The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 92

can be shown why it should be called II sin whole ceremonie.l was to be symbolice.lly per- water ; " it would seem as reasonable to call formed, for the Levites could not possibly be the water which our Lord turned into wine waved in any literal sense. Some have sup• '' sin water," because it stood there II for the posed that they were me.rched up e.nd down purifying of the Jews." It is bett.er to say before the altar, forgetting that the court that we do not know, beoanse it is not re- would scarcely afford ste.nding room for 1000 corded, how this water was prepared, or how people, while the Levites between thirty 1md it corresponded to its name. The Levites fifty numbered more than 8000. It is certs.in who were to be sprinkled would seem to that the Levites could only be brought be- have included all the males, some twenty fore the Lord, could only be waved (howso- thoUS&Dd in number; because it was all the ever that was done), could only lay their males, and not only those between thirty a.nd hands upon the bullocks, by representation. fifty, who were to be dedicated in place of the If we suppose, e. g., that a hundred men of first-born. In any case it was, of course, position and command among them entered impossible that Moses could have sprinkled the court as representatives of the tribe, then them individually (see below on ver. 11). we can understand how the ceremonial here Let them shave all their tlesh. Literally, commanded might have been effectively "let them cause the razor to pas.g over their carried out. That they may execute the whole body." Some distinguish between service of the Lord. Literally, "that they "l,l/J:) "1;1¥ here and i1~~ in Levit. xiv. 8, 9, may be to execute the service of the Lord." RS though the latter meant a much more Their being waved made them over in a complete shaving off of the hair tha.n the figure to the Lord to be wholly his, and to former; but this difference is doubtful ; the live only for his service, and at his command. fact that the ,~hole body as well as the head But just as wave offerings were assigned by was to be shaved implies that it was more Divine permission to the use of the piicsts, than a mere cutting short of the hair. Let so were the Levites given to .Aaron and his them wash their clothes. This was con- sons for ever. stantly enjoined on all the faithful as a pre- Ver. 12.-Shall lay their hands upon the paration for any special religious service (see heads of the bullocks. In token that they on Exod. xix. 10). And so make themselves constituted these victims the 1itual represent- clean. The shaving and washing had, no atives and embodiments, the one of their sin, doubt, a symbolic significance, but their to be consumed e.nd done a.way as by fire, the primary object was simply and obviously other of their life and strength, to be wholly personal cleanliness ; it is the hair and the offered unto God and accepted as by fire. clothes that chiefly harboUI impurities, espe- Ver. 13.-And thou she.It set the Levites cially in a hot climate. before Aaron. This is not an additional Ver. 8. -Another young bullock she.It comme.nd, but repeats in a slightly different thou take for a sin offering. The ordinary form the previous orders. A simile.r repeti- sin offering was e. shaggy one of the goats tion occurs in ver. 16 b. (see on eh. vii. 16) ; but a bullock had been Ver. 16. -For they are wholly given llJlto prescribed for the sin of the high priest, a.nd me. See eh. iii. 5-13, the substance of for the sin of the congregation, in certe.in which is emphatically repeated here. circumstances, and the analogy is followed Ver. 19 b.-To me.ke an atonement for the here. It might seem as if the larger ani.me.l children of Israel. This is a remarkable were meant to distinguish aggregate or col- expression, and throws light upon the nature lective guilt (see on Levit. iv. 3); but the of atonement. It is usue.lly confined to scape-goat offered for the sin of the wholo purely se.cerdote.l ministrations, but it clee.rly people makes against snch e. supposition. has a somewhat different scope here. The Ver. 10.-llefore the Lord. AB in eh. v. idea that the Levites "made e.n atonement" 16, either near the brazen altar, or more pro- by assisting the priests in the subordinate bably before the entrance of the tabernacle. details of sacrifice hardly needs refutation : And the children of Israel she.11 put their as well might the Gibeonites be so.id to "make hands upon the Levites. Presumably by an e.tonement" because they supplied the means of their represente.tives, probably the e.ltar fire with wood. The real parallel to tribe princes. This laying on of hands signi- this is to be found in the case of Phinehas, fied that the obligation to assist personally in of whorn God testified the.t " he he.th turned the service of the sanctuary was transferred my wrath e.we.y from the children of Israel," from the whole congregation to the Levites. e.nd "made an e.tonement for the children of Ver. 11. - And Ae.ron she.11 oft'er the Israel" (eh. xxv. 11, 13), It is evident the.t Levites before the Lord for an olferi.ng. Phinehas turned away the wrath of God not P..ather, "Aaron shall wave" them "for a b7 offering any sacrifices, but by me.king the wave offering" (Hebrew, nuph; see Exod. sm which aroused the.t wrath to cee.se : he xx:iL 24); and so in vers. 13, 15, and 21. made e.n e.tonement for the people by dis- This injunction seems conclusive the.t the che.rging for tbem that holy e.nd bounden l'.ttl. vm. 5-26.) TllE BOOK OF NUMBERS.