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The Pulpit Commentary
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 1:54
REMARKABLE OBEDIENCE "And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they." We have here a remarkable obedience—very remarkable, as being found in a book marked with records of mur…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:1-34
EXPOSITION THE ENCAMPING OF THE TRIBES (Numbers 2:1-34).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:1
The Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron. Probably when they had finished the census, and brought the results into the tabernacle.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:1-34
THE CAMP OF THE SAINTS We have here, spiritually, the Church of God in its order and its beauty and its balanced proportion of parts; resting inwardly upon, and ranged outwardly around, the abiding presence of the Almig…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:1-34
THE MASTER AT SINAI The children of Israel in the wilderness were a divinely-framed figure or parable of the Church of Christ. Devout readers of the story of the long march from Egypt to Canaan have always been haunted…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:1-34
THE DISCIPLINE OF GOD'S ARMY As the first chapter discovers the size of God's army, so the second discovers the discipline of it. Number is nothing without order and discipline. A handful of cavalry can scatter a mob. D…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:2
Shall pitch by his own standard. We are not told how they had pitched hitherto; the tribal and family order now enforced was the natural order, but in the absence of precise directions would sometimes be departed from.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:3
On the east. The van, the post of honour. The general direction indeed of their march was northwards, not eastwards; but nothing can obliterate the natural pre-eminence given to the east by the sunrise, the scattering o…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:5
Next unto him. Whether the leading tribe occupied the center or one extreme of its own side of the encampment is a matter of mere speculation.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:9
These shall first set forth. No order to set forth had been given, but the necessity of doing so was understood, and is here anticipated, as in Numbers 1:51.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:14
Reuel. Probably an error of transcription for Deuel, which actually appears here in many MSS. The Septuagint, however, has Raguel (see Numbers 1:14; Numbers 7:42, etc.). The error is utterly unimportant, except as provi…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:17
Then the tabernacle … shall set forward. Thus it was provided that, whether at rest or on the march, the Divine habitation should be exactly in the midst of Israel.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:24
All that were numbered of the camp of Ephraim. All the descendants of Rachel, forming at this time the smallest of the four divisions, although destined to become very numerous. Their association in the camp was continu…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:25
The standard of … Dan. In the light of its subsequent history, it is remarkable that this tribe should at this time have been so prominent and so honoured. Dan is, so to speak; the Judas among the twelve. In history he…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 2:34
So they pitched. The Targum of Palestine (which embodies the traditional learning of the Palestinian Jews of the 17th century) says that the camp covered a space of twelve square miles. Modern writers, starting from som…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:1-51
THE FAMILIES OF LEVI GET THEIR SEVERAL COMMISSIONS The third and fourth chapters of Numbers form a section by themselves, and of this section the opening verse is the descriptive title: THE GENERATIONS OF AARON AND MOSE…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:1
These … are the generations of Aaron and Moses. The word "generations" (toledoth) is used here in a peculiar and, so to speak, technical sense, with reference to what follows, as in Genesis 2:4; Genesis 6:9. It marks a…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:1-51
EXPOSITION THE NUMBERS AND DUTIES OF THE LEVITES; THEIR SUBSTITUTION FOR THE FIRSTBORN (Numbers 3:1-51).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:3
Whom he consecrated. The "he" is impersonal; the Septuagint has, "whose hands they filled."
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:4
A MORTAL SIN "And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord," &c. I. WHO THEY WERE THAT COMMITTED THIS SIN. Sons of Aaron; elder sons: in whom, therefore, a greater sense of thoughtfulness and responsibility might have been…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:4
They had no children. If they had left sons, these would have succeeded to their office, and to the headship of the priestly line. In the sight of Aaron. In his lifetime (cf. Genesis 11:28). Septuagint, "with Aaron." In…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:4
STRANGE FIRE There are various kinds of fire used in the service of God which, if not as hateful in his sight as that offered by Nadab and Abihu, are "strange." There is a fire which is appropriate and acceptable, becau…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:6
Bring the tribe of Levi near. Not by any outward act of presentation, but by assigning to them solemnly the duties following. The expression is often used of servants coming to receive orders from their masters.
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 3:7
They shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation. Septuagint, "shall keep his watches, and the watches of the children of Israel." The Levites were to be the servants of Aaron on the one side, and of…