Numbers 8:19

as a gift lit. -given [persons]." See on Numbers 3:9.

the service of the children of Israel i.e. the service which Jehovah requires from them. They perform it in the person of their representatives, who are now the Levites instead of the first-born.

atonement Not in this case propitiation for past sins, but the averting of God's anger by preventing sin from being committed. The sin would be two-fold the non-performance of the rightful worship, and, as the following words (which should be rendered as in R.V. marg.) shew, the too near approach of the laity to the holy things. The Levites are both substitutes for the laity, and at the same time a cordon to keep them at a distance.

that there be no plague Cf. Numbers 1:53.