Numbers 1:48

48 And the Lorde spake vnto Moses sayenge:

Numbers 1:48 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:48

For the Lord had spoken unto Moses
Not to number the Levites, when he gave him the orders to number the rest of the tribes: this is observed, lest it should be thought that this was what Moses did of himself, out of affection to the tribe he was of, and to spare it, that it might not be obliged to go forth to war when others did; not that they were forbid to engage in war, or that it was unlawful for them so to do, for when necessity required, and they were of themselves willing to engage in it, they might, as appears in the case of the Maccabees, but they might not be forced into it; they were, as Josephus

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 says, exempted from it; and so all concerned in religious service, both among Heathens and Christians, have always been excused bearing arms:

saying;
as follows.

F5 Antiqu. l. 3. c. 12. sect. 4.

Numbers 1:48 In-Context

46 drewe vnto the summe of syxe hundred thousande fyue hundred and .l.

47 But the leuites in the tribe off their fathers were not numbred amonge them.

48 And the Lorde spake vnto Moses sayenge:

49 only se that thou numbre not the trybe of Leui nether take the summe of them amonge the childern of Israel.

50 But thou shalt appoynte the leuites vnto the habitacio of witnesse and to all the apparell thereof and vnto all that longeth thereto. For they shall bere the tabernacle and all the ordinaunce thereof and they shall ministre it and shall pitche their tentes rounde aboute it.