Numbers 1:48

48 for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying:

Numbers 1:48 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:48

For the Lord had spoken unto Moses
Not to number the Levites, when he gave him the orders to number the rest of the tribes: this is observed, lest it should be thought that this was what Moses did of himself, out of affection to the tribe he was of, and to spare it, that it might not be obliged to go forth to war when others did; not that they were forbid to engage in war, or that it was unlawful for them so to do, for when necessity required, and they were of themselves willing to engage in it, they might, as appears in the case of the Maccabees, but they might not be forced into it; they were, as Josephus

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 says, exempted from it; and so all concerned in religious service, both among Heathens and Christians, have always been excused bearing arms:

saying;
as follows.

F5 Antiqu. l. 3. c. 12. sect. 4.

Numbers 1:48 In-Context

46 all who were numbered were six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty.

47 But the Levites were not numbered among them by their fathers' tribe;

48 for the Lord had spoken to Moses, saying:

49 "Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, nor take a census of them among the children of Israel;

50 but you shall appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, over all its furnishings, and over all things that belong to it; they shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings; they shall attend to it and camp around the tabernacle.