Numbers 1:1 to Numbers 10:10 form the first main division of the book. It is entirely derived from P, and contains a series of injunctions bearing upon ritual and Levitical matters, which are represented as forming part of the legislation at Sinai. A comparison of Numbers 1:1 with Numbers 10:11 shew... [ Continue Reading ]
_the tent of meeting_ Heb. _"ôhel mô-çd_. A.V. -tabernacle of the congregation" confuses _mô-çd_with _-çdah_. LXX. σκηνὴ τοῦ μαρτυρίου (-tent of witness") confuses _mô-çd_with _-çdûth_. The name -tent of meeting" is a term very frequently employed in P for the Tabernacle (cf. Numbers 3:7 f., Numbers... [ Continue Reading ]
Moses is directed to number the fighting men of Israel with the help of twelve princes.... [ Continue Reading ]
_their families_ Rather THEIR CLANS, i.e. groups of families related by blood. _fathers_" _houses_ here denotes _families_, smaller groups consisting of close relations; see Numbers 1:4; Exodus 12:3. The term is, however, elastic. It may denote even an entire tribe, as being descended from a single... [ Continue Reading ]
The twenty-four names in the following verses recur in chs. 2, 7. and Numbers 10:14-27. Some of them are of types which were frequent in early times, Amminadab (Numbers 1:7), Ammhud (Numbers 1:10), Elishama (_id.[Note: d. idem, -the same," referring to the book last mentioned.]_), Abidan (Numbers 1:... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nahshon the son of Amminaaab_ See Ruth 4:20; Matthew 1:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Nethanel_ -God hath given." The name is frequent in Chron., Ezr. and Neh., and is the same as Nathaniel, John 1:45.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Gamaliel_-God is a [my] reward." See Acts 5:34. It was the name of several Rabbis in the 1st and following centuries a.d.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Deuel_ The more probable form Reuel is given in Numbers 2:14. Cf. Numbers 10:29. The letters R [Note: Redactor.] and D are easily confused in Hebrew.... [ Continue Reading ]
_they that were called_ i.e. -chosen" to help Moses in conducting the census. _their fathers_ Their ancestors, the sons of Jacob. _thousands_ Another term for a group of relations, irrespective of its exact number; it is probable that it denotes a large group such as a clan, rather than a small gr... [ Continue Reading ]
The numbers ascertained by the census. There can be no doubt that the numbers given in chs. 1 3 and 26 are purely artificial. Gray (_Numbers_, pp. 10 15) shews that (1) they are impossible, (2) when compared with each other they yield absurd results, (3) they are inconsistent with numbers given in... [ Continue Reading ]
The Levites were not to be numbered as fighting men, but were assigned other duties on the march. These duties are stated more fully in chs. 3, 4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 Numb... [ Continue Reading ]
_the tabernacle of the testimony_ Better _the_ DWELLING, &c. The Heb. _mishkân_, denoting the place where Jehovah's presence _dwelt_among His people, is used in the Hexateuch by P only. The rendering -tabernacle" confuses it with _"ôhel_-tent." See note on Numbers 1:1. The -testimony" or -witness... [ Continue Reading ]
_the stranger_ Not a -foreigner," but one who does not belong to the particular class mentioned in the context here and in Numbers 18:4, the Levites; in Numbers 3:10; Numbers 3:38; Numbers 18:7, the priests.... [ Continue Reading ]
_that there be no wrath_ i.e. Divine judgement for the violation of the sacredness of the Tabernacle; cf. Numbers 8:19. The Tabernacle was an outward expression of a great religious ideal that of the dwelling of Jehovah in the midst of His people. But the religious ideal of the Jew fell short of the... [ Continue Reading ]