Numbers 3:35

35 The leader of the fathers' households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to ¹camp on the northward 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 Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these were the families of Merari.

34 Their numbered men in the numbering of every male from a month old and upward, were 6,200 .

35 The leader of the fathers' households of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to camp on the northward side of the tabernacle.

36 Now the appointed duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its equipment, and the service concerning them,

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

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 1:53; Numbers 2:25