53 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
All that were numbered of the Levites, which Moses and Aaron, numbered at the commandment of the Lord, throughout their families,.... Whence it appears, that Moses was not alone, but Aaron with him, in numbering the Levites, and that by the appointment of the Lord. The word "Aaron", in the Hebrew text, has a dot on every letter, for what reason it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord said unto Moses,.... After he had taken the number of the Levites: number all the firstborn of the children of Israel, from a month old and upward, and take the number of their names; that they might be compared with the number of the Levites, and the difference between them observed.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shall take the Levites for me,.... For his service, to minister to his priests, and serve in his tabernacle: I [am] the Lord; who has a right to all, and can claim who he pleases for himself in a special manner, and therefore could and did take the Levites to himself: instead of the firstborn among the children of Israel; these he had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses numbered, as the Lord commanded him,.... No doubt assisted by others, though not mentioned: all the firstborn among the children of Israel; which some think were only those that were born since they came out of Egypt, as Bonfrerius, Bishop Patrick, and others.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And all the firstborn males,.... For such only were ordered to be numbered, and not firstborn females: by the number of names; which were particularly taken: from a month old and upward; for before that time they were not sanctified to the Lord, nor subject to the redemption price: of those that were numbered of them [were] twenty and two thousand...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... After the number was taken, and gave him directions what to do upon it: saying; as follows.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel,.... The Lord had declared before that he had taken them, and now he bids Moses take them, who had numbered them, and give them to Aaron, instead of the firstborn, whose numbers were also taken for this purpose: and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; but not...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And for those that are to be redeemed, c. With money, there being not Levites enough to answer to them, and exchange for them: of the two hundred and threescore and thirteen of the firstborn of the children of Israel, which are more than the Levites for the sum total of the Levites, as given, was but 22,000, Numbers 3:39, whereas the sum total of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shall even take five shekels apiece the poll,.... Or head; every firstborn, or his parent for him, was bound to pay five shekels, which were about eleven or twelve shillings of our money, and which was afterwards settled as the price of such a redemption, Numbers 18:16; after the shekel of the sanctuary shall thou take [them]; being full...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou shalt give the money, wherewith the odd number of them is to be redeemed,.... Or the superfluous number, the number of them that exceeded the Levites, namely, two hundred seventy three; the price of their redemption is ordered to be given unto Aaron, and to his sons; since the Levites were taken in lieu of the firstborn, whose redemption...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses took the redemption money,.... Of five shekels per head: of them that were over and above redeemed by the Levites; or were more than those redeemed by them. A Levite redeemed a firstborn, or freed him from the redemption price, being taken in lieu of him: 22,000 Levites were answerable to 22,000 firstborn of Israel; but as there were no...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Of the firstborn of the children of Israel took he the money,.... Or "for the firstborn", as the Vulgate Latin version renders it, and so the Hebrew particle מאת is sometimes used (u); for children of a month old or little more could not pay the money, but their parents for them, which was paid by them, and Moses received it for the superfluous...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Moses gave the money of them that were redeemed,.... That were redeemed this way, and not by Levites, as in Numbers 3:49, but by money, paying five shekels a head: unto Aaron and his sons; to whom the Levites were given; and this money, as a recompence for the deficiency of the number of them, to answer to the firstborn exchanged for them:...