Numbers 3:35

35 And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari [was] Zuriel the son of Abihail: [these] shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle 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 [was] the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: 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 and two hundred.

35 And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari [was] Zuriel the son of Abihail: [these] shall pitch on the side of the tabernacle northward.

36 And [under] the custody and charge of the sons of Merari [shall be] the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its vessels, and all that serveth to it.

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