Numbers 3:35

35 And the prince of a father's house for the families of Merari [is] Zuriel son of Abihail; by the side of the tabernacle they encamp northward.

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 Of Merari [is] the family of the Mahlite, and the family of the Mushite; these [are] the families of Merari.

34 And their numbered ones, in number, all the males from a son of a month and upward, [are] six thousand and two hundred.

35 And the prince of a father's house for the families of Merari [is] Zuriel son of Abihail; by the side of the tabernacle they encamp northward.

36 And the oversight -- the charge of the sons of Merari -- [is] the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its vessels, and all its service,

37 and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.