| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
| |
|
| 1 And these [are] births of Aaron and Moses, in the day of Jehovah's speaking with Moses in mount Sinai. |
|
| 2 And these [are] the names of the sons of Aaron: the first-born Nadab, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar; |
|
| 3 these [are] the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whose hand he hath consecrated for acting as priest. |
Priest's – Represented The Christ--High Priest and under priests. R5298:6
|
| 4 And Nadab dieth Abihu also before Jehovah, in their bringing near strange fire before Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai, and sons they had not; and Eleazar Ithamar also acteth as priest in the presence of Aaron their father. |
Nadab and Abihu – Representing the class that sins the sin unto death in the Gospel age and the Great Company class. T40; R4031:2
Strange fire – Attempting to offer our own imperfect works as meritorious and acceptable. R1007:3
|
| |
|
| 5 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, |
|
| 6 'Bring near the tribe of Levi, and thou hast caused it to stand before Aaron the priest, and they have served him, |
Tribe of Levi – Those not priests represented overcomers, not of The Christ. R5298:6
The Great Company. R4030:4
Near – Picturing the prominence given to benevolence, hope, faith and conscience. R4029:4
Minister – The Great Company, as Levites, serve before the throne. R4677:6
|
| 7 and kept his charge, and the charge of all the company before the tent of meeting, to do the service of the tabernacle; |
|
| 8 and they have kept all the vessels of the tent of meeting, and the charge of the sons of Israel, to do the service of the tabernacle; |
|
| 9 and thou hast given the Levites to Aaron and to his sons; they are surely given to him out of the sons of Israel. |
|
| 10 'And Aaron and his sons thou dost appoint, and they have kept their priesthood, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death.' |
|
| 11 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, |
|
| 12 'And I, lo, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel instead of every first-born opening a womb among the sons of Israel, and the Levites have been Mine; |
The Levites – Separated by God for his own special use and as a channel of blessing and instruction for the other tribes, who represented all the families of the earth. R4389:6
The Levites did not need a Mediator because Moses represented the entire priestly class and the tribe of Levi in his various functions as Mediator between God and the nation. R4390:1
Represented the first-borns of Israel, typical of the Church of the first-born: the Bride of Christ and the Great Company. R5056:1; Q435:7, Q304:2
The firstborn – Represented the first-born of Israel spared in the Passover night, and typified those passed over in the Gospel age "night" preceding the Millennial day of general deliverance. R4537:1,4, R5298:6
Shall be mine – Showing that the antitypical Levites would not have an earthly inheritance, but a spiritual one; and share in instructing and blessing the world. R5023:1, R4823:5; CR471:3; Q436:2
|
| 13 for Mine [is] every first-born, in the day of My smiting every first-born in the land of Egypt I have sanctified to Myself every first-born in Israel, from man unto beast; Mine they are; I [am] Jehovah.' |
|
| |
|
| 14 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, |
|
| 15 'Number the sons of Levi by the house of their fathers, by their families; every male from a son of a month and upward thou dost number them.' |
|
| 16 And Moses numbereth them according to the command of Jehovah, as he hath been commanded. |
|
| 17 And these are sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari. |
|
| 18 And these [are] the names of the sons of Gershon by their families: Libni and Shimei. |
|
| 19 And the sons of Kohath, by their families, [are] Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. |
Amram – Father of Moses: meaning "High People" or "Exalted People," type of The Christ. F128
|
| 20 And the sons of Merari by their families [are] Mahli and Mushi; these are the families of the Levites, by the house of their fathers. |
|
| 21 Of Gershon [is] the family of the Libnite, and the family of the Shimite; these are the families of the Gershonite. |
|
| 22 Their numbered ones, in number, every male from a son of a month and upward, their numbered ones [are] seven thousand and five hundred. |
|
| 23 The families of the Gershonite, behind the tabernacle, do encamp westward. |
|
| 24 And the prince of a father's house for the Gershonite [is] Eliasaph son of Lael. |
|
| 25 And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting [is] the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the vail at the opening of the tent of meeting, |
The sons of Gershon – Meaning "Refugees" or "Rescued"; type of those of mankind saved during the Millennial age. F129
The covering thereof – Hiding spiritual things from the unconsecrated. T127
For the door – Typifying the death of the human will. T22
|
| 26 and the hangings of the court, and the vail at the opening of the court, which [is] by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and its cords, to all its service. |
Of the court – Typifying the condition of justification. T19
Door of the court – "I am the way" (John 14:6); "I am the door" (John 10:9). There is only one way of access to God. T18
And by the altar – The Brazen altar, type of the ransom sacrifice. T22
|
| |
|
| 27 And of Kohath [is] the family of the Amramite, and the family of the Izharite, and the family of the Hebronite, and the family of the Uzzielite; these are families of the Kohathite. |
And of Kohath – Meaning "Ally" or "Comrade"; type of the Ancient Worthies. F129
|
| 28 In number, all the males, from a son of a month and upward, [are] eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the sanctuary. |
|
| 29 The families of the sons of Kohath encamp by the side of the tabernacle southward. |
Southward – Symbol of restitution to human perfection. D653
|
| 30 And the prince of a father's house for the families of the Kohathite [is] Elizaphan son of Uzziel. |
|
| 31 And their charge [is] the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary with which they serve, and the vail, and all its service. |
|
| 32 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. |
|
| |
|
| 33 Of Merari [is] the family of the Mahlite, and the family of the Mushite; these [are] the families of Merari. |
Of Merari – Meaning "Bitterness", type of the Great Company, saved so as by fire through bitter experiences. F129
|
| 34 And their numbered ones, in number, all the males from a son of a month and upward, [are] six thousand and two hundred. |
|
| 35 And the prince of a father's house for the families of Merari [is] Zuriel son of Abihail; by the side of the tabernacle they encamp northward. |
Northward – Symbol of the Heavenly phase of the Kingdom. D653
|
| 36 And the oversight the charge of the sons of Merari [is] the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its vessels, and all its service, |
|
| 37 and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords. |
|
| |
|
| 38 And those encamping before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting, at the east, [are] Moses and Aaron, and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the sons of Israel, and the stranger who cometh near is put to death. |
Before the tabernacle – The Royal Priesthood, at the very gates of his favor. R4030:4
|
| 39 All those numbered of the Levites whom Moses numbered Aaron also by the command of Jehovah, by their families, every male from a son of a month and upward, [are] two and twenty thousand. |
|
| |
|
| 40 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Number every first-born male of the sons of Israel from a son of a month and upward, and take up the number of their names; |
|
| 41 and thou hast taken the Levites for Me (I [am] Jehovah), instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of every firstling among the cattle of the sons of Israel.' |
|
| 42 And Moses numbereth, as Jehovah hath commanded him, all the first-born among the sons of Israel. |
|
| 43 And all the first-born male by the number of names, from a son of a month and upward, of their numbered ones, are two and twenty thousand two hundred and seventy and three. |
|
| |
|
| 44 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, |
|
| 45 'Take the Levites instead of every first-born among the sons of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites have been Mine; I [am] Jehovah. |
|
| 46 'And [from] those ransomed of the two hundred and seventy and three (who are more than the Levites) of the first-born of the sons of Israel, |
|
| 47 thou hast even taken five shekels a-piece by the poll by the shekel of the sanctuary thou takest; twenty gerahs the shekel [is]; |
Five shekels – Redemption could only be made by an estimated equivalent value. R1031:2*
|
| 48 and thou hast given the money to Aaron, and to his sons, whereby those over and above are ransomed.' |
|
| 49 And Moses taketh the ransom money from those over and above those ransomed by the Levites; |
|
| 50 from the first-born of the sons of Israel he hath taken the money, a thousand and three hundred and sixty and five by the shekel of the sanctuary; |
|
| 51 and Moses giveth the money of those ransomed to Aaron, and to his sons, according to the command of Jehovah, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses. |
|