Numbers 3:35

35 and the prince of the house of the father of the families of Merari, Zuriel the son of Abihail: these shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle to the Aquilon.

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 was the family of Mahli and the family of Mushi; these are the families of Merari.

34 And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred;

35 and the prince of the house of the father of the families of Merari, Zuriel the son of Abihail: these shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle to the Aquilon.

36 And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle and the bars thereof and the pillars thereof and the sockets thereof and all the instruments thereof, with all its service,

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