Numbers 4:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Numbers 4:19
But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:
to do or make · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
live
וְחָיוּ֙ve.cha.Yu
H2421
to live · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
die
יָמֻ֔תוּya.Mu.tu
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
approach
בְּגִשְׁתָּ֖םbe.gish.Tam
H5066
to be or come (causatively · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
most
קֹ֣דֶשׁKo.desh
H6944
a sacred place or thing · noun, common masculine singular construct
things
הַקֳּדָשִׁ֑יםha.ko.da.Shim
H6944
a sacred place or thing · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Aaron
אַהֲרֹ֤ן'a.ha.Ron
H175
Aharon · proper noun, a man's name
sons
וּבָנָיו֙u.va.Nav
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
in
יָבֹ֔אוּya.Vo.'u
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
appoint
וְשָׂמ֣וּve.sa.Mu
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
every
אִ֥ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
one
אִ֛ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
service
עֲבֹדָת֖וֹa.vo.da.To
H5656
work of any kind · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
burden
מַשָּׂאֽוֹma.sa.'O
H4853
a burden · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
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
Numbers 4:15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward;…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Numbers 4:1-20
We have here a second muster of the tribe of Levi. As that tribe was taken out of all Israel to be God's peculiar, so the middle-aged men of that tribe were taken from among the rest to be actually employed in the service of the tabernacle. Now observe,
I. Who were to be taken into this number. All the males from thirty years old to fifty. Of the other tribes, those that were numbered to go forth to war were from twenty years old and upward, but of the Levites only from thirty to fifty; for the service of God requires the best of our strength, and the prime of our time, which cannot be better spent than to the honour of him who is the first and best. And a man may make a good soldier much so…
Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites, &c.--a solemn admonition to Moses and Aaron to beware, lest, by any negligence on their part, disorder and improprieties should creep in, and to take the greatest care that all the parts of this important service be apportioned to the proper parties, lest the Kohathites should be disqualified for their high and honorable duties. The guilt of their death would be incurred by the superintending priest, if he failed to give proper directions or allowed any irreverent familiarity with sacred things.
John Gill on Numbers 4:19
But thus do unto them,.... As after directed:
that they may live and not die; live long, and not die a sudden and violent death:
when they approach unto the most holy things; the ark, the shewbread table, &c. to take them up and carry them:
Aaron and his sons shall go in; into the holy and most holy places:
and appoint them in everyone to his service, and to his burden; what everyone shall do, and how they shall take them up, and bear them.
John Calvin on Numbers 4:4–end
Numbers 4:4-20, 24-28, 31-33
4. This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, about the most holy things:
4. Istud erit opus filiorum Cehath in tabernaculo conventionis Sancti sanctorum.
5. And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:
5. Veniet autem Aharon et filii ejus quando transferenda erunt castra, et deponent velum tentorii, et operient illo arcata testimonii.
6. And shall put thereon the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.
6. Potentque super illam operimen…
The Church Fathers
Now therefore let us return to that tabernacle of the church of the living God, and let us see how these several things ought to be observed in the Church of God by the priests of Christ. If anyone is truly a priest, to whom the sacred vessels, that is, the secrets of the mysteries of wisdom, are committed, let him learn from these and observe how these things ought to be kept within the veil of conscience, and not easily brought forth to the public. Or if the matter demands to bring them forth also to the inferiors, that is, to the more unskilled, and to hand them over, let him not bring them forth naked, let him not show them open and utterly exposed; otherwise he commits homicide and exterminates the people. For everyone is exterminated who touches the secret and ineffable sacraments, not yet transferred by merits and knowledge into the order and grade of the priesthood. For to the sons of Aaron alone, namely to the priests, it is granted to see the very ark of the testament and the table and the candlestick, and whatever of those things which we have comprehended above, naked and unveiled. But let others see these things covered, or rather let them carry them veiled upon their shoulders. And the sons of Kohath indeed, since they themselves, although they are not priests, are nevertheless nearest to the priests, can carry these things upon their shoulders; but others place their burdens and their ministries not on their shoulders, but on wagons. For, to say something even about these by anticipating the reading, since the passage has prompted it: when wagons were offered by each of the several tribes, four of them the sons of Merari received, but two the sons of Gershon; while those who are better than these do not receive wagons. Consider, therefore, now, what kind of division is made in the offices of the divine ministry, and how the things that are holy are not thus imposed to be carried by dumb animals, but they ought to be men endowed with reason, and to carry upon their shoulders the vessels by which the holy of holies are ministered; but those things which are harder and heavier are imposed to be carried not so much by rational as by dumb animals. But even in these there is some difference. For those who attend to the harder and heavier ministries have more animals; for four wagons are given to the sons of Merari, but for the sons of Gershon,…
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
Ark — Noah’s ark, a building of gopher-wood, and covered with pitch, 300 cubits long, 50 cubits broad, and 30 cubits high (Gen. 6:14-16); an oblong floating house of three stories, with a door in the side…
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
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…
Curiosity · To witness the offering in the Holy of Holies — To witness the offering in the Holy of Holies
Levites · the Izeharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites — the Izeharites, the Hebronites, and the Uzzielites
Levites, The · Services of: Taking down, putting up, and carrying the tabernacle, &c — Services of: Taking down, putting up, and carrying the tabernacle, &c
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).
"This do to them:" sc., what is prescribed in Num 4:5-15 with reference to their service.
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Numbers 4:15
Aaron and his surviving sons Eleazar and Ithamar had to cover the sanctuary and all the sacred articles completely before the camp was ready to move, with the groups of non-Levitical tribes marching before and behind the Levites who carried the Tabernacle. The royalty of these objects is seen in the symbolic colors of the coverings, and their sacredness underlies the stern warning that even though the Kohathites were the designated handlers, they must not touch the sacred objects, or they would die. Such respect marked the holiness of Israel’s Lord. The dangers of disregarding these instructions are apparent in 1 Sam 6:19-20 and 2 Sam 6:6-7.
Rashi on Numbers 4:18
אל תכריתו CUT YE NOT OFF [THE TRIBE OF THE FAMILIES OF THE KOHATHITES] — Do not bring it about for them that they shall die.
