Commentaria in Numeros
Chapter 8. Synopsis of the Chapter
God prescribes the position of the candlestick and lamps. Secondly, verse 5, he gives the rite of the consecration of the Levites.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Speak to Aaron, and thou shalt say to him: When thou shalt place the seven lamps, let the candlestick be set up on the south side. Command therefore that the lamps look over against the north, towards the table of the loaves of proposition: they shall give light over against that part which the candlestick looketh to. 3. And Aaron did so, and put the lamps upon the candlestick, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 4. Now this was the work of the candlestick, of beaten gold, both the middle shaft and all the branches that came out of both sides of the reeds: according to the pattern which the Lord showed to Moses, so he made the candlestick. 5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6. Take the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel; and thou shalt purify them, 7. according to this rite: Let them be sprinkled with the water of purification, and let them shave all the hairs of their flesh. And when they have washed their garments and are cleansed, 8. they shall take an ox of the herds, and for the libation thereof fine flour tempered with oil: and another ox of the herd thou shalt take for sin: 9. and thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the covenant, calling together all the multitude of the children of Israel. 10. And when the Levites are before the Lord, the children of Israel shall put their hands upon them. 11. And Aaron shall offer the Levites, a gift in the sight of the Lord from the children of Israel, that they may serve in his ministry. 12. The Levites also shall put their hands upon the heads of the oxen, whereof thou shalt offer one for sin, and the other for a holocaust to the Lord, to make atonement for them. 13. And thou shalt set the Levites in the sight of Aaron and of his sons, and shalt consecrate them, being offered to the Lord, 14. and separate them from the midst of the children of Israel, that they may be mine. 15. And afterwards they shall enter into the tabernacle of the covenant, to serve me. And so thou shalt purify and consecrate them for an oblation of the Lord: for they were given to me as a gift by the children of Israel. 16. Instead of the firstborn that open every womb in Israel, I have taken them. 17. For all the firstborn of the children of Israel, both of men and of beasts, are mine. From the day that I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I have sanctified them to myself: 18. and I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel: 19. and have delivered them as a gift to Aaron and his sons from the midst of the people, to serve me for Israel in the tabernacle of the covenant, and to pray for them, lest there be a plague among the people, if they should presume to approach the Sanctuary. 20. And Moses and Aaron and all the multitude of the children of Israel did concerning the Levites what the Lord had commanded Moses: 21. and they were purified, and washed their garments. And Aaron lifted them up before the Lord, and prayed for them, 22. that being purified they might go in to their offices in the tabernacle of the covenant before Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so was it done. 23. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 24. This is the law of the Levites: From twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to minister in the tabernacle of the covenant. 25. And when they are come to the fiftieth year of their age, they shall cease to serve: 26. and they shall be ministers of their brethren in the tabernacle of the covenant, to keep what is committed to their charge, but not to do the works. Thus shalt thou dispose the Levites in their charges.
Verse 2. WHEN THOU SHALT PLACE THE SEVEN LAMPS, LET THE CANDLESTICK BE SET UP ON THE SOUTH SIDE.—Put the seven lamps on the seven-branched candlestick, and light them, and place the candlestick itself on the south side of the tabernacle.
Note: For “shalt place” the Hebrew is haalot, a word which signifies to raise up and put on, as well as to kindle. Our Interpreter, however, with the Septuagint, often renders it to put, to place, to arrange. Hence it seems that these seven lamps were not of beaten work or continuous with the candlestick itself, but that they were separate from it, so that they could be placed on it, that is on its seven reeds, and in fact were placed on it, whenever they were lit by the priests. For it was more convenient that they could be taken off, that they might be better cleaned, filled and trimmed.
COMMAND THEREFORE THAT THE LAMPS LOOK OVER AGAINST THE NORTH, TOWARDS THE TABLE OF THE LOAVES OF PROPOSITION.—All this is not in the Hebrew, but is supplied and added paraphrastically by our Interpreter from Exodus for the sake of explanation. In the Hebrew there is only what follows, namely: They shall give light over against that part which the candlestick looketh to, as if to say: Set the candlestick with its lamps on the south side of the tabernacle, so that it cast its light toward the opposite northern part, in which is the table of the loaves of proposition, to illuminate it. For this is the table at which God as it were feasts; but no one feasts in darkness but in light: and the tabernacle, covered on every side with curtains and having no window, was dark, and therefore the candlestick was placed in it to light it: whose seven lamps God here commands to be turned not to the Holy of Holies but to the table of the loaves, so that they shine toward that part which the candlestick looks to, that is, the middle shaft itself or trunk of the candlestick, so that both this trunk of the candlestick and each of its lamps look equally at this table, that they may illuminate it better and more abundantly.
Verse 3. AND AARON DID SO, AND PUT THE LAMPS UPON THE CANDLESTICK.—Aaron put on and lit the lamps on the eighth day, when his consecration was now complete: for in the first seven days Moses both put on and lit these lamps, and burned incense, and sacrificed, as I said in chapter 7.
Hence it is plain that here also is a hysteron proteron: for these things are not here recounted in historical order, since according to it they should have been set in Leviticus 9. For there Aaron celebrates his first-fruits, of which this lighting and trimming of the lamps was a part. But because there the matter is almost wholly of sacrifices, it has been cast into this place, after the oblation of the princes, which happened almost at the same time.
Verse 4. OF BEATEN GOLD (was) BOTH THE MIDDLE SHAFT AND ALL THE BRANCHES THAT CAME OUT OF BOTH SIDES OF THE REEDS—as if to say: The candlestick was not composed and fitted together of fragments and members, but was all of beaten gold, that is all drawn out by hammering from one mass of gold; all, I say, that is the shaft as well as the three reeds on each side, and the things that came out of the reeds on each side, namely the flowers, cups and knops, thrice repeated and distributed in three orders, all these were drawn out of the same gold (1): it was otherwise with the lamps, as I said on verse 2.
happened together with the election and oblation of the Levites in place of the firstborn of Israel, of which chapter 3, verse 45. For then the Levites, chosen by God, were at the same time applied by Moses to God and the worship of God: but there their election, here their consecration is described, because it was done at the same time.
Verse 7. LET THEM BE SPRINKLED WITH THE WATER OF PURIFICATION—which is mixed with the ashes of the red heifer, of which chapter 19; this water is called the water of sin, that is, the water of expiation of sin, by metonymy.
Note: This was the rite of the consecration of the Levites, as is plain from the text: first, Moses sprinkled them with the water of purification; secondly, they themselves shaved all the hairs of their flesh; thirdly, they washed their garments; fourthly, they offered two oxen, one to be sacrificed for sin, the other as a holocaust; fifthly, Moses set them before God in the tabernacle, before all the people; sixthly, the children of Israel laid their hands upon them; seventhly, Aaron, with the rite of tenupha (waving), of which verse 15, offered the Levites to God, as a gift of the people, to serve him in the tabernacle; eighthly, the Levites laid their hands on their two oxen, which Aaron then sacrificed, praying for the Levites.
Tropologically St. Gregory, Morals book 5, chapter 22, and from him Rupert: “The hairs of the flesh,” he says, “are whatever is superfluous of human corruption. The Levites, therefore, must shave the hairs of the flesh; because he who is taken into the divine service ought to appear before the eyes of God clean from all thoughts of the flesh. Hence the hairs of the Levites are commanded to be shaved, not plucked out: for when the hairs are shaved the roots remain in the flesh, and grow again to be cut off; because superfluous thoughts must be cut away with great zeal, yet cannot be cut away utterly: for the flesh always generates superfluities, which the spirit must always cut off with the iron of vigilance.”
Moses, that they may offer it to be sacrificed as a holocaust, as they shall offer the other, which thou likewise shalt receive from them, to be sacrificed for sin.
Verse 10. AND WHEN THE LEVITES ARE BEFORE THE LORD, THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL SHALL PUT THEIR HANDS UPON THEM—that by this imposition of hands they may signify and testify that they give up the Levites, their fellow-tribesmen, from themselves, and offer them to the Lord as a gift or sacrifice, and transfer them to his dominion and ministry (1). For the Levites were the gift and oblation of the people, just as the ox was the victim. See what was said on Leviticus 1:4. Hence follows:
Verse 11. AND AARON SHALL OFFER THE LEVITES.—From this it is gathered that Aaron offered and consecrated the Levites, and not Moses. The same is plain from verse 21. For this consecration of the Levites properly belonged to the pontiff; and the pontiff was Aaron. What therefore is said to Moses in verse 12, “thou shalt offer,” that is, sacrifice, the ox “for sin,” and in verse 14, “thou shalt consecrate,” understand: thou shalt command to be sacrificed and consecrated, namely by Aaron. Moses therefore offered the Levites to Aaron: but Aaron offered and consecrated them to God, Moses nevertheless praying with him.
Verse 15. AND AFTERWARDS THEY SHALL ENTER INTO THE TABERNACLE OF THE COVENANT.—The Hebrew is: let them enter to their ministry in the tabernacle of the covenant, namely to carry it, as was said in chapter 4: for the Levites had no other office; for to sacrifice, to light the lamps, to burn incense, to put the loaves of proposition on the table, these, I say, were the duties of the priests alone.
THOU SHALT CONSECRATE THEM FOR AN OBLATION.—The Hebrew is: thou shalt lift up, or wave them with a waving, or the rite and ceremony of tenupha, namely by waving and slightly lifting them toward the four quarters of the world in the form of a cross, to signify that they are offered to God, who is lord of the whole world; of which rite I spoke on Leviticus 7:30. Here it is plain that the Levites were lifted up with this definite rite with which the victims also were lifted up. Our Interpreter indicates the same more clearly in verse 21. Hence also it is likely that not all the Levites were consecrated at this time, but only those who were actually to serve the tabernacle: the rest were consecrated afterwards in Canaan. For Aaron could not conveniently have offered so many thousands of Levites man by man to the Lord with this rite, since, as the consecration of the new priests was proper and peculiar to single persons, as is plain from Exodus 29:29 and 2 Paralipomenon 29:34, so was that of the Levites peculiar to single persons, as is plain in the same place of Paralipomenon.
Except the time of the journeying in the desert: for as after the departure from Sinai there was never afterwards any sacrificing in the desert, so after this consecration of the Levites there was no other in the desert; but the Levites succeeded, when they had reached the thirtieth year, to carry the burdens, even unconsecrated, the fifty-year-olds being discharged. So Abulensis.
Verse 19. LEST THERE BE A PLAGUE—as if to say: The Levites shall be in the ministry of the sanctuary, lest the people should wish to take it upon themselves, and so be smitten by me, because, being laymen and profane, they would have intruded themselves into the sacred office against my precept.
Verse 21. AND AARON LIFTED THEM UP.—The Hebrew is: he waved them with a waving, or with the rite of tenupha, of which I spoke
Verse 24. FROM TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OLD AND UPWARD THEY (the Levites) SHALL GO IN TO MINISTER IN THE TABERNACLE OF THE COVENANT.—Note: In chapter 4, verse 3, and 1 Paralipomenon 23:3, the Levites who properly ministered to the tabernacle and carried it with its vessels were numbered from the thirtieth year; as to what is here commanded, that from the 25th year they go in to minister in the tabernacle, understand that in the 25th year they were consecrated to this, to be subservient to the senior Levites, and to fit themselves to minister properly in the tabernacle in the 30th year, carrying its vessels, and that until the 50th year. For after the 50th year they were emeriti.
Verse 26. THUS SHALT THOU DISPOSE THE LEVITES IN THEIR CHARGES—that in this warfare of the tabernacle neither did they bear burdens, but only guarded, as is said in the last verse.
Now in the time of David, when the Hebrews were at rest in Canaan, and those heavy burdens of the tabernacle no longer had to be carried by the Levites through the desert; and when more persons were needed for the offices of porters, singers and the like, which David instituted, then David commanded the Levites to be numbered from the twentieth year of age, and to minister in the tabernacle, as, indeed for the same reasons, David in more recent times numbered them from the twentieth year.