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מבן1121 שׁלשׁים7970 שׁנה8141 ומעלה4605 ועד5704 בן1121 חמשׁים2572 שׁנה8141 כל3605 בא935 לצבא6635 לעשׂות6213 מלאכה4399 באהל168 מועד׃4150

Nu 8:24-26 Ge 41:46 1Ch 23:3,24-27; 28:12,13 Lu 3:23 1Ti 3:6

Verse 3. From thirty years old] In chap. viii. 24, the Levites are ordered to enter on the service of the tabernacle at the age of twenty-five years; and in 1 Chronicles xxiii. 24, they were ordered to commence that work at twenty years of age. How can these different times be reconciled? 1. At the time of which Moses speaks here, the Levitical service was exceedingly severe, and consequently required men full grown, strong, and stout, to perform it; the age therefore of thirty years was appointed as the period for commencing this service, the weightier part of which is probably here intended. 2. In chap. viii. 24, Moses seems to speak of the service in a general way; the severe, which was to be performed by the full-grown Levites, and the less labourious work which younger men might assist in: hence the age of twenty-five is fixed. 3. In David's time and afterwards, in the fixed tabernacle and temple, the labouriousness of the service no longer existed, and hence twenty years was the age fixed on for all Levites to enter into the work of the sanctuary. The rabbins say that the Levites began to learn to do the service at twenty-five, and that having been instructed five years, they began the public service at thirty, and thus they reconcile the two periods referred to above. We may well suppose that the sons of the prophets continued a considerable time under instructions before they were called fully to exercise themselves in the prophetic office.

Until fifty years old] This was allowing twenty years for public severe service; a very considerate and merciful ordinance. A preacher who devotes his whole time and strength to the service of the Church of God from twenty to fifty or sixty years of age, should be then excused from his severer labour, and maintained at the charge of the sanctuary. This would not only be a great comfort to a worn-out servant of God, but also of great use to the work of the ministry, which, to be faithfully and effectually performed, requires all the powers of the body and mind of man. Old faithful ministers are to be highly respected for their work's sake, and to be supplied with all the necessaries and comforts of life; but how little can they do in the public ministry of the word, however willing to work, when their eye waxes dim and their bodily strength fails! See "chap. viii. 25".

Both for their own sakes, and for the good of the Church, they should be excused from a labour to which they must be almost every way inadequate.

But notwithstanding this comparative inactivity, their counsels, advice, and experience will always be considered as a treasure to the Church of Christ

Ver. 3. From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old , etc.] This is the full time of the Levites service, and the prime season of man’s life for business; at thirty years of age he is at his full strength, and when fifty it begins to decline: it is said in the Misnah f22 , “a son of thirty years for strength,” upon which one of the commentators makes this remark, that the Levites set up the tabernacle and took it down, and loaded the wagons, and carried on their shoulders from thirty years and upwards: thus both John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and Christ himself, entered into their ministry at this age: all that enter into the host ; army or warfare; for though the Levites were exempted from going forth to war, yet their service was a sort of warfare; they were a camp of themselves about the tabernacle, and part of their work was to watch and guard it, that it was neither defiled nor robbed; in allusion to this, the ministry of the word is called a warfare, and ministers of the Gospel good soldiers of Christ, and their doctrines weapons of warfare, ( 1 Timothy 1:18 2 Timothy 2:3 2 Corinthians 10:3,4); some interpret this of the troop, company, or congregation of the Levites, which a man of thirty years of age was admitted into for business: to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation ; not in the sanctuary, either in the holy place or in the most holy place, where they were never allowed to enter, or do any business in, such as sacrificing, burning incense, etc. but in that part of it which was called “the tabernacle of the congregation”, or where the people assembled on occasion, and that was the court, which was so called, as Jarchi observes on ( Exodus 29:32).

מבן1121 שׁלשׁים7970 שׁנה8141 ומעלה4605 ועד5704 בן1121 חמשׁים2572 שׁנה8141 כל3605 בא935 לצבא6635 לעשׂות6213 מלאכה4399 באהל168 מועד׃4150