Numbers 18:6

And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 18:6-7. To you they are given as a gift — We are to value it as a great gift of the divine bounty, to have those joined to us that will be helpful and serviceable to us in the service of God. The altar — Of burnt-offering. Within the veil — This phrase here comprehends both the holy and the most holy place. As a gift — Which I have freely conferred upon you, and upon you alone; and therefore let no man henceforth dare either to charge you with arrogance in appropriating this to yourselves, or to invade your office.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:1-7 The people complained of their difficulty and peril in drawing near to God. God here gives them to understand, that the priests should come near for them. Aaron would see reason not to be proud of his preferment, when he considered the great care and charge upon him. Be not high-minded, but fear. The greater the trust of work and power that is committed to us, the greater danger there is of betraying that trust. This is a good reason why we should neither envy others' honours, nor desire high places.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord instructs here the priests that the office which they fill, and the help which they enjoy, are gifts from Him, and are to be viewed as such.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2-7. thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi—The departments of the sacred office, to be filled respectively by the priests and Levites, are here assigned to each. To the priests was committed the charge of the sanctuary and the altar, while the Levites were to take care of everything else about the tabernacle. The Levites were to attend the priests as servants—bestowed on them as "gifts" to aid in the service of the tabernacle—while the high and dignified office of the priesthood was a "service of gift." "A stranger," that is, one, neither a priest nor a Levite, who should intrude into any departments of the sacred office, should incur the penalty of death.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For the Lord, i.e. for the service of the Lord, to assist you therein, in the servile and troublesome parts of it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites, from among the children of Israel,.... See Gill on Numbers 3:12; where the same is said, only they, are here called the brethren of the priests for the reason given, Numbers 18:2,

to you they are given as a gift for the Lord, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; See Gill on Numbers 3:7, Numbers 3:8, and See Gill on Numbers 3:9.

Geneva Study Bible

And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you they are given as a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. a gift, given unto Jehovah] See on Numbers 3:9.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - I have taken your brethren the Levites. See on chapter Numbers 3:9; 8:19. Numbers 18:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The charge of the sanctuary (i.e., the dwelling) and the altar (of burnt-offering) devolved upon Aaron and his sons, that the wrath of God might not come again upon the children of Israel (see Numbers 8:19), - namely, through such illegal acts as Nadab and Abihu (Leviticus 10:2), and the company of Korah (Numbers 16:35), had committed. To this end God had handed over the Levites to them as a gift, to be their assistants (see at Numbers 3:9 and Numbers 8:16, Numbers 8:19). But Aaron and his sons were to attend to the priesthood "with regard to everything of the altar and within the vail" (i.e., of the most holy place, see Leviticus 16:12). The allusion is to all the priestly duties from the altar of burnt-offering to the most holy place, including the holy place which lay between. This office, which brought them into the closest fellowship with the Lord, was a favour accorded to them by the grace of God. This is expressed in the words, "as a service of gift (a service with which I present you) I give you the priesthood." The last words in Numbers 18:7 are the same as in Numbers 1:51; and "stranger" (zar), as in Leviticus 22:10.