Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 1:48
For the LORD had spoken unto Moses, saying,
48. For the Lord spake ] And Jehovah spake. The rendering of the R.V., which is quite inadmissible, conceals the difficulty that the command not to number the Levites follows the statement that they were not numbered. Some transposition, the extent of which is uncertain, has taken place; or perhaps Num 1:47 is a gloss.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For the Lord had spoken unto Moses,…. Not to number the Levites, when he gave him the orders to number the rest of the tribes: this is observed, lest it should be thought that this was what Moses did of himself, out of affection to the tribe he was of, and to spare it, that it might not be obliged to go forth to war when others did; not that they were forbid to engage in war, or that it was unlawful for them so to do, for when necessity required, and they were of themselves willing to engage in it, they might, as appears in the case of the Maccabees, but they might not be forced into it; they were, as Josephus e says, exempted from it; and so all concerned in religious service, both among Heathens and Christians, have always been excused bearing arms:
saying; as follows.
e Antiqu. l. 3. c. 12. sect. 4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Moses was not to muster the tribe of Levi along with the children of Israel, i.e., with the other tribes, or take their number, but to appoint the Levites for the service of the dwelling of the testimony (Exo 38:21), i.e., of the tabernacle, that they might encamp around it, might take it down when the camp was broken up, and set it up when Israel encamped again, and that no stranger ( zar , non-Levite, as in Lev 22:10) might come near it and be put to death (see Num 3:10). The rest of the tribes were to encamp every man in his place of encampment, and by his banner (see at Num 2:2), in their hosts (see Num 2), that wrath might not come upon the congregation, viz., through the approach of a stranger. , the wrath of Jehovah, breaking in judgment upon the unholy who approached His sanctuary in opposition to His command (Num 8:19; Num 18:5, Num 18:22). On the expression “ keep the charge ” ( shamar mishmereth ), see at Gen 26:5 and Lev 8:35.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(48) For the Lord had spoken . . . Better, And the Lord spake . . . (Num. 3:1; Num. 3:5-6; Num. 3:14-15). It is true that the Levites were not included in the earlier numbering, and consequently that they must have been exempted by divine direction. It does not appear, however, that there is a reference to any previous command respecting the Levites, or that the specific destination of the Levites had been previously declared.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
spoken. See note on Num 1:1.