Numbers 3:1-4

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 3:1-13

Here, I. The family of Aaron is confirmed in the priests? office, Num. 3:10. They had been called to it before, and consecrated; here they are appointed to wait on their priests? office: the apostle uses this phrase (Rom. 12:7), Let us wait on our ministry. The office of the ministry requires a constant attendance and great diligence; so frequent are the returns of its work, and yet so transient its favourable opportunities, that it must be waited on. Here is repeated what was said before... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:1

These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses ,.... The descendants of them, those of the former, who is named first, because the eldest, were priests, and those of the latter Levites, and who are not very plainly pointed at, but are included among the Amramites, Numbers 3:27 ; the posterity of Moses being very obscure, only Levites, and these not particularly named but swallowed up among the Kohathites: find the following account was as it stood: in the day that the Lord spoke... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:2

And these are the names of the sons of Aaron ,.... The Targum of Jonathan adds, disciples of Moses, the master of the Israelites; none of the posterity of Moses being expressly, named; Jarchi observes, that the sons of Aaron are called the generations of Moses, because he taught them the law; for whoever, he says, teaches his neighbour's son, the law, the Scripture accounts of him as if he begat him, see 1 Corinthians 4:15 , Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar ; as in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:3

These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests that were anointed ,.... With the holy, anointing oil, with which they were anointed when, Aaron was and they only, see Exodus 30:30 , whom he consecrated to minister in the priest's office ; that is, whom Moses consecrated, by anointing them, putting the priest's garments on them, offering sacrifice for them, and filling their hands with sacrifices which is the phrase here used for consecration: see Exodus 29:15 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:4

And Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord ,...., By flaming fire, as the Targum of Jonathan adds, see Leviticus 10:2 ; and so were not alive at this time when the account of the priests and Levites was taken: when they offered strange fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai ; after the tabernacle was set up, and the service of it begun, and quickly after their unction and consecration: of this strange fire; see Gill on Numbers 10:1 , and they had no children ; which is... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 3:1

The generations of Aaron and Moses - Though Aaron and Moses are both mentioned here, yet the family of Aaron alone appears in the list: hence some have thought that the word Moses was not originally in the text. Others think that the words תלדות ואלה veelleh toledoth , these are the generations, should be rendered these are the acts, or transactions, or the history of the lives, as the same phrase may be understood in Genesis 2:4 ; Genesis 6:9 . However this may be, it is evident... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 3:4

Nadab and Abihu died - See the notes on Leviticus 10 (note). read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 3:1

Verse 1 1.These also are the generations of Aaron and Moses He now separately enumerates the Levites; but, before he proceeds to state their number, he first shortly refers to what he had just before more fully narrated, that of the four sons of Aaron only two survived their father, inasmuch as Nadab and Abihu had suffered the penalty of their negligence in their defilement of the sacrifice. The six verses (423) which Moses inserts respecting the office of the priests have been expounded in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 3:1

These … are the generations of Aaron and Moses. The word "generations" ( toledoth ) is used here in a peculiar and, so to speak, technical sense, with reference to what follows, as in Genesis 2:4 ; Genesis 6:9 . It marks a new departure, looking down, not up , the course of history. Moses and Aaron were a beginning in themselves as the chosen heads of the chosen tribe: Moses having the higher office, but one entirely personal to himself; Aaron being the first of a long and... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Numbers 3:1-13

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:1

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:2

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:3

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 3:4

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 3:1

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 3:4

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 3:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 3:1

The Pulpit Commentary - Numbers 3:1-51

Group of Brands