Numbers 3:1

1 This is the family tree of Aaron and Moses at the time God spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.

Numbers 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 3:1

These also [are] the generations of Aaron and Moses
The descendants of them, those of the former, who is named first, because the eldest, were priests, and those of the latter Levites, and who are not very plainly pointed at, but are included among the Amramites, ( Numbers 3:27 ) ; the posterity of Moses being very obscure, only Levites, and these not particularly named but swallowed up among the Kohathites: find the following account was as it stood,

in the day [that] the Lord spoke with Moses in mount Sinai;
and not, altogether as it then, was when he spoke to him in the wilderness, of Sinai, for then Aaron had four sons, but now two of them were dead as is after observed; and it seems to be for the sake of this circumstance chiefly that this clause is so put.

Numbers 3:1 In-Context

1 This is the family tree of Aaron and Moses at the time God spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.
2 The names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar -
3 anointed priests ordained to serve as priests.
4 But Nadab and Abihu fell dead in the presence of God when they offered unauthorized sacrifice to him in the Wilderness of Sinai. They left no sons, and so only Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests during the lifetime of their father, Aaron.
5 God spoke to Moses. He said,
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.