You shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to Yahweh.
Parallel Translations
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You shall set the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to Yahweh.
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And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the LORD.
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And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave-offering unto the LORD.
Cross-references (5)
Passages linked to Numbers 8:13 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Numbers 8:11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave offering on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh.
- Numbers 8:21 The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Yahweh and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.
- Numbers 18:6 Behold, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the children of Israel. They are a gift to you, dedicated to Yahweh, to do the service of the Tent of Meeting.
- Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service.
- Romans 15:16 that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (6 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Before Aaron and his sons, i.e. put them into…
Before Aaron and his sons, i.e. put them into the power of Aaron and his sons, to employ them in holy ministrations; for so that phrase is sometimes used, as Gen 13:9,
the land is before thee, i.e. in thy power, to use or enjoy it. Or setting the Levites before them did signify the giving the Levites to them, or to their service.
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For an offering unto to the Lord; for to him they were first properly offered, and by him given to the priests in order to his service.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and…
And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons,.... After atonement was made for them, as Aben Ezra observes; then they were presented to Aaron and his sons, to whom they were given to he their ministers, and assistants to them:
and offer them for an offering unto the Lord: or, and "waved them", &c. as before, that is, order them to be waved; for not Moses, but Aaron, did this, and indeed was done already; and therefore should rather be rendered, as by Bishop Patrick, after thou hast offered, or waved them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Set the Levites before Aaron - Give the Levites…
Set the Levites before Aaron - Give the Levites to them, or to their service. Unto the Lord - For to him they were first properly offered, and by him given to the priests in order to his service.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 13. The Levites are formally handed over to the…
13. The Levites are formally handed over to the priests as their ministers.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (13) And offer them for an offering.—Literally, and wave…
(13) And offer them for an offering.—Literally, and wave them as a wave- offering, as in Num_8:11. So also in Num_8:15.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron. This…
And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron. This is not an additional command, but repeats in a slightly different form the previous orders. A similar repetition occurs in verse 15b.
HOMILIES BY W. BINNIE Ver. 14. The separation of the Levites; or an ordination service in the wilderness.
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"Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine." There was a threefold reason why the Levites were separated from the rest of the nation and wholly dedicated to the Lord"s service. In the first place, they were to stand instead of the firstborn, whom the Lord had specially claimed for himself (verses 16-18). It was judged expedient that to the service of the sanctuary one whole tribe should be dedicated, rather than individuals out of all the tribes. Secondly, the due serving of the tabernacle being much too burdensome for the single family of Aaron, their brethren of the tribe of Levi were appointed to help them. But there was a third and deeper reason. All the chosen people are the Lord"s, and he claims their service. But all cannot, in person, serve him in the way of keeping the charge of the sanctuary. Some of them must be separated to this ministry. Official service is necessary under the gospel.
Much more was it necessary under the law. Hence the separation of the Levites. When the time came for the Levites to enter on duty, they were set apart in a service, not so solemn indeed as the service on the occasion of Aaron"s consecration, nevertheless highly impressive, and fitted to suggest many a lesson worthy to be laid to heart by us on similar occasions.
I Let us begin by taking A GENERAL VIEW OF THIS ORDINATION SERVICE. The outstanding features were these. It took place at the door of the tabernacle and in presence of the whole congregation. The Levites being marched in, the congregation put their hands on them, q.d.: "We are thine, O Lord. Thou hast redeemed us and brought us out for thyself, to be to thee a kingdom and priests. With respect to the charge of this thy sanctuary, thou hast made choice of these our brethren to minister to thee in our stead. We freely give them up to thee, and renounce all the rightful claim we should otherwise have had upon their service in peace and war." This done, Aaron "offered" the Levites to the Lord as a "wave offering." Finally, Aaron in turn accepted the Levites as the Lord"s gift to him, to aid him in the tabernacle. Who can fail to see the significance of all this? Besides suggesting
(1) how fit it is that men who are entering on a life of official service in the Church should be solemnly set apart to their office and charge, it plainly teaches
(2) that ordination to sacred office should take place in the face of the congregation. It ought not to be performed in a corner. The people are vitally interested, and have a right to be present. This is the rule, I believe, in all evangelical Churches.
(3) When a man has been set apart to sacred service, at the instance of his brethren and in their presence, a relation is formed between him and them which involves reciprocal obligation. He is to lay out his strength in their service; and they are to charge themselves with his maintenance while he does so. The people of Israel having laid their hands on the Levites, were thenceforward to communicate with them in all good things. (see Deu_12:19 Deu_14:27) When Dr. Carey consented to go down into the pit of heathendom, it was only fair and just that the brethren at whose instance he went should "hold the rope," as he stipulated that they should.
II BESIDES THESE MORE CATHOLIC AND SPIRITUAL SERVICES, THE LEVITES" ORDINATION WAS ACCOMPANIED WITH OTHERS PURELY CEREMONIAL. These were of three kinds.
1. Lustral (verse 7). First, Aaron sprinkled the Levites with water of purifying either that described chapter 19, or, more likely, spring-water, such as was used in the laver. Then the Levites, on their part, shaved off their hair and washed their clothes, q.d.: "Lord, we are not meet for thy house and service. Holiness becometh thine house. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil. And we are unclean. But thou canst make us clean. As thou hast sprinkled our persons with clean water, so do thou remove all filthiness from our hearts. And we, for our parts, are resolved by thy grace to put away the evils of our past lives and to follow after holiness henceforward.
2. Expiatory (verses 8, 12). The Levites were to bring a sin offering for atonement; laying their hands upon it with confession of sin. (see Le 4) They were thus reminded of their guilt as well as impurity, and were encouraged to believe that there is forgiveness with God, on the ground of which they might hope to be accepted in their persons and service.
3. Dedicatory. The sin offering was to be followed by a burnt offering to signify that the Levites presented their whole persons to the Lord, a living sacrifice, to be employed in his service all their days. Blessed be God, we are rid of these burdensome and carnal rites. Care must be taken not to let anything like them creep again into the sanctuary. But the ideas they set forth the great realities of purification, and pardon, and dedication ought to be often present to our minds and hearts in the house of God. B.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.