Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 3:39
All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, [were] twenty and two thousand.
twenty and two thousand – A number on which the commutation with the firstborn of the twelve tribes depends Num 3:43-46. The actual total of the male Levites is 22,300 (compare Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:34): and the extra 300 are considered by some to represent those who, being first-born themselves in the tribe of Levi, could not be available to redeem the first-born in other tribes. Others consider the difference due to an error in the Hebrew text.
The tribe of Levi is shown by this census to have been by far the smallest of the tribes.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 39. Which Moses and Aaron numbered] The word veaharon, “and Aaron.” has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of spuriousness. The word is wanting in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Coptic; it is wanting also in eight of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS., and in four of De Rossi’s. Moses alone, as Houbigant observes, is commanded to take the number of the Levites; see Nu 3:5; Nu 3:11; Nu 3:40; Nu 3:44; Nu 3:51.
All the males – were twenty and two thousand.] This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites 8,600, the Merarites 6,200, total 22,300. Several methods of solving this difficulty have been proposed by learned men; Dr. Kennicott’s is the most simple. Formerly the numbers in the Hebrew Bible were expressed by letters, and not by words at full length; and if two nearly similar letters were mistaken for each other, many errors in the numbers must be the consequence. Now it is probable that an error has crept into the number of the Gershonites, Nu 3:22, where, instead of 7,500, we should read 7,200, as caph, 500, might have been easily mistaken for resh, 200, especially if the down stroke of the caph had been a little shorter than ordinary, which is often the case in MSS. The extra 300 being taken off, the total is just 22,000, as mentioned in the 39th verse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Object. But if the particular numbers, mentioned Num 3:22,28,34, be put together, they make exactly 22,300.
Answ. The odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the Holy Scripture, which in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or because they were the first-born of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other first-born. See Lev 27:26. If this number of first-born seem very small to come from 22,000 Levites, it must be considered, that only such first-born are here named as were males, and such as continued in their parents families, not such as had erected new families of their own. Add to this, that God so ordered things by his wise providence for divers weighty reasons, that this tribe should be much the least of all the tribes, as is evident by comparing the numbers of the other tribes from twenty years old, Num 1, with the number of this from a month old; and therefore it is not strange if the number of their first-born be less than in other tribes. Although if the other tribes had been computed from a month old, as this was, their number of 600,000 had probably been double or treble to that; and consequently the number of their first-born being 22,273 Num 3:43, would have been as unproportionable to their whole sum, as this of 300 first-born Levites seems to their whole number. And some add, that only those first-born are numbered, both in this and in the other tribes, which were born since they came out of Egypt, when God challenged all the first-born to be his.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
39. twenty and two thousandTheresult of this census, though made on conditions most advantageous toLevi, proved it to be by far the smallest in Israel. The separatenumbers stated in Num 3:22;Num 3:28; Num 3:34,when added together, amount to twenty-two thousand three hundred. Theomission of the three hundred is variously accounted forby some,because they might be first-born who were already devoted to God andcould not be counted as substitutes; and by others, because inScripture style, the sum is reckoned in round numbers. The mostprobable conjecture is, that as Hebrew letters are employedfor figures, one letter was, in the course of transcription, takenfor another of like form but smaller value.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron,
numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families,…. Whence it appears, that Moses was not alone, but Aaron with him, in numbering the Levites, and that by the appointment of the Lord. The word “Aaron”, in the Hebrew text, has a dot on every letter, for what reason it is not certain; the word itself is left out in the Samaritan and Syriac versions:
all the males, from a month old and upward, [were] twenty and two thousand; 22,000 men; but by putting the sums together they amount to three hundred more; for of the Gershonites there were 7,500, and of the Kohathites 8,600, and of the Merarites 6,200, in all 22,300; which difficulty some endeavour to remove by saying, as Aben Ezra observes, that the Scripture takes a short way, mentioning the thousands, and leaving out the hundreds but this, he says, is not right, nor is it the way of the Scripture in this chapter: and in an after account of the firstborn of the Israelites, not only the hundreds are mentioned, but the broken number of seventy three. Others think there is a corruption crept into the text somewhere in the particular numbers, through the inadvertency of some copyist; and suppose it to be in the number of the Kohathites, where they fancy , six, is put instead of , three: but there is no occasion to suppose either of these, for which there is no foundation, since the reason why three hundred are left out in the sum total may be, because there were so many firstborn among the Levites, and these could not be exchanged for the firstborn of the other tribes; they, as such, being the Lord’s, and one firstborn could not redeem another; and so it is said in the Talmud t, these three hundred were firstborn, and there is no firstborn redeems a firstborn, or frees from the redemption price of five shekels.
t T. Bab. Becoroth, fol. 5. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(39) And Aaron . . . In the Hebrew text the word Aaron has certain marks over it, known as puncta extraordinaria, denoting that it is to be regarded as spurious or doubtful. It is omitted in the Samaritan and Syriac versions and in a few MSS. There appears. however, to be no sufficient reason for its rejection from the text.
Twenty and two thousand.The total of the three several itemsviz., 7,500, 8,600, and 6,200amounts to 22,300. It appears, however, from Num. 3:46 that the total is correctly given as 22,000, inasmuch as the number of the firstborn, 22,273, exceeded that of the Levites by 273. It has been suggested that in Num. 3:28 we should read (shalosh), three, for (shesh), sixi.e., 8,300 instead of 8,600; or, if the numbers were denoted, as it has been commonly supposed, by the letters of the alphabet, it is quite possible that one letter may have been substituted by the scribe for another. Some suppose that the three hundred were themselves firstborn sons, who had been born since the command to sanctify the firstborn, and that it is on this account that they were not included in the census. (See Bishop Wordsworths Notes in loc., where the reasons which may be assigned for the extreme paucity of this tribe, as compared with the other tribes, are discussed.) The later census, which also included the children from a month old and upwards, shows but a very small increase in the number of this tribe, the number on that occasion amounting only to 23,000 (Num. 26:62).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
39. Twenty and two thousand Here is bad arithmetic. The sum is three hundred less than the items call for, yet is correct, for it tallies with the total of the firstborn after subtracting the excess, two hundred and seventy-three, (Num 3:46,) who were to be redeemed by money. The rabbies explain the discrepancy by saying that there were three hundred firstborn among the Levites, and that they could not be offset for the same number of firstborn of the other tribes, and so were left out of the total. We adopt this explanation in preference to that of a clerical error of six hundred for three hundred by dropping the letter lamedth in the Hebrew word for three. Michaelis objects to this solution by the rabbies as inadmissible, because “the rule would apply to the particular amounts, as well as to the sum total.” This does not necessarily follow. Baumgarten makes a valuable suggestion when he says that “the silent omission of three hundred firstborn was intended, in this particular instance, to conceal the fact that there were limits to the assumed holiness of Levi, which were manifested in the inability to redeem Israel, in order that the relation between Levi and Israel might not be disturbed.” It speaks well for the scrupulous fidelity of the Jews in guarding their manuscripts that there has been no attempt to interpolate an explanation of this difficulty, or to alter the items to make them conform to the footing. Thus we have a high probability, amounting to a moral certainty, that the Jews, as “librarians for the Christians,” have faithfully transmitted to our hands the uncorrupted word of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
vii). The Make-up of the Levites And Their Substitution for the Firstborn ( Num 3:39-51 ).
Num 3:39
‘All who were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of Yahweh, by their families, all the males from a month old and upward, were twenty and two thousand.’
The total ‘number’ of the male Levites over one month old is now given. Note that they are numbered ‘in terms of (by) their families’. Their total number came to 22 ’lph (families), or 21 family leaders/chieftains plus an ’lph composed of the 13 ‘hundreds’ of people (a rounded figure). Note how 13 ‘hundreds’ could be thought of as ‘a thousand’.
The adding up of the ‘numbers’ of the three sub-tribes would actually give us 22,300. Thus the 22 ’lph is clearly under any system a rounding off. Some have suggested that the extra three hundred was taken off in order to allow for the number of first-born in Levi, for as they were already dedicated to Yahweh as first-born they could not replace others who were dedicated as first-born. This is certainly good reason and would have to be allowed for, but the numbers are still rounded and not exact. (And they still are so even if, unnecessarily, an error in the copying of the text is suggested).
Num 3:40-41
‘And Yahweh said to Moses, “Number all the first-born males of the children of Israel from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names. And you shall take the Levites for me (I am Yahweh) instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel.” ’
The overall principle here is that the Levites and their cattle were to take the place of the firstborn of Israel and the firstborn of cattle who were obligated to Yahweh because of the deliverance at the Passover when the firstborn of sons and cattle were spared. That obligation was now removed by virtue of the setting apart of the Levites.
Moses was firstly to number all the first-born males of the children of Israel taking ‘the number of their names’. These were then to be released from their dedication to Yahweh by being replaced by Levites. Up to this point, since the setting up of the Dwellingplace, the firstborn sons had had to perform the duties there. That would be required no longer. While these duties would not have been onerous while in the wilderness, had they continued once in the land they would have become so. The firstborn sons would have had to leave home and would not have been fully available for work on the farms and with the flocks and herds. But now the service in the Dwellingplace was to be the privilege of the Levites.
“And the cattle of the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the cattle of the children of Israel.” The interpretation of quite what this indicates is complicated by the fact that while the Passover obligation of ‘the firstborn’ was being removed, the firstborn cattle of the children of Israel were still owing to Yahweh as firstfruits. That obligation was not removed. So it did not mean that the firstborn cattle were not to be offered to Yahweh. They were Yahweh’s anyway under the principle of the firstfruits. The point was rather that as the firstborn cattle were now already Yahweh’s as firstlings, they could not also be separately offered as firstborn. Thus they had to be substituted by the cattle of the Levites otherwise they would need to be offered twice over.
Initially all firstborn of cattle were to be ‘made holy to Yahweh’ (Exo 13:2) because of the deliverance from Egypt and their sparing at the Passover. They shall be Yahweh’s (Exo 13:12). They were to be ‘given to Yahweh’ (Exo 22:30). They were later made holy to Yahweh as firstfruits (Deu 15:19). When they were being sacrificed the meat was to go to the priests (Num 18:15; Num 18:17-18). Some was, however, to be made available for feasting before Yahweh as Deuteronomy reveals (Deu 12:6; Deu 12:17; Deu 14:23; Deu 15:19). This latter ‘making holy as firstfruits’ is clearly not being abrogated as these future references make clear. But that is because they were firstfruits. The only obligation to be abrogated was that of the firstborn as a result of the Passover.
It should be noted that the Levite cattle now became Yahweh’s. All the cattle that they held in future would also be seen as Yahweh’s. All that a Levite owned from now on was his own home, or anything he purchased. The fields and cattle around his city belonged to Yahweh, while being available for the use of the Levites as Yahweh’s servants. Thus they could be substituted for the Passover firstborn cattle without being killed.
It is significant that the closer to Yahweh’s service they came the less possessions they had. Their minds were not to be filled with a desire for possessions, but to the desire to have God as their possession. They were not to be dragged down by ‘the deceitfulness of riches’. Their whole attention was to be on serving Him. Once this attitude was lost, they were lost.
“I am Yahweh.” This brings out the great privilege that was to be theirs. They were to be YAHWEH’s, servants of the One Who Is, the Creator, the Controller of History.
Num 3:42
‘And Moses numbered, as Yahweh commanded him, all the first-born among the children of Israel.’
So Moses did what Yahweh had commanded. He ‘numbered’ all the firstborn among the children of Israel, allocating them to their service.
Num 3:43
‘And all the first-born males according to the number of names, from a month old and upward, of those that were numbered of them, were twenty and two thousand two hundred and threescore and thirteen.’
The number of the firstborn males was assessed at 22 ’lph and two hundred and seventy three. All this is actually saying is that the number of Levites was twenty two ’lph (whatever that meant), and that by assessment the firstborn were 273 more. This incidentally removes any difficulty from the figures. There was simply a surplus of 273 extra to be accounted for, however we interpret the 22,000.
We have already noted that ‘according to the number of the names’ has a specialised meaning representing a grouping. See 1:18, 20, 22, etc.
This would also explain why there were so ‘few’ Levites compared with the other tribes. (22,000 Levites of one month old and upwards compared with 32,200 ‘above 20 years old’ of even the smallest other tribe). It could partly be explained by the fact that the Levites had probably not adopted so many resident aliens. But if the ’lph simply refers to ‘wider families’ (or ‘chieftains’) then it may simply have been due to the fact that their ‘family’ system worked on the basis of closer ties, this resulting in larger ‘families’.
EXCURSUS.
Note On The 22,273 Firstborn of Israel.
For those who take all the ‘numbers’ in the Pentateuch in terms of modern translations and apply them literally this number has caused considerable problems. It is asked how could there only be 22,273 firstborn of Israel if there were 600,000 men of over 20? This would indicate excessively large families. The explanation could certainly be helped by the fact that ‘bechor’ meant simply the firstborn of the father (1:20), but only if polygamous marriages were fairly common. Later evidence is that they were not so, but circumstances may have been very different at this stage. The situation in Egypt may well have caused a shortage of men compared with women (compare Isa 4:1). Furthermore it may well be that the firstborn, due to their position in the family, had suffered most in Egypt, being the first to be put to death for infractions by ‘the slaves’. This could then have resulted in a small number of living firstborns, and would help to explain the judgment on the firstborn of Egypt.
However, in our view the difficulty does not arise for the reasons mentioned above.
End of EXCURSUS.
Num 3:44-45
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, “Take the Levites instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. And the Levites shall be mine. I am Yahweh.” ’
Yahweh now repeats His instruction, stressing its importance, and making it crystal clear. The Levites were to replace the firstborn sons as servants of the Sanctuary, and their cattle, now set aside as Yahweh’s, were to replace the firstborn which would otherwise be due from the Israelite cattle. They would be released from their double obligation of firstling and firstborn, being now only responsible for firstlings.
Num 3:46-48
“ And for the redemption of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the first-born of the children of Israel, that are over and above the number of the Levites, you shall take five shekels apiece per head. After the shekel of the sanctuary you shall take them (the shekel is twenty gerahs), and you shall give the money, with which the odd number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and to his sons.”
The remaining surplus of 273 were now brought into account. They were to be redeemed by their parents at a ransom of 5 shekels per person. This money was then to be given to the priests. This was the estimate of the value of a male child under five years old (Lev 27:6 – possibly the equivalent of the slave price for a male under five years old), the redeemed children clearly being seen as those most recently born. The ones to be paid for were probably selected by Urim and Thummim. Or it may have been paid by the more wealthy. The resulting redemption silver was to be handed over to the priests.
Num 3:49-50
‘And Moses took the redemption-silver from those who were over and above those who were redeemed by the Levites. From the first-born of the children of Israel took he the silver, a thousand three hundred and threescore and five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.’
So Moses collected the redemption silver which amounted to 1,365 shekels.
Num 3:51
‘And Moses gave the redemption-silver to Aaron and to his sons, according to the word of Yahweh, as Yahweh commanded Moses.’
Moses then passed it on to the priests, as he had been commanded by Yahweh, so that ‘the word of Yahweh’ was fulfilled.
One important lesson for us that comes from this chapter is its lesson on substitution and redemption. In the economy of God, like could be substituted for like. Thus was our Lord Jesus Christ, Creator of the world and all that is in it (Joh 1:1-3; Col 1:14-17), a more than sufficient substitute for His creation.
We may also draw the lesson of responsibility. The Levites were required to respond to Yahweh and be totally dedicated to His service. God requires that of us too. But we are not restricted by the tribe that we belong to. Our dedication is a matter of willingness on our part. The question for us is, ‘Who is on the Lord’s side?’
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 3:39. All that were numbered, &c. See on Num 3:43, The words and Aaron, in this verse, Houbigant remarks, are not found in the Arabic and Syriac; in which omission they agree with the 5th verse, wherein Moses, not Aaron, is commanded to take the number of the tribe of Levi; and also with the 11th, 40th, and 44th verses, in which God speaks to Moses alone; and, lastly, with the 51st verse, which see, with the note on the 14th and 15th verses: and it is observable in the Hebrew copies, that veaheron, is marked with dots at the top, which is generally supposed to be an index of a false reading; and is one proof of the care of the Jewish transcribers. Kennicott observes, that the word is omitted in the most ancient Hebrew manuscript in the Bodleian library: there are fifteen of these words in the printed Hebrew Bibles which have a dot over every letter; see Kennicott’s Dissertation, p. 411. It is said at the close of the verse, that the number of the Levites was 22,000; but the sum total of the preceding numbers, instead of being really 22,000 will be found, upon calling them up, to be 22,300. Dr.
Kennicott solves this difficulty, by observing, that in Num 3:22 where the sum of the Gershonites is given, the Hebrew letter , 200, should be read, instead of the letter , 500. According to this criticism, the sum total of the three numbers exactly answers to what it is said to be in this verse, 22,000: and it is certain that the Hebrew numbers were formerly expressed by letters.
Twenty and two thousand If the particular numbers mentioned Num 3:22; Num 3:28; Num 3:34 be put together, they make 22,300. But the odd 300 are omitted here, either according to the use of the Holy Scripture, where in so great numbers small sums are commonly neglected, or, because they were the first-born of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other first-born.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
and Aaron. These two words are dotted in the Hebrew. See App-31. The command was given to Moses alone (verses: Num 3:14, Num 3:15), and was carried out by him alone (Num 3:16). As Aaron took part, according to Num 1:3, Num 1:4, and Num 4:41, Num 4:45, Num 4:46, his name was included here by some ancient copyist; and later scribes dotted the words rather than leave them out.
commandment. Hebrew “mouth”, put for what was spoken by it by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
and Aaron: The word , weaharon, “and Aaron,” has a point over each of its letters, probably designed as a mark of spuriousness. The word is wanting in the Samaritan, Syriac, and Coptic, and also in eight of Dr. Kennicott’s and in four of De Rossi’s manuscripts. Moses alone, as Houbigant observes, was commanded to number the Levites (Num 3:5, Num 3:11, Num 3:40, Num 3:44, Num 3:51) for as the money with which the first-born were redeemed was to be paid to Aaron and his sons (Num 3:48), it was decent that he, whose advantage it was that the number of the first-born should exceed, should not be authorized to take that number himself. twenty and two thousand. This total does not agree with the particulars; for the Gershonites were 7,500, the Kohathites 8,600, and the Merarites 6,200, which make a total of 22,300. Several methods of solving this difficulty have been proposed by learned men. Houbigant supposes there is an error in the enumeration of the Kohathites in Num 3:28; the numeral shesh, “six,” being written instead of shalosh, “three,” before “hundred.” Dr. Kennicott’s mode of reconciling the discrepancy, however, is the most simple. He supposes that an error has crept into the number of the Gershonites in Num 3:22, where instead of 7,500 we should read 7,200, as , caph final, which stands for 500, might have been easily mistaken for , resh, 200 (Dr. Kennicott on the Hebrew Text, vol. II. p. 212). Either of these modes will equally reconcile the difference. Num 4:47, Num 4:48, Num 26:62, Mat 7:14
Reciprocal: Num 3:15 – General Num 3:16 – word Num 3:43 – General Num 3:46 – which are
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Num 3:39. Two and twenty thousand If the particular numbers mentioned (Num 3:22; Num 3:28; Num 3:34) be put together, they make twenty-two thousand three hundred. But the odd three hundred are omitted here, either according to the use of the Holy Scripture, where in so great numbers small ones are commonly neglected, or because they were the firstborn of the Levites, and therefore belonged to God already, and so could not be given to him again instead of the other firstborn. If this number of firstborn seem small to come from twenty-two thousand Levites, it must be considered, that only such firstborn are here named as were males, and such as continued in their parents families, not such as had erected new families of their own. Add to this, that God so ordered things by his wise providence, for divers weighty reasons, that this tribe should be much the least of all the tribes, as is evident by comparing the numbers of the other tribes, from twenty years old, (Numbers 1.,) with the number of this from a month old; and therefore it is not strange if the number of their firstborn be less than in other tribes.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
3:39 All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron numbered at the commandment of the LORD, throughout their families, all the males from a month old and upward, [were] twenty and two {o} thousand.
(o) So that the first born of the children of Israel were more by 273, as in Num 3:43.