Numbers 3 — Church Fathers

Douay-Rheims

Leviticus

Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Deuteronomy

Chapter 3

Numbers 3:1-13

THE SONS OF AARON

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1 These are the generations of Aaron and Moyses in the day that our Lord spake to Moyses in Mount Sinai.

2 And these be the names of the sons of Aaron: his first begotten Nadab, then Abiu, and Eleazar, and Ithamar.

3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron the Priests that were anointed, and whose hands were filled and consecrated, to do the function of the priesthood.

4 For Nadab and Abiu died, when they offered the strange fire in the sight of our Lord, in the desert of Sinai, without children: and Eleazar and Ithamar did the function of priesthood in the presence of Aaron their father.

5 And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying: 1 note

6 Bring the tribe of Levi, & make them stand in the sight of Aaron the Priest to minister unto him, and let them watch,

7 and observe whatsoever pertaineth to the service of the multitude before the tabernacle of testimony,

8 and let them keep the vessels of the tabernacle, serving in the ministry thereof.

9 And thou shalt give the Levites for a gift,

10 to Aaron and to his sons, to whom they are delivered of the children of Israel. But Aaron and his sons thou shalt appoint over the service of priesthood. The stranger, that approacheth to minister, shall die.

11 And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying:

12 I have taken the Levites from the children of Israel, for every first born, that openeth the matrice among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

13 For the first born is mine: since I struck the first born in the Land of Ægypt: I have sanctified to me whatsoever is first born in Israel from man unto beast, they are mine: I the Lord.

Numbers 3:14-20

CENSUS OF THE LEVITESDUTIES OF THE LEVITICAL CLANSCENSUS AND RANSOM OF FIRSTBORNDUTIES FURTHER DEFINED

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14 And our Lord spake to Moyses in the desert of Sinai, saying: 1 note

15 Number the sons of Levi by the houses of their fathers and their families, every male from one month & upward. 1 note

16 Moyses numbered, as our Lord had commanded, 1 note

17 & there were found the sons of Levi by their names, Gerson & Caath and Merari. 1 note

18 The sons of Gerson: Lebni & Semei. 1 note

19 The sons of Caath: Amram, and Iesaar, Hebron & Oziel. 1 note

20 The sons of Merari: Moholi & Musi. 1 note

21 Of Gerson were two families, the Lebnitical, & Semeitical:

22 of whom were numbered the people of male sex from one month & upward, seven thousand five hundred.

23 These shall pitch behind the tabernacle on the West,

24 under their Prince Heliasaph, the son of Lael.

25 And their charge shall be in the tabernacle of covenant,

26 the tabernacle it-self and the cover thereof, the hanging that is drawn before the doors of the roof of covenant, and the curtains of the court: the hanging also that is hanged in the entry of the court of the tabernacle, and whatsoever pertaineth to the rite of the altar, the cords of the tabernacle, and all the furniture thereof.

27 The kindred of Caath shall have the peoples of the Amramites, and Iesaarites, and Hebronites, and Ozielites. These are the families of the Caathites reckoned by their names:

28 all of the male sex from one month and upward, eight thousand six hundred, they shall have the guard of the Sanctuary,

29 and shall camp on the south side.

30 And their Prince shall be Elizaphan the son of Oziel:

31 and they shall keep the ark, and table, and the candlestick, the altars, and the vessels of the Sanctuary, wherein the ministration is, and the veil, and all such kind of implements.

32 And the Prince of the Princes of the Levites, Eliazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, shall be over them that watch for the custody of the Sanctuary.

33 But of Merari shall be the peoples of the Moholites, and Musites, reckoned by their names:

34 all of the male kind from one month & upward, six thousand two hundred.

35 There Prince Suriel the son of Abihaiel: they shall camp on the north side.

36 Under their custody shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars, and the pillars and their feet, and all things that pertain to this kind of service:

37 and the pillars of the court round about with their feet, and the pins with the cords.

38 Before the tabernacle of covenant, that is to say, on the east side, shall Moyses and Aaron camp, with their sons, having the custody of the Sanctuary, in the midst of the children of Israel. What stranger soever cometh thereto, shall die.

39 All the Levites, that Moyses and Aaron numbered, according to the precept of our Lord by their families in the male kind from one month and upward, were twenty two thousand.

40 And our Lord said to Moyses: Number the first-born of the male sex of the children of Israel, from one month and upward, and thou shalt have the sum of them.

41 And thou shalt take the Levites unto me for all the first-born of the children of Israel, I am the Lord: & their cattle for all the first-born of the cattle of the children of Israel.

42 Moyses reckoned, as our Lord had commanded, the first-born of the children of Israel.

43 And the males by their names, from one month & upward, were twenty two thousand two hundred seventy three.

44 And our Lord spake to Moyses, saying:

45 Take the Levites for the first-born of the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites for their cattle, & the Levites shall be mine. I am the Lord.

46 But for the price of two hundred seventy three of the first-born of the children of Israel, that exceed the number of the Levites,

47 thou shalt take five sicles for every head, after the measure of the Sanctuary. A sicle hath twenty oboles.

48 And thou shalt give the money to Aaron and to his sons the price of them that are above.

49 Moyses therefore took their money, that were above, & whom he redeemed of the Levites,

50 for the first born of the children of Israel, a thousand three hundred sixty five sicles, according to the weight of the Sanctuary,

51 and gave it to Aaron & his sons, according to the word that our Lord had commanded him.

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Numbers 3:1-13 1 entry

THE SONS OF AARON

PRIESTS ARE MORE EMINENT THAN LEVITES.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) verse 5

Further, the priests are described as being more eminent than the Levites; for this same Scripture tells us that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Bring the tribe of Levi and make them stand in the sight of Aaron the priest, to minister to him.’ Do you see how here too he both speaks of the priests as superior to the Levites and once more makes the Levites appear as more eminent than the children of Israel?

Commentary on the Song of Songs, Prologue

Numbers 3:14-20 1 entry

CENSUS OF THE LEVITESDUTIES OF THE LEVITICAL CLANSCENSUS AND RANSOM OF FIRSTBORNDUTIES FURTHER DEFINED

THE MEANING OF BLUE AND PURPLE.

Theodoret of Cyr (c. 393–c. 458)

Why did God command that some of the sacred vessels should be covered with blue veils and others with purple^[1] veils?

Only the veils of the more precious vessels were blue. The color suggests the sky. For this reason God commanded the objects behind the veil to be covered with blue tapestry but the objects outside it with purple and colors like it. For the sky is not subject to punishment, but the earth is punished for transgressions of the law. The color purple signifies a kingdom. The kingdom of God is divine, without beginning and indestructible. Hence the objects outside the tent were covered with veils both purple and blue. When the household of Kohath^[2] exercised their office, the law commanded that the priests should first enter the sanctuary and cover the ark and the other vessels with the veils already mentioned. Only then would the household of Kohath transport these objects, lest they lay eyes on things that are sacred and secret and that would destroy those who see them accidentally.

Questions on Numbers 6