The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 45

Aaron, &e given here and elsewhere. If they been accepted by some modems, in the fact were the great-grandchiMren of Levi on that the Levites were taken and counted in- their father'e side, and his ~andchildren stead of the first-born, and that, therefore, on their mother's side, it is llllpossible to their own first-born would have to be ex- maintain the obvioll.!I meaning of Exod. xii. cluded. There is nothing to be said against 40. Either the genealogy must be lengthened, this explanation, except that no trace of it or the time must be very much shortened for appears in a narrative otherwise very full and the soJourning in Egypt. The known and minute. The first-born of the Levites may undoubted habit of the sacred writers to have been just 300 (although the number is ,pmit names in their genealogies, even in singularly small), and they may have been thoso whieh seem most precise, lessens the considered ineligible for the purpose of re- -difficulty of the .first alternative, whereas deeming other first-born ; but if so, why did ,every consideration of numbers, including not the sacred writer say so, instead of silently those in this passage, increases the difficulty reducing the total of "all that were numbered -of the second. To endeavour to avoid either of the Levites" I ,alternative, and. to force the apparent state- Ver. 43.-Twenty and two thousand two ments of Scripture into accord by assuming hundred and threescore and thirteen. These a multiplicity of unrecorded and improbable were the first-born of the twelve tribes; but miraclesat every tum (as, e. g., that J ochebed, who were included under the designation the mother of Moses, was restored to youth "first-born" is a matter of grave dispute. and beauty at an extreme old age), is to ex- The smallness of their number (not much pose the holy writings to contempt. It is above one per cent. of the whole population) much more reverent to believe, either that has given rise to several conflicting theories, the genealogies are very imperfect, or the.t all of which seem to be artificial, arbitrary, the numbers in the text he.ve been very con- and therefore unsatisfactory. It is urged by siderably altered. Every consideration of par- some that the expression "every male that ticular examples, still more the general im- openeth the womb" must be strictly pressed, pression left by the whole narrative, favours and that there would be no "first-born" in the former as against the latter alternative. those families (which form a considerable Ver, 30.-Elizaphan the ■on of U'z1iel- majority) in which either a girl was born ,of the youn~est branch. This may have first, or the eldest, being a boy, had died. It aroused the Jealousy of Korah, who repre- is further urged that only those first-born 11ented an elder branch. would be counted who were not themselves Ver. 32. -Eleuar. The priests were fathers of families. These considerations will themselves Kohathites, and therefore their indeed reduce the probable numbers very -cllief is here mentioned as having the over- largely, but not to the required amount . .sight over the other overseers-ipsos cv.srodes Others, again, give an entirely different turn -custodiens. to the difficulty by urging that as the com- Ver. 38.-Before the tabernacle toward mand in Exod. xiii. 1 was prospective only, the ea1t, . . , lllo■e■, •and Aaron and hi■ 1001. so at this time only the first-born since thi, The mo~t ce11,tral and honourable place in the exodus were counted. This makes it neces- camp, and the most convenient for constant sary to assume an altogether unprecedented .and direct access to the eanctua17. Moses birth-rate during that short period. Ons held a wholl1 personal and exceptional posi- other explanation strives to satisfy the arith- tion as king in Jeshurun (Deut. uxiii. 5); metical conditions of the problem by assum- Aaron was heredi\ary high priest. Between ing that the whole of the Divine legislation them they represented the union of royal in this matter was in reality directed against and sacerdotal authority, which had many the worship of Moloch, and was designed to partial continuations in Jewish history, but prevent the offering of first-born to him by WRS fully realised in Christ. redeeming them unto himself. As the ritesr Ver. 39.-Twenty and two thouaand. ,It of Moloch only demanded young children o( iis obvious that there is a discrepancy between tender age, only such were counted in this this total and its three component numbers, census. It may, indeed, be very probably which make 22,300. It is so obvious that it concluded that their heavenly Father dul JIIUSt have been innocent; no one deliberately claim those first-born, partly in ordor to save falsifying or forging would have left so pal- them fron1 Moloch, because the people would pable a discrepancy on the face of the n&rra- thereafter be exposed to the fa.scino.tion of that tive. It may, therefore, have arisen from an horrid superstition; but there is no proof error in transcription (the alteration of a whatever that they were acquainted with it single letter would suffice) ; or it lli.o.y be due at this time. These cruel rites, together with to the fact that, for some reason not stated, many other heathen &bominations, are for- 300 were strook off the Levitica:l total for the bidden in Levit. xviii. 21 and Deut. xviii. purpose of this censns. Such a reason was 10, in view of the entry into Canaan, whers iouD1l by the HebrtlV expositors, and h.t.: they were practised. The prophet Amos, whe8 C :Z 20 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [ea. m. t-Sr.