Números 4
Matthew Henry · Citado em PreceptAustin
Números 4
Henry - In the former chapter an account was taken of the whole tribe of Levi, in this we have an account of those of that tribe who were in the prime of their time for service, between thirty and fifty years old. Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying - The Word of the LORD was to both in Nu 4:1, 17 but only to Moses in Nu 4:21 James Smith - Handfuls of Purpose - THREE CLASSES OF WORKERS Numbers 4 In the transporting of the tabernacle and all its belongings from place to place there was great division of labour. As we would think, the work of the Gershonites, looking after the curtains, &c., could have easily been done by a score of men, but for this task alone 2630 were set apart. This teaches us that no work done for God is small or trifling. The packing up of the holy vessels was done by Aaron and his sons (vs. 5–15). Consecrated hands must set in order holy things. The bearers of the tabernacle and its furniture were three families of the Levites, the sons of Kohath, of Gershon, and of Merari. Their work was— 1. Varied. 1. The sons of Merari had charge of the FOUNDATION THINGS. “Sockets, pillars, boards, bars, and pins” (vs. 31, 32). In setting up the tabernacle the sockets and pillars would be needed first. Foundation truths should always go first. This is the work of the evangelist. “Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, Jesus Christ.” The silver sockets speak of redemption, because they were made of the ransom price given for the souls of the people (Exod. 30:15). Yes, the redeeming Blood first. 2. The sons of Gershon had charge of the UNITING THINGS. “Coverings, curtains, and hangings” (vs. 24–27). The sockets and pillars may be strong, but they are naked and bare without the coverings and curtains, in fact, it was no tabernacle without the coverings. These may represent the work of the pastor, binding all together and beautifying with the coverings and hangings of order and doctrine. The coverings, &c., brought every pillar and board into union with one another. This is the work of the pastor making manifest the truth. “All one in Christ Jesus.” 3. The sons of Kohath had charge of the APPROACH THINGS. “All the vessels of the sanctuary” (v. 15). The vessels placed in position indicate the way to God. No service could be done in the tabernacle without them. All was powerless till the work of the Kohathites was finished. This is the office of the teacher. These three gifts belong to the Church just as really as they belonged to the tabernacle. “He gave some evangelists, some pastors, and teachers for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Eph. 4:11, 12). The office of a teacher is not only to expound the truth, but to do it in such a way as to lead into the very presence of God, and to maintain a holy life. Imparting the knowledge that puffeth up is not fulfilling the work of a teacher. The true spiritual teacher not only points the way, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, through the truth and a holy example, leads into it. 2. Appointed them by the Lord (vs. 1–4). No man taketh this work upon him, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. Could you imagine others making other sockets, coverings, and vessels, and setting up another tabernacle. The whole thing could only be a sham and a mockery. Why? Because they would not be God’s sockets, coverings, and vessels, and servants. What better are the evangelists, pastors, and teachers who run without being sent, and who lay other foundations, and add to themselves teachers having itching ears, who will not endure sound doctrine? From such turn away. It is to His own servants the Lord delivers His goods (Matt. 25:14). Those occupying till He come, trade with His pound (Luke 19). 3. United. The Gershonites had no jealousy at all, although the sons of Merari commenced work before them, and took possession of the spot before they came. They all wrought under one guiding will, and for the honour and glory of one Lord. Their burdens were different, but their aim was one. “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, it is the same God which worketh in all” (1 Cor. 12:4–6). They sought the good of the Lord’s house always. By each one using the gift entrusted to them as stewards we show the manifold grace of God (1 Peter. 4:10). 4. Rewarded. The Lord became to them their portion and inheritance (Deut. 18:1, 2). “I am their possession” saith the Lord (Ezek. 44:28). Those who consecrate themselves to the work of the Lord will find their all in Him. “They that wait at the altar are partakers with the altar” (1 Cor. 9:13). They that wait on the Lord are partakers with the Lord of His grace, mercy, and strength. “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Partakers of His life, of His work, then of His joy. Matthew Henry - Verses 1-3. The middle-aged men of the tribe of Levi, all from thirty years old to fifty, were to be employed in the service of the tabernacle. The service of God requires the best of our strength, and the prime portion of our time, which cannot be better spent than to the honour of Him who is the First and Best. And the service of God should be done when we are most lively and active. Those do not consider this who put off repentance to old age, and so leave the best work to be done in the worst time. THOUGHT I would add that every day of our conscious life is the prime time to redeem the time. I am age 74 in 2020 and by His Spirit actively seeking to redeem the time for His honor and glory so that I might one day be able to say like Paul "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith." (2 Ti 4:7+). Old saints do not [should not] retire but just "re-tire." In Psalm 103:5 God promises that He "satisfies your years with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle." I can testify to the truth of that "soaring" promise dear older brother or sister in Christ. Run with endurance for you have only one race to run! Heb 12:1+). Numbers 4:2 "Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' households, Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries TAKE A HEAD COUNT Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' households - Take a census is not the paqad (appoint) but is a phase which is literally "lift up the head," which still implies counting like our “counting noses.” (churches who count "nickels and noses!") Though Gershon was the eldest, yet Kohath has the precedence by reason of the sanctity of his function in carrying the holiest things.
Números 4
Henry - Verses 21-33. We have here the charge of the other two families of the Levites, which, though not so honourable as the first, yet was necessary, and to be done regularly. All the things were delivered them by name. It intimates the care God takes of his church and every member of it. The death of the saints is represented as the taking down of the tabernacle, 2 Corinthians 5:1+, and the putting it off, 2 Peter 1:14+. All shall be raised up in the great day, when these vile bodies shall be made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ, and so shall be for ever with the Lord. Numbers 4:22 "Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' households, by their families; Nu 3:18,21,24 Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries NUMBERING OF THE GERSHONITES Take a census of the sons of Gershon also, by their fathers' households, by their families - Take a census is same Hebrew phrase as in Nu 4:2 (cf Nu 1:2, 49, 26:2, 31:26, 49) literally "lift up the head," or in essence "take a head count." The purpose is to determine the size of the labor force. Numbers 4:23 from thirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall number them; all who enter to perform the service to do the work in the tent of meeting. thirty years: Nu 4:3 to perform the service: Heb. to war the warfare, Nu 4:3 Isa 63:1-4 Ro 7:14-24 1Co 9:7 2Co 6:7 10:3-5 Eph 6:10-19 Ga 5:17,24 1Ti 1:18 2Ti 2:3,4 4:7 The Warfare of Christian Service - Alexander Maclaren Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries SERVING GOD IN THE TENT OF MEETING from thirty years and upward to fifty years old, you shall number them; all who enter to perform the service to do the work in the tent of meeting - Question - What was the tent of meeting? Answer - The phrase tent of meeting is used in the Old Testament, specifically in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, as the name of a place where God would meet with His people, Israel. Usually, the “tent of meeting” was used as another name for the Tabernacle of Moses. However, before the tabernacle was constructed, God met with Moses in a temporary tent of meeting: “Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the ‘tent of meeting.’ Anyone inquiring of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. . . . As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses” (Exodus 33:7, 9). The fact that Moses set up the tent of meeting outside of the camp underscored that the people had broken fellowship with God at Sinai when they had made the golden calf (see Exodus 33:3). After the tabernacle was built, Moses no longer needed his temporary tent, and the term tent of meeting began to be applied to the tabernacle. In the Law that God gave Moses, God provided specific instructions to build a place of worship (Exodus 25-27). This “tent of meeting” or tabernacle could be taken up and moved each time they changed locations while wandering in the wilderness. The word tabernacle is an English rendition of the Hebrew word miskan, or “dwelling place.” The tabernacle was a temporary dwelling place for the Ark of the Covenant and the other holy items that the Israelites were instructed to use in the worship of and sacrifice to Yahweh. Interestingly, the word tent or tabernacle is also used in the New Testament to draw profound spiritual conclusions about salvation. Both Paul and the writer of Hebrews make a distinction between a heavenly tent and an earthly tent, between what was “built by human hands” and what is “not part of this creation” (2 Corinthians 5:1; Hebrews 9:11). Hebrews 9:1–10 describes the earthly tabernacle, or “tent of meeting,” as a place into which the priests would go to offer sacrifices for the sins of the people. Then, in verse 11, Christ is shown to be a better “high priest” who entered once through the “greater and more perfect tent,” referring to His body, to offer a sacrifice that would satisfy the wrath of God completely, for all time. This refers to His blood shed on the cross. The point of the passage is to show how, if the blood of animals could temporarily cleanse worshipers of the guilt of sin, the perfect blood of Christ, the Lamb of God, would cleanse His followers perfectly—that is, eternally—of their sins. In Hebrews 10:14, the writer says that Jesus has “perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” This verse expresses a spiritual paradox. By entering the “tent of meeting,” which was His own body, and offering up His own blood, Christ “perfected forever” those who have faith in Him. And the result of belief in Christ is sanctification, a continual upward spiral of holiness and closeness to God, as the Holy Spirit performs His work within Christ’s followers. In this way, we are eternally “perfect” because of the preciousness of Christ’s blood applied to our lives, yet at the same time we are “being sanctified” by the Holy Spirit who indwells us and changes us into the image of Christ (Ephesians 2:8–9; Romans 8:29). Paul also mentions the “tent of meeting” or the tabernacle, comparing it to the earthly human body: “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:1–5). When Paul says, “The tent that is our earthly home,” he is referring to our earthly body, our temporary dwelling place. Just as the Israelites moved the tent of meeting from place to place waiting for entrance to the Promised Land, believers in Christ are wanderers on the earth—people who are not “at home” in the world and who “seek a city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Paul says that those who belong to God will be “further clothed” with immortality upon their deaths and that their earthly tent (their body) will be replaced with a “heavenly dwelling.” God does the work of preparing us for that day of glorification by the process of sanctification by the Spirit, and that work happening within us is a “guarantee” that our inheritance and our heavenly dwelling are real. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:13–15). (Source - )| GotQuestions.org Numbers 4:24 "This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying: carriage, Nu 4:15,19,27,31,32,47,49 Numbers 4:24-26 Lowly Service - C H Spurgeon Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, in serving and in carrying NET Note - - The two forms are the infinitive construct and then the noun: “to serve and for the burden (CARRYING).” They are to serve and they are to take the responsibility. The infinitive is explaining the verb. Carrying (04853) see note on massa' Numbers 4:25 they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting, the curtains: Nu 3:25,26 Nu 7:5-7 the covering: Ex 26:14 Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Exodus 36:8+ All the skillful men among those who were performing the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twisted linen and blue and purple and scarlet material, with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman, Bezalel made them. Exodus 26:14+ “You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red and a covering of porpoise skins above. Curtains of the Tabernacle and Tent of Meeting they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle and the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering of porpoise skin that is on top of it, and the screen for the doorway of the tent of meeting - "The work of these people would have been very demanding, since the size and weight of the various curtains and courtyard hangings would have been great." (NET Note) They were transported on two carts, compared to the four carts (Nu 7:7) used by the Merarites (Nu 7:8). Numbers 4:26 and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, they shall perform. the hangings: Ex 27:9 and their cords: Ex 35:18 Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the doorway of the gate of the court which is around the tabernacle and the altar, and their cords and all the equipment for their service; and all that is to be done, they shall perform Numbers 4:27 "All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their work, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads. Lu 1:70 1Co 11:2 Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their work, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a duty all their loads
Números 4
Henry comments on this point: The Merarites were but 6,200 in all, and yet of these there were 3,200 serviceable men, that is, more than half. The greatest burden lay upon that family, the boards and pillars and sockets; and God so ordered it that, though they were the fewest in number, yet they should have the most able men among them; for whatever service God calls men to He will furnish them for it, and give strength in proportion to the work, grace sufficient. This is truly illustrative of the wisdom of God. This wisdom is demonstrated in the church as well. In the words of Charnock: All men are like vessels, and parts in the body, designed for distinct offices and functions for the good of the whole. As the variety of gifts in the Church is a fruit of the wisdom of God for the preservation and increase of the Church, so the variety of inclinations and employments in the world is a fruit of the wisdom of God for the preservation and subsistence of the world by mutual commerce. Numbers 4:45 These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses. Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries These are the numbered men of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD through Moses Numbers 4:46 All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers' households, Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel numbered, by their families and by their fathers' households - Verses 46-49 give a summary of the working Levites. Numbers 4:47 from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting. From thirty: Nu 4:3,23,30 1Ch 23:3,27 everyone: Nu 4:15,24,37 Ro 12:6-8 1Co 12:4-31 Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries from thirty years and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who could enter to do the work of service and the work of carrying in the tent of meeting See above on tent of meeting. Carrying (04853) see note on massa' Numbers 4:48 Their numbered men were 8,580. Nu 3:39 Mt 7:14 20:16 22:15 Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Their numbered men were 8,580 - This is the total of all the 30–50 year-old Levites, so that only 8,580 of the total number of Levites (22,000 Levites Nu 3:39) were eligible for service in the Tabernacle. Jensen - We are not told every detail of their duties, but the wilderness environment most certainly created a multitude of tasks. And for this work there was a multitude of workers. The Lord was not short of workers in that day! Wenham - Running through these censuses are two important biblical principles. First, that every member of the people of God has his part to play. The priests offered sacrifice, the Merarites carried the tent pegs, the other tribes fought in the army. Each was indispensable to the smooth functioning of the whole body. Without full mutual cooperation the people would not reach the promised land. Similarly, in Christ's body every member has been endowed with spiritual gifts which contribute to the welfare of the whole church. But as in ancient Israel 'there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one' (1 Cor. 12:4-6). Paul devotes the rest of the chapter to working out these principles in more detail. The second great principle that is clearly enunciated in these chapters is that Israel was a hierarchy or, more precisely, a theocracy. God spoke to Moses and Aaron, and they passed on God's words to the people. The priests, Aaron's sons, obeyed their father. The Levites were subordinate to the priests, while in their turn the Levites served as religious policemen preventing the ordinary Israelite falling into deadly sin. Similarly, the New Testament pictures the church as well organized with a hierarchical order among its office-bearers. This organization goes back to our Lord himself who appointed twelve apostles in evident imitation of the twelve-tribe organization of Israel. Under Christ the apostles are the supreme authority in the church. Beneath them are the other office-holders such as prophets, teachers and elders (cf. 1 Cor. 12:28ff.; Eph. 4:11f.). The ordinary Christian is urged: 'Obey your leaders and submit to them' (Heb. 13:17; cf. 1 Cor. 16:16; 1 Thess. 5:12ff.; 1 Pet. 5:5); and the leaders are encouraged to 'command' and 'reprove with all authority', for by holding to scriptural teaching 'you will save both yourself and your hearers' (1 Tim. 4:11-16; Titus 2:15). (TOTC-Numbers) Numbers 4:49 According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses, they were numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. According to the: Nu 4:37,41,45 1:54 2:33 3:51 everyone: Nu 4:15,24,31 Isa 11:2-4 42:1-7 49:1-8 Ro 12:4-8 as the Lord: Nu 4:1,21 Numbers 4 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries MOSES OBEYS TO LAST NUMBER According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses, they were numbered, everyone by his serving or carrying; thus these were his numbered men, just as the LORD had commanded Moses - We see Moses' obedience in Nu 1:54; Nu 3:33–34; Nu 4:42. Faith and obedience go together. If you say you believe God, you will obey Him (not speaking of perfection, but in your general "direction"). And so we read "Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later." (Heb. 3:5+). Jensen - In the concluding verses of chapter 4 a vital association is made, that of “service” with “burden”—“every one according to his service, and according to his burden” (4:49). The Levites were to serve faithfully in days of encampment, and they were also to be willing to carry the burdens whenever on the march. To serve and carry burdens—this is the task of the bondslave of the Lord.