Numbers 8 Study Notes

8:1-4 The lampstand, or menorah, mentioned in 3:31 and 4:9, was a symbol of God’s presence and glory. Instructions for its construction were provided in Ex 25:31-40 and carried out in Ex 37:17-24. The lamps are included here as part of the celebration and dedication of the tabernacle and its implements for worship.

8:5-7 The purification process involved three steps: (1)sprinkling the Levites with special purification water, probably taken from the bronze basin in the outer court of the tabernacle; (2) shaving their entire bodies, as the Nazirite would do if the vow were broken (6:9,18); and (3) washing their clothes (19:8; Lv 16:26,28).

8:8-12 Two bulls were sacrificed in the ceremony after the Levites had laid their hands on the bulls’ heads as a symbol of substitutionary identification in the atonement process. The order of sin offering and then burnt offering follows the delineation in Leviticus, the first for ceremonial purification and the second for consecration.

8:13-14 The Levites were to stand before the Aaronic priests and the congregation of Israelites as an offering for sanctuary service. This presentation offering is sometimes called a “wave” or “elevation” offering, but here it functioned as a communion offering of celebration for the dedication of the Levites for tabernacle service.

8:15-19 The Levites served as assistants to the Aaronic priests, transporting and maintaining sanctuary structures and implements. They also served as guardians against encroachment upon the holiness of the sanctuary. The substitutionary role of the Levites for the firstborn of Israel is reiterated here (3:40-45; Ex 13:11-16), with emphasis on the exodus event as the historical precedent for this legislation.

8:20-22 These verses summarize the Levite dedication.

8:23-26 The addendum to the dedication of the Levites cites their retirement age as fifty and their minimum age of service as twenty-five years, whereas 4:3 suggests a minimum age of thirty. Some scholars attempt to resolve the inconsistency by suggesting that the Levites may have served a five-year apprenticeship beginning at age twenty-five. Others suggest that the age minimum was raised as a result of the deaths of Nadab and Abihu (Lv 10:1-3). During the latter part of David’s reign, two different censuses were taken of the Levites who were thirty and above and those who were twenty and above (1Ch 23:2-5,24-27). Later, in the days of Hezekiah, another Levitical census was taken for those at least twenty years of age (2Ch 31:17).