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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Numbers 1:47 - 1:54
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The Levites Set Aside for God's Service.
v. 47. But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them, they were not included in this census.
v. 48. For the Lord had spoken unto Moses, saying,
v. 49. Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, they were not to be mustered and organized for war, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel;
v. 50. but thou shalt appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of Testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that belong to it; they were to have all these things in their charge and be responsible for their safe-keeping; they shall bear the Tabernacle and all the vessels thereof, carry them from one encampment to the next; and they shall minister unto it, and shall encamp round about the Tabernacle, in carrying out the charge entrusted to them.
v. 51. And when the Tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down, for it was constructed with this object in mind; and when the Tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up; and the stranger that cometh nigh, he who does not belong to the tribe of Levi, shall be put to death.
v. 52. And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, in that section of the encampment assigned to his tribe, and every man by his own standard, the flag, or banner, which showed the location of his tribe, throughout their hosts.
v. 53. But the Levites shall pitch round about the Tabernacle of Testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel; for the anger of the Lord would surely strike every unauthorized person that dared to transgress the Lord's commandment in coming near to the Tabernacle; and the Levites shall keep the charge of the Tabernacle of Testimony.
v. 54. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; so did they. Note that it appears throughout: God is a God of order, 1Co_14:40, and it pleases Him if the matters pertaining to His service are carried out according to a well-arranged plan.