Numbers 3:35

35 The leader of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

Numbers 3:35 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 3:35

And the chief of the house of the father of the families of
Merari
I think it should rather be rendered, "and the chief of the house", that is, of the Merarites, "the father to the families of Merari"; the common father to them all, having the chief authority and power over them, and so in ( Numbers 3:24 Numbers 3:30 ) ;

[shall be] Zuriel the son of Abihail;
of whom we read nowhere else, nor is it certain of which family he was, whether of the Mahlites or Mushites:

[these] shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle northward;
to the left of it, between that and the camp of Dan.

Numbers 3:35 In-Context

33 From Merari came the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari.

34 And those who were numbered, according to the number of all the males from a month old and above, were six thousand two hundred.

35 The leader of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. These were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

36 And the appointed duty of the children of Merari included the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, its utensils, all the work relating to them,

37 and the pillars of the court all around, with their sockets, their pegs, and their cords.