a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
Levi
לֵוִ֖יle.Vi
H3878
Levi · proper noun, a man's name
names
בִּשְׁמֹתָ֑םbish.mo.Tam
H8034
an appellation · preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
Gershon
גֵּרְשׁ֕וֹןge.re.Shon
H1648
Gereshon or Gereshom · proper noun, a man's name
Kohath
וּקְהָ֖תu.ke.Hat
H6955
Kehath · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Merari
וּמְרָרִֽיu.me.ra.Ri
H4847
Merari · conjunction + proper noun, a man's name
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 46:11 And the sons of Levi; Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
Exodus 6:16-19 And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari: and the years of the life of Le…
Numbers 15:5-23 And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb.
Numbers 23:6-23 And he returned unto him, and, lo, he stood by his burnt sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.
Numbers 24:1-25 And when Balaam saw that it pleased the LORD to bless Israel, he went not, as at other times, to seek for enchantments, but he set his face…
Numbers 26:57-58 And these are they that were numbered of the Levites after their families: of Gershon, the family of the Gershonites: of Kohath, the family…
Joshua 21:1-45 Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fa…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 3:14-39
The Levites being granted to Aaron to minister to him, they are here delivered to him by tale, that he might know what he had, and employ them accordingly. Observe,
I. By what rule they were numbered: Every male from a month old and upward, Num 3:15. The rest of the tribes were numbered only from twenty years old and upwards, and of them those only that were able to go forth to war; but into the number of the Levites they must take in both infants, and infirm; being exempted from the war, it was not insisted upon that they should be of age and strength for the wars. Though it appears afterwards that little more than a third part of the Levites were fit to be employed in the service of the ta…
Number the children of Levi--They were numbered as well as the other tribes; but the enumeration was made on a different principle--for while in the other tribes the number of males was calculated from twenty years and upward [Num 1:3], in that of Levi they were counted "from a month old and upward." The reason for the distinction is obvious. In the other tribes the survey was made for purposes of war [Num 1:3], from which the Levites were totally exempt. But the Levites were appointed to a work on which they entered as soon as they were capable of instruction. They are mentioned under the names of Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, sons of Levi, and chiefs or ancestral heads of three subdivisions…
And these were the sons of Levi, by their names,.... The immediate offspring and descendants of that patriarch:
Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; these went down with him into Egypt, Genesis 46:11.
John Calvin on Numbers 3:5–end
Numbers 3:5-10
5. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
5. Loquutus est autem Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:
6. Bring the tribe of Levi near, and present them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister unto him.
6. Appropinquare fac tribum Levi, et siste eam coram Aharone sacerdote, ut ministret ei.
7. And they shall keep his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation before the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle.
7. Et custodiant custodiam ejus, et custodiam universi coatus coram tabernaculo conventionis, ut exequantur cultum tabernaculi.
8. And they shall keep all the instruments of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the charge of the ch…
The Church Fathers
After these things, when the sons of Levi had been divided into three orders, and each of the orders was reckoned according to the three names of the princes, certain diversities are recorded in them too, not without mysteries. For the order of the sons of Kohath is described first, and rightly; for from him descend Moses and Aaron, to whom the summit of the priesthood is committed. For from him is born Amram; and from Amram, Moses and Aaron. The second order is Gershon, who indeed is first in birth, but is held second in order; for thus the Scripture says: "And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari." But from the sons of Kohath again two orders are directed, and those indeed who descend from Aaron are consigned to the priesthood, while the remaining part is ordained to minister to the priests; and therefore the offices of the Levites are divided into four parts, so that Aaron and his sons discharge the priesthood, but the holy of holies is carried upon their shoulders by those who remain of the people of Kohath. But the things that pertain to the tabernacle of testimony, or to its courts and skins, or even the veils, and whatever is less hard and light for a burden, the sons of Gershon are to take care of. But the columns of the tabernacle and its bases and its bars the sons of Merari are to carry. Therefore also in the enumerating of these the Scripture significantly makes mention that the strength of Merari be reckoned; for strength is needed for carrying burdens of this kind.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Gershon — =Ger’shom expulsion, the eldest of Levi’s three sons (Gen. 46:11; Ex. 6:16). In the wilderness the sons of Gershon had charge of the fabrics of the tabernacle when it was moved from place to place,…
Kohathites — The descendants of Kohath. They formed the first of the three divisions of the Levites (Ex. 6:16, 18; Num. 3:17). In the journeyings of the Israelites they had the charge of the most holy portion of…
Gershon · General references — General references
Levites · Kohath, and Merari — Kohath, and Merari
Levites, The · Originally consisted for three families or divisions — Originally consisted for three families or divisions
Merari · Head the Merarite Levites — Head the Merarite Levites
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The muster of the Levites included all the males from a month old and upwards, because they were to be sanctified to Jehovah in the place of the first-born; and it was at the age of a month that the latter were either to be given up or redeemed (comp. Num 3:40 and Num 3:43 with Num 18:16). In Num 3:17-20 the sons of Levi and their sons are enumerated, who were the founders of the mishpachoth among the Levites, as in Exo 6:16-19.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Numbers 3:14-39
This first phase of a two-stage registration of the tribe of Levi (see 4:34-49 for stage two) summarized each family group’s special responsibilities (described in greater detail in 4:1-33). This numbering was not linked with military duties, so it enrolled male Levites from the age of one month (3:40-41). • Three family groups are descended from Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, the three sons of Levi. These clans (often called the Gershonites, Kohathites, and Merarites) later inherited the “cities of refuge” (Josh 21) and filled various important posts in the Jerusalem Temple (2 Chr 29:3-17).
Rashi on Numbers 3:16
על פי ה׳ [AND MOSES NUMBERED THEM] ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD — Moses said to the Holy One, blessed be He, “How can I enter their tents to ascertain the number of their babes?!” Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, replied to him, “You do your share and I will do Mine!’ Moses accordingly went and stationed himself at the entrance of each tent, the Shechinah having gone there beforehand, and a divine voice issued from the tent, saying, “So-and-so many babes are in this tent”. It is on this account that it states, “[and Moses numbered them] according to the word (by the mouth) of the Lord” (Numbers Rabbah 3 9).
