February
18th Numbers
4
The Levi Duties
1: And the LORD spake
unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 2: Take the sum of the sons of
Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the
house of their fathers, 3: From thirty years old and upward even
until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work
in the tabernacle of the congregation. 4: This shall be the service
of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about
the most holy things: 5: And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron
shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail,
and cover the ark of testimony with it: 6: And shall put thereon the
covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly
of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof. 7: And upon the table
of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the
dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover withal:
and the continual bread shall be thereon: 8: And they shall spread
upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of
badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof. 9: And they
shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light,
and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil
vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it: 10: And they shall
put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers'
skins, and shall put it upon a bar. 11: And upon the golden altar
they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of
badgers' skins, and shall put to the staves thereof: 12: And they
shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister
in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them
with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar: 13:
And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a
purple cloth thereon: 14: And they shall put upon it all the vessels
thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the
fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the
altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins,
and put to the staves of it. 15: And when Aaron and his sons have
made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the
sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of
Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy
thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of
Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation. 16: And to the office
of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the
light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the
anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all
that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof. 17:
And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 18: Cut ye not
off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the
Levites: 19: But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die,
when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons
shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his
burden: 20: But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are
covered, lest they die. 21: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
22: Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, hroughout the houses of
their fathers, by their families; 23: From thirty years old and
upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter
in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the
congregation. 24: This is the service of the families of the
Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens: 25: And they shall bear the
curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation,
his covering, and the covering of the badgers' skins that is above
upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation, 26: And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for
the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by
the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of
their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve.
27: At the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service
of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all
their service: and ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their
burdens. 28: This is the service of the families of the sons of
Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge shall
be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. 29: As for
the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them after their families, by
the house of their fathers; 30: From thirty years old and upward even
unto fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth
into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the
congregation. 31: And this is the charge of their burden, according
to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the
boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars
thereof, and sockets thereof, 32: And the pillars of the court round
about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all
their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall
reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden. 33: This is the
service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their
service, in the tabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of
Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
The
Levites counted again
34: And Moses and Aaron
and the chief of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites
after their families, and after the house of their fathers, 35: From
thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that
entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the
congregation: 36: And those that were numbered of them by their
families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty. 37: These were
they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all that
might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, which Moses
and Aaron did number according to the commandment of the LORD by the
hand of Moses. 38: And those that were numbered of the sons of
Gershon, throughout their families, and by the house of their
fathers, 39: From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years
old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the
tabernacle of the congregation, 40: Even those that were numbered of
them, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers, were
two thousand and six hundred and thirty. 41: These are they that were
numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all that might do
service in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron
did number according to the commandment of the LORD. 42: And those
that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, throughout
their families, by the house of their fathers, 43: From thirty years
old and upward even unto fifty years old, every one that entereth
into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation,
44: Even those that were numbered of them after their families, were
three thousand and two hundred. 45: These be those that were numbered
of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered
according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses. 46: All those
that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chief
of Israel numbered, after their families, and after the house of
their fathers, 47: From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty
years old, every one that came to do the service of the ministry, and
the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation, 48:
Even those that were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five
hundred and fourscore. 49: According to the commandment of the LORD
they were numbered by the hand of Moses, every one according to his
service, and according to his burden: thus were they numbered of him,
as the LORD commanded Moses.
Numbers
5 Unclean people
1: And the LORD spake
unto Moses, saying, 2: Command the children of Israel, that they put
out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and
whosoever is defiled by the dead: 3: Both male and female shall ye
put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not
their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. 4: And the children of
Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake
unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
Restitution
5: And the LORD spake
unto Moses, saying, 6: Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man
or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass
against the LORD, and that person be guilty; 7: Then they shall
confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his
trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part
thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed. 8: But
if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the
trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the
ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him. 9:
And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel,
which they bring unto the priest, shall be his. 10: And every man's
hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest,
it shall be his.
Adultery
11: And the LORD spake
unto Moses, saying, 12: Speak unto the children of Israel, and say
unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against
him, 13: And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes
of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be
no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner; 4: And
the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife,
and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and
he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: 15: Then shall the
man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering
for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no
oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of
jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16: And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:
17: And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of
the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall
take, and put it into the water: 18: And the priest shall set the
woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the
offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering:
and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth
the curse: 19: And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say
unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not
gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be
thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse: 20: But if
thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou
be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:
21: Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing,
and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse
and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to
rot, and thy belly to swell; 22: And this water that causeth the
curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy
thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen. 23: And the priest
shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with
the bitter water: 24: And he shall cause the woman to drink the
bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the
curse shall enter into her, and become bitter. 25: Then the priest
shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall
wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar: 26:
And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the
memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall
cause the woman to drink the water. 27: And when he hath made her to
drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled,
and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that
causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her
belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a
curse among her people. 28: And if the woman be not defiled, but be
clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. 29: This is
the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of
her husband, and is defiled; 30: Or when the spirit of jealousy
cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the
woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this
law. 31: Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this
woman shall bear her iniquity.
In chapter 4 Moses spells
out the duties of the tribe of Levi and the Levites are counted
again. Then in chapter 5 we have three subjects the regulations
regarding unclean people, the restitution or compensation rules and
the law of adultery. The men of the Levites were accounted as mature
enough between 30 - 50 years of age. Then we have a list of the
duties and responsibilities of the Levites. The work was often
mundane and yet it was essential to enable Israel to approach the
Lord. Their work was not at all glamorous. It was hard work and
sometimes dirty work. It was a burden, in other words, everything was
carried by hand. Next Moses was instructed to command Israel to put
out of the camp any person that was a leper, or had an open weeping
sore, or who had come into contact with a dead body. This applied to
men or women. Then the Lord told Moses to tell the people that if
they had injured any other person then they were to pay the sum back
plus 20%. And they were to offer a trespass offering. Next the Lord
turns to the matter of Adultery. If a man had an inward awareness
that his wife had been unfaithful then he took her to the priest who
made a drink of barley, oil and frankincense. Water was placed in the
vessel with dust from the earth. The woman drank the liquid and if
she was guilty then she was told to swear with an oath that if she
was guilty then she would die from within. Then some of the
ingredients were burnt before the Lord. If she belly swelled up and
her thigh rotted then she was guilty before the Lord. However if she
was innocent then she remained healthy and bore children. This
brought about justice and the fear of the Lord on Israel.
- What were the duties of a Levite?
- What were the rules regarding uncleaness?
- How did God specify that restoration was ensured?
- How did the Lord prescribe that unfaithfulness was judged in Israel?
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