Bilangan 8:20

8:20 So Moses and Aaron and the entire community of the Israelites did this with the Levites. According to all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, this is what the Israelites did with them.

Bilangan 18:1

Responsibilities of the Priests

18:1 ¹ The Lord said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your tribe ²  with you must bear the iniquity of the sanctuary, ³  and you and your sons with you must bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

Bilangan 22:28

22:28 Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you that you have beaten me these three times?”

Bilangan 27:22

27:22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set ⁴  him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community.

Bilangan 36:4

36:4 And when the Jubilee of the Israelites is to take place, ⁵  their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. So their inheritance will be taken away from the inheritance of our ancestral tribe.” ⁶ 

[18:1]  ¹ sn This chapter and the next may have been inserted here to explain how the priests are to function because in the preceding chapter Aaron’s position was affirmed. The chapter seems to fall into four units: responsibilities of priests (vv. 1-7), their portions (vv. 8-19), responsibilities of Levites (vv. 20-24), and instructions for Levites (vv. 25-32).

[18:1]  ² tn Heb “your father’s house.”

[18:1]  ³ sn The responsibility for the sanctuary included obligations relating to any violation of the sanctuary. This was stated to forestall any further violations of the sanctuary. The priests were to pay for any ritual errors, primarily if any came too near. Since the priests and Levites come near all the time, they risk violating ritual laws more than any. So, with the great privileges come great responsibilities. The bottom line is that they were responsible for the sanctuary.

[27:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “stood.”

[36:4]  ⁵ tn The verb הָיָה (hayah) is most often translated “to be,” but it can also mean “to happen, to take place, to come to pass,” etc.

[36:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the tribe of our fathers.”