Numbers 3:9

9 Turn the Levites over to Aaron and his sons; they are the ones assigned to work full time for him.

Numbers 3:9 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 3:9

And thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons,
&c.] To be their ministers and servants:

they [are] wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel:
even all of them entirely, none excepted; the whole tribe which were not in the priestly office; those were separated from the rest of the tribes of Israel, and appointed for the service of the priests: or they were "given, given" F17; which is repeated not only to show that they were wholly given, as we render it, but to denote the certainty of it, that they were really given; and especially to declare the freeness of the gift; the priests had them as free gifts, nor did they pay them any thing for, their service; they were maintained another way, namely, by the tithes of the people; and indeed the priests received a tithe out of the tithe of the Levites; so far were they from contributing any thing to their support, or in consideration of the service they did them.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (Mynwtn Mynwtn) "dati, dati", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius.

Numbers 3:9 In-Context

7 They shall work for him and the whole congregation at the Tent of Meeting by doing the work of The Dwelling.
8 Their job is to be responsible for all the furnishings of The Dwelling, ministering to the affairs of The Dwelling as the People of Israel come to perform their duties.
9 Turn the Levites over to Aaron and his sons; they are the ones assigned to work full time for him.
10 Appoint Aaron and his sons to minister as priests; anyone else who tries to elbow his way in will be put to death."
11 God spoke to Moses:
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.