Numbers 3:31

And their charge shall be the ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 3:31. The hanging — Which covered the most holy place, for all other hangings belonged to the Gershonites. The service — That is, all the other furniture belonging to it.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:14-39 The Levites were in three classes, according to the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; and these were subdivided into families. The posterity of Moses were not at all honoured or privileged, but stood upon the level with other Levites; thus it was plain, that Moses did not seek the advancement of his own family, or to secure any honours to it. The tribe of Levi was by much the least of all the tribes. God's chosen are but a little flock in comparison with the world.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Of the Levites, the Kohathites, the kinsmen of Moses and Aaron, and the most numerous, have the most important charge confided to them, namely, that of the ark, the altars, and the more especially sacred furniture generally.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

14-31. Number the children of Levi—They were numbered as well as the other tribes; but the enumeration was made on a different principle—for while in the other tribes the number of males was calculated from twenty years and upward [Nu 1:3], in that of Levi they were counted "from a month old and upward." The reason for the distinction is obvious. In the other tribes the survey was made for purposes of war [Nu 1:3], from which the Levites were totally exempt. But the Levites were appointed to a work on which they entered as soon as they were capable of instruction. They are mentioned under the names of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, sons of Levi, and chiefs or ancestral heads of three subdivisions into which this tribe was distributed. Their duties were to assist in the conveyance of the tabernacle when the people were removing the various encampments, and to form its guard while stationary—the Gershonites being stationed on the west, the Kohathites on the south, and the families of Merari on the north. The Kohathites had the principal place about the tabernacle, and charge of the most precious and sacred things—a distinction with which they were honored, probably, because the Aaronic family belonged to this division of the Levitical tribe. The Gershonites, being the oldest, had the next honorable post assigned them, while the burden of the drudgery was thrown on the division of Merari.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The hanging, which covered the most holy place, for all other hangings belonged to the Gershonites.

All the service thereof, i.e. all the other furniture belonging to it, of which see Numbers 4:7,9,14.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And their charge shall be the ark,.... That is, when the tabernacle was taken down, and carried from place to place, this, and the following things, were committed to their care and custody, the ark with the mercy seat, and all appertaining thereunto, which were in the holy of holies:

and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars; the table of shewbread, and the candlestick of pure gold, with its lamps, and the altar of incense, all which stood in the holy place, and the altar of burnt offering, which was in the court, for both altars were their charge:

and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister; all the vessels which belonged to the above things; for the table, candlestick, and altars, all had vessels appertaining to them:

and the hanging; that is, the vail, as Jarchi interprets it, which divided between the, holy and the most holy place; all the other hangings for the court, and the door of it, and for the door of the tabernacle, were the charge of the Gershonites, Numbers 3:25,

and all the service thereof; what belonged to the things in this part of the tabernacle.

Geneva Study Bible

And their charge shall be the {l} ark, and the table, and the candlestick, and the altars, and the vessels of the sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, and all the service thereof.

(l) The main things within the sanctuary were committed to the Kohathites.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

31. For the ark, table, and candlestick (better lampstand)’, see Exodus 25, and for the two altars, Exodus 27:1-8; Exodus 30:1-10.

the screen] The door-hangings of the tabernacle and of the court have been assigned to the Gershonites (Numbers 3:25 f.). This is therefore the veil which separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. But it is nowhere else called simply ‘the screen.’ We should probably read (with the Syr.) the veil of the screen, i.e. the veil which acts as a screen, as in Numbers 4:5, Exodus 40:3; Exodus 40:21.

Numbers 3:31

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The Kohathites, who were divided into four families, and numbered 8600, were to encamp on the south side of the tabernacle, and more especially to keep the charge of the sanctuary (Numbers 3:28), viz., to take care of the ark of the covenant, the table (of shew-bread), the candlestick, the altars (of incense and burnt-offering), with the holy things required for the service performed in connection therewith, and the curtain (the veil before the most holy place), and to perform whatever had to be done ("all the service thereof," see at Numbers 3:26), i.e., to carry the said holy things after they had been rolled up in covers by the priests (see Numbers 4:5.).