hin, and a libation, a fourth part of a hin, of wine, `is' for the one lamb. `And the second lamb thou dost prepare between the evenings; according to the present of the morning, and according to its libation, thou dost prepare for it, for sweet fragrance, a fire-offering, to Jehovah: --

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 4

Commentary on Numbers 4 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Verse 1

Rules of Service, and Numbering of the Levites Qualified for Service. - After the adoption of the Levites for service at the sanctuary, in the place of the first-born of Israel, Moses and Aaron mustered the three families of the Levites by the command of God for the service to be performed by those who were between the ages of 30 and 50. The particulars of the service are first of all described in detail (vv. 4-33); and then the men in each family are taken, of the specified age for service (vv. 34-49). The three families are not arranged according to the relative ages of their founders, but according to the importance or sacredness of their service. The Kohathites take the lead, because the holiest parts of the tabernacle were to be carried and kept by this family, which included the priests, Aaron and his sons. The service to be performed by each of the three Levitical families is introduced in every case by a command from God to take the sum of the men from 30 years old to 50 (see Numbers 4:1-3, Numbers 4:21-23, Numbers 4:29 and Numbers 4:30).


Verse 2-3

Service of the Kohathites, and the number qualified for service . - Numbers 4:2, Numbers 4:3. “ Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi: ” i.e., by raising them out of the sum total of the Levites, by numbering them first and specially, viz., the men from 30 to 50 years of age, “ every one who comes to the service, ” i.e., who has to enter upon service “ to do work at the tabernacle .” צבא ( Angl . ' host' ) signifies military service, and is used here with special reference to the service of the Levites as the militia sacra of Jehovah.


Verses 4-6

The service of the Kohathites at the tabernacle is (relates to) “ the most holy ” (see at Exodus 30:10). This term includes, as is afterwards explained, the most holy things in the tabernacle, viz., the ark of the covenant, the table of shew-bread, the candlestick, the altar of incense and altar of burnt-offering, together with all the other things belonging to these. When the camp was broken up, the priests were to roll them up in wrappers, and hand them over in this state to the Kohathites, for them to carry (Numbers 4:5-15). First of all (Numbers 4:5, Numbers 4:6), Aaron and his sons were to take down the curtain between the holy place and the most holy (see Exodus 26:31), and to cover the ark of testimony with it (Exodus 25:10). Over this they were to place a wrapper of sea-cow skin ( tachash , see Exodus 25:5), and over this again another covering of cloth made entirely of hyacinth-coloured purple (as in Exodus 28:31). The sea-cow skin as to protect the inner curtain, which was covered over the ark, from storm and rain; the hyacinth purple, to distinguish the ark of the covenant as the throne of the glory of Jehovah. Lastly, they were to place the staves into the rings again, that is to say, the bearing poles, which were always left in their places on the ark (Exodus 25:15), but had necessarily to be taken out while it was being covered and wrapped up.


Verse 7-8

Over the table of shew-bread (Exodus 25:23) they were to spread a hyacinth cloth, to place the plates, bowls, wine-pitchers, and drink-offering bowls (Exodus 25:29) upon the top of this, and to lay shew-bread thereon; and then to spread a crimson cloth over these vessels and the shew-bread, and cover this with a sea-cow skin, and lastly to put the bearing poles in their places.


Verse 9-10

The candlestick, with its lamps, snuffers, extinguishers (Exodus 25:31-37), and all its oil-vessels (oil-cans), “ wherewith they serve it, ” i.e., prepare it for the holy service, were to be covered with a hyacinth cloth, and then with a wrapper of sea-cow skin, and laid upon the carriage. מות (Numbers 4:10 and Numbers 4:12), bearing frame, in Numbers 13:23 bearing poles.


Verse 11-12

So again they were to wrap up the altar of incense (Exodus 30:1), to adjust its bearing poles; and having wrapped it up in such coverings, along with the vessels belonging to it, to lay it upon the frame.


Verse 13-14

The altar of burnt-offering was first of all to be cleansed from the ashes; a crimson cloth was then to be covered over it, and the whole of the furniture belonging to it to be placed upon the top; and lastly, the whole was to be covered with a sea-cow skin. The only thing not mentioned is the copper laver (Exodus 30:18), probably because it was carried without any cover at all. The statement in the Septuagint and the Samaritan text, which follows Numbers 4:14. respecting its covering and conveyance upon a frame, is no doubt a spurious interpolation.


Verse 15

After the priests had completed the wrapping up of all these things, the Kohathites were to come up to carry them; but they were not to touch “ the holy” (the holy things), lest they should die (see Numbers 1:53; Numbers 18:3, and comp. 2 Samuel 6:6-7).


Verse 16

The oversight of the oil for the candlestick (Exodus 27:20), the incense ( Exodus 30:34), the continual meat-offering (Exodus 29:40), and the anointing oil ( Exodus 30:23), belonged to Eleazar as the head of all the Levites (Numbers 3:32). He had also the oversight of the dwelling and all the holy things and furniture belonging to it; and, as a comparison of Numbers 4:28 and Numbers 4:33 clearly shows, of the services of the Kohathites also.


Verse 17-18

In order to prevent as far as possible any calamity from befalling the Levites while carrying the most holy things, the priests are again urged by the command of God to do what has already been described in detail in Numbers 4:5-15, lest through any carelessness on their part they should cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites, i.e., should cause their destruction; viz., if they should approach the holy things before they had been wrapped up by Aaron and his sons in the manner prescribed and handed over to them to carry. If the Kohathites should come for only a single moment to look at the holy things, they would die. אל־תּכריתוּ , “ cut ye not off, ” i.e., “take care that the Kohathites are not cut off through your mistake and negligence” ( Ros .). “ The tribe of the families of the Kohathites: shebet , the tribe, is not used here, as it frequently is, in its derivative sense of tribe ( Tribus ), but in the original literal sense of stirps .


Verse 19

This do to them: ” sc., what is prescribed in Numbers 4:5-15 with reference to their service.


Verse 20

כּבלּע , “ like a swallow, a gulp, ” is probably a proverbial expression, according to the analogy of Job 7:19, for “ a single instant, ” of which the Arabic also furnishes examples (see A. Schultens on Job 7:19). The Sept . rendering, ἐξάπινα , conveys the actual sense. A historical illustration of Numbers 4:20 is furnished by 1 Samuel 6:19.

(Note: According to Knobel , Numbers 4:17-20 have been interpolated by the Jehovist into the Elohistic text. But the reasons for this assumption are weak throughout. Neither the peculiar use of the word shebet, to which there is no corresponding parallel in the whole of the Old Testament, nor the construction of נגשׁ with את , which is only met with in 1 Samuel 9:18 and 1 Samuel 30:21, nor the Hiphil הכרית , can be regarded as criteria of a Jehovistic usage. And the assertion, that the Elohist lays the emphasis upon approaching and touching the holy things (Numbers 4:15; Numbers 8:19; Numbers 18:3, Numbers 18:22), and not upon seeing or looking at them, rests upon an antithesis which is arbitrarily forced upon the text, since not only seeing (Numbers 4:20), but touching also (Numbers 4:19), is described as causing death; so that seeing and touching form no antithesis at all.)


Verses 21-26

The service of the Gershonites is introduced in Numbers 4:21-23 in the same manner as that of the Kohathites in Numbers 4:1-3; and in Numbers 4:24-26 it is described in accordance with the brief notice and explanation already given in Numbers 3:24-26.


Verse 27

Their service was to be performed “ according to the mouth (i.e., according to the appointment) of Aaron and his sons, with regard to all their carrying (all that they were to carry), and all their doing .” - “ And ye (the priests) shall appoint to them for attendance (in charge) all their carrying ,” i.e., all the things they were to carry. בּמשׁמרת פּקד , to give into keeping. The combination of פּקד with בּ and the accusative of the object is analogous to בּ נתן , to give into a persons' hand, in Genesis 27:17; and there is no satisfactory reason for any such emendations of the text as Knobel proposes.


Verse 28

Their charge ( mishmereth ) is in the hand of Ithamar, ” i.e., is to be carried out under his superintendence (cf. Exodus 38:21).


Verse 29-30

Service of the Merarites . - Numbers 4:29 and Numbers 4:30, like Numbers 4:22 and Numbers 4:23. פּקד , to muster, i.e., to number, equivalent to ראשׁ נשׁא , to take the number.


Verse 31-32

Numbers 4:31 and Numbers 4:32, like Numbers 3:36 and Numbers 3:37. “ The charge of their burden ” (their carrying), i.e., the things which it was their duty to carry.


Verse 32-33

לכל־כּליהם : with regard to all their instruments, i.e., all the things used for setting up, fastening, or undoing the beams, bolts, etc.; see Numbers 3:36 and Exodus 27:19.


Verses 34-48

Completion of the prescribed mustering, and statement of the number of men qualified for service in the three Levitical families: viz., 2750 Kohathites, 2630 Gershonites, and 3200 Merarites - in all, 8580 Levites fit for service: a number which bears a just proportion to the total number of male Levites of a month old and upwards, viz., 22,000.


Verse 49

According to the commandment of Jehovah, they appointed them through the hand of Moses (i.e., under his direction), each one to his service, and his burden, and his mustered things ( פּקדיו ), i.e., the things assigned to him at the time of the mustering as his special charge (see Exodus 38:21).