38==
Moses and Aaron, with the sons of the latter (the priests), were to encamp in front, before the tabernacle, viz., on the eastern side, “as keepers of the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel,” i.e., to attend to everything that was binding upon the children of Israel in relation to the care of the sanctuary, as no stranger was allowed to approach it on pain of death (see Num 1:51).
Verse 39
The number of the Levites mustered, 22,000, does not agree with the numbers assigned to the three families, as 7500 + 8600 + 6200 = 22,300. But the total is correct; for, according to Num 3:46, the number of the first-born, 22,273, exceeded the total number of the Levites by 273. The attempt made by the Rabbins and others to reconcile the two, by supposing the 300 Levites in excess to be themselves first-born, who were omitted in the general muster, because they were not qualified to represent the first-born of the other tribes, is evidently forced and unsatisfactory. The whole account is so circumstantial, that such a fact as this would never have been omitted. We must rather assume that there is a copyist's error in the number of one of the Levitical families; possibly in Num 3:28 we should read שׁלשׁ for שׁשׁ (8300 for 8600). The puncta extraordinaria above ואהרן are intended to indicate that this word is either suspicious or spurious (see at Gen 33:5); and it is actually omitted in Sam., Syr., and 12 MSS, but without sufficient reason: for although the divine command to muster the Levites (Num 3:5 and Num 3:14) was addressed to Moses alone, yet if we compare Num 4:1, Num 4:34, Num 4:37, Num 4:41, Num 4:45, where the Levites qualified for service are said to have been mustered by Moses and Aaron, and still more Num 4:46, where the elders of Israel are said to have taken part in the numbering of the Levites as well as in that of the twelve tribes (Num 1:3-4), there can be no reason to doubt that Aaron also took part in the mustering of the whole of the Levites, for the purpose of adoption in the place of the first-born of Israel; and no suspicion attaches to this introduction of his name in Num 3:39, although it is not mentioned in Num 3:5, Num 3:11, Num 3:14, Num 3:40, and Num 3:44.
verses 40-48
After this, Moses numbered the first-born of the children of Israel, to exchange them for the Levites according to the command of God, which is repeated in Num 3:41 and Num 3:44-45 from Num 3:11-13, and to adopt the latter in their stead for the service at the sanctuary (on Num 3:41 and Num 3:45, cf. Num 3:11-13). The number of the first-born of the twelve tribes amounted to 22,273 of a month old and upwards (Num 3:43). Of this number 22,000 were exchanged
