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CHAP. VIII.

How the lamps were to be lighted; the consecration of the Levites ; and the age and time of their service.

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ND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto

lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the can3 dlestick. And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the LORD commanded Moses. 4 And this work of the candlestick [was of] beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, [was] beaten work : according unto the pattern which the LORD had showed Moses, so he made the candlestick.

5 6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take the Levites, the residue of the tribe of Levi, beside the priests, from 7 among the children of Israel and cleanse them. And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and [so] make themselves clean. 8 Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, [even] fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock 9 shalt thou take for a sin offering. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation, and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel to10 gether: And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Le11 vites And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD

[for] an offering of the children of Israel, that they may exe12 cute the service of the LORD. And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks and thou shalt offer, by Aaron and his sons, the one [for] a sin offering, and the other [for] a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make an atonement 13 for the Levites. And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, as a sign that they were given to him and his sons to be employed by them upon all occasions, and offer 14 them [for] an offering unto the LORD. Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel and the 15 Levites shall be mine. And after that shall the Levites go in (not into the tabernacle itself, but only into the court of the priests) to do the service of the tabernacle of the congrega. tion and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them [for] an 16 offering. For they [are] wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, [even instead of] the firstborn of all the children of Israel, 17 have I taken them unto me. For all the firstborn of the children of Israel [are] mine, [both] man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sancti

18 fied them for myself. And I have taken the Levites for all 19 the firstborn of the children of Israel. And I have given the Levites [as] a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come 20 nigh unto the sanctuary. And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning 21 the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them. And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them [as] an offering before the LORD; and 22 Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them. And

after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons : as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.

23 24 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, This [is it] that [belongeth] unto the Levites from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service 25 of the tabernacle of the congregation: And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service [thereof,] 26 and shall serve no more: But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, by way of instruction and advice, to keep the charge, to oversee and take care that every thing be done regularly, and shall do no further labourious service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.

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CHAP. IX.

The passover enjoined, and a cloud guideth the Israelites.

A Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they

ND the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of

2 were come out of the land of Egypt, saying, Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season.* 3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it. 4 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel that they should 5 keep the passover. And they kept the passover on the

This is a particular command for the keeping of the passover at this time in the wilderness; for by the first institution they seem to be bound to keep it only in the land of Canaan, (Exodus xii. 25) and not in the wilderness, because they knew not how long hey might stay in a place, or how soon remove.

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fourteenth day of the first month, at even, in the wilderness of Sinai according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.

And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that 7 day: And those men said unto him, We [are] defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed sea8 son among the children of Israel? And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command con9 cerning you. And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you, or of your posterity, shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or [be] in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover 11 unto the LORD. The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, [and] eat it with unleavened bread and bitter [herbs,] in remembrance of their afflicted life in 12 Egypt, (Exodus i. 14.) They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordi13 nances of the passover they shall keep it. But the man that [is] clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin, and be ex14 communicated. And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.

15 And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up, the cloud

covered the tabernacle, [namely,] the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the ap16 pearance of fire, until the morning. So it was alway: the cloud covered it [by day,] and the appearance of fire by night. 17 And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched 18 their tents. At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD. they pitched as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle 19 they rested in their tents. And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel 20 kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not. And [so] it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD 21 they journeyed. And [so] it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and [that] the cloud was taken up in VOL. II.

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the morning, then they journeyed whether [it was] by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. 22 Or [whether it were] two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but 23 when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the LORD they rested in their tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

CHAP. X.

In this chapter we have the last order that God gave at moung Sinai; Moses is directed to make and use the silver trumpets ; Israel decamps from Sinai; Moses' entreaty with Hobab to accompany them; and an account of the solemn manner in which they began and ended their journeys.

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ND the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee

make them that thou mayest use them for the calling of the 3 assembly, and for the journeying of the camps. And when they shall blow with both of them, all the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee, at the door of the tabernacle of the 4 congregation. And if they blow [but] with one [trumpet,] then the princes, [which are] heads of the thousands of Israel, (Exodus xviii. 21.) shall gather themselves unto thee. 5 When ye blow an alarm, (not a long and uniform blast, but a broken, quavering sound,) then the camps that lie on the east 6 parts shall go forward. When ye blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the south side shall take their journey they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. 7 But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye 8 shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. And the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets; because, as they were God's ministers or servants, such regard was to be paid to the sound, as if God himself had given the summons; and they shall be to you for an ordinance for ever 9 throughout your generations. And if ye go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets; and ye shall be remembered before the LORD your God, and ye shall be saved

This metal was very fit for conveying sound. They were probably made like ours. Only two were ordered now; but in Solomon's time there were one hundred and twenty priests who blew trumpets, 2 Chron. v. 12.

10 from your enemies. Also in the day of your gladness, feasts of divine institution, and in your solemn days, days of solemn assemblies, and in the beginnings of your months, the new moon, ye shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; that they may be to you for a memorial before your God, « remembrance to you of God's promise, and a token that he will accept you † I [am] the LORD your God, who can and will fulfil my promise,

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And it came to pass on the twentieth [day] of the second month, in the second year after their coming out of Egypt, (ch. ix. 1.) and just after their second passover, which was on the fourteenth day, that the cloud was taken up from off the 12 tabernacle of the testimony. And the children of Israel took their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud 13 rested in the wilderness of Paran. And they first took their journey according to the commandment of the LORD by the band of Moses,

14 In the first [place] went the standard of the camp of the children of Judah according to their armies, with all the regi ments and companies belonging to his camp or standard: and 15 over his host [was] Nahshon the son of Amminadab.

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over the host of the tribe of the children of Issachar [was] 16 Nethaneel the son of Zuar. And over the host of the tribe of 17 the children of Zebulun [was] Eliab the son of Helon. And

the tabernacle was taken down and the sons of Gershon, and the sons of Merari set forward, bearing the tabernacle, having 18 six waggons for that purpose, (ch, vii, 5, 7, 8.) And the standard of the camp of Reuben set forward according to their armies and over his host [was] Elizur the son of Shedeur. 19 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Simeon [was] 20 Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai. And over the host of the

tribe of the children of Gad [was] Eliasaph the son of Deuel. 21 And the Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary, the ark and the most holy furniture thereof; and [the other,] the Gershonites, and the Merarites, did set up the tabernacle 22 against they came. And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies : and over his host [was] Elishama the son of Ammihud. 23 And over the host of the tribe of the children of Manasseh 24 [was] Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. And over the host of the tribe of the children of Benjamin [was] Abidon the son 25 of Gideoni. And the standard of the camp of the children of Dan set forward, [which was] the rereward of all the camps

The Hebrews say, that here one species of distress was put for others, and that blow ing the trumpets was practised in times of famine, of locusts, &c. They were certainly used on solemn fasts. Feel ii. 3.

Thus we read, 2 Chron. xiii. 12. Abijah encouraged himself and people against Jero, boam, saying, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trum pets; and when the priests sounded, God appeared for them.

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