TRV
Translation
King James Version
And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.
KJV (with Strong's)
Complete Jewish Bible
This is what Moshe, Aharon and all the community of the people of Isra'el did to the L'vi'im. The people of Isra'el acted in accordance with everything that ADONAI had ordered Moshe in regard to the L'vi'im.
Berean Standard Bible
So Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of Israel did with the Levites everything that the LORD had commanded Moses they should do.
American Standard Version
Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the Levites: according unto all that Jehovah commanded Moses touching the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.
World English Bible Messianic
Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel did so to the Levites. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them.
Geneva Bible (1599)
Then Moses and Aaron and all the Cogregation of the children of Israel did with the Leuites, according vnto all that the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Leuites: so did the children of Israel vnto them.
Young's Literal Translation
And Moses doth--Aaron also, and all the company of the sons of Israel--to the Levites according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses concerning the Levites; so have the sons of Israel done to them.
In the KJVVerse 3,960 of 31,102
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Commentary on Numbers 8 verses 5–26
5 ¶ And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
6 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.
7 And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.
8 Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering.
9 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together:
10 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites:
11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.
12 And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the LORD, to make an atonement for the Levites.
13 And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the LORD.
14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine.
15 And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering.
16 For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.
17 For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself.
18 And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.
19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.
20 And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.
21 And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the LORD; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them.
22 And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:
25 And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:
26 But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.
We read before of the separating of the Levites from among the children of Israel when they were numbered, and the numbering of them by themselves (Num 3:6, Num 3:15), that they might be employed in the service of the tabernacle. Now here we have directions given for their solemn ordination (Num 8:6), and the performance of it, Num 8:20. All Israel must know that they took not this honour to themselves, but were called of God to it; nor was it enough that they were distinguished from their neighbours, but they must be solemnly devoted to God. Note, All that are employed for God must be dedicated to him, according as the degree of employment is. Christian musts be baptized, ministers must be ordained; we must first give ourselves unto the Lord, and then our services. Observe in what method this was done:
I. The Levites must be cleansed, and were so. The rites and ceremonies of their cleansing were to be performed, 1. By themselves. They must wash their clothes, and not only bathe, but shave all their flesh, as the leper was to do when he was cleansed, Lev 14:8. They must cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, to clear themselves from that defilement which would not wash off. Jacob, whom God loved, was a smooth man; it was Esau that was hairy. The great pains they were to take with themselves to make themselves clean teaches all Christians, and ministers particularly, by repentance and mortification, to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, that they may perfect holiness. Those must be clean that bear the vessels of the Lord. 2. By Moses. He must sprinkle the water of purifying upon them, which was prepared by divine direction. This signified the application of the blood of Christ to our souls by faith, to purify us from an evil conscience, that we may be fit to serve the living God. It is our duty to cleanse ourselves, and God's promise that he will cleanse us.
II. The Levites, being thus prepared, must be brought before the Lord in a solemn assembly of all Israel, and the children of Israel must put their hands upon them (Num 8:10), so transferring their interest in them and in their service (to which, as a part, the whole body of the people was entitled) to God and to his sanctuary. They presented them to God as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable, to perform a reasonable service; and therefore, as the offerers in all other cases did, they laid their hands upon them, desiring that their service might be accepted in lieu of the attendance of the whole congregation, particularly the first-born, which they acknowledge God might have insisted on. This will not serve to prove a power in the people to ordain ministers; for this imposition of hands by the children of Israel upon the Levites did not make them ministers of the sanctuary, but only signified the people's parting with that tribe out of their militia, and civil incorporations, in order to their being made ministers by Aaron, who was to offer them before the Lord. All the congregation of the children of Israel could not lay hands on them, but it is probable that the rulers and elders did it as the representative body of the people. Some think that the first-born did it because in their stead the Levites were consecrated to God. Whatever God calls for from us to serve his own glory by, we must cheerfully resign it, lay our hands upon it, not to detain it but to surrender it, and let it go to him that is entitled to it.
III. Sacrifices were to be offered for them, a sin-offering first (Num 8:12), and then a burnt-offering, to make an atonement for the Levites, who, as the parties concerned, were to lay their hands upon the head of the sacrifices. See here, 1. That we are all utterly unworthy and unfit to be admitted into and employed in the service of God, till atonement be made for sin, and thereby our peace made with God. That interposing cloud must be scattered before there can be any comfortable communion settled between God and our souls. 2. That it is by sacrifice, by Christ the great sacrifice, that we are reconciled to God, and made fit to be offered to him. It is by him that Christians are sanctified to the work of their Christianity, and ministers to the work of their ministry. The learned bishop Patrick's notion of the sacrifice offered by the Levites is that the Levites were themselves considered as an expiatory sacrifice, for they were given to make atonement for the children of Israel, (Num 8:19), and yet not being devoted to death, any more than the first-born were, these two sacrifices were substituted in their stead, upon which therefore they were to lay their hands, that the sin which the children of Israel laid upon them (Num 8:10) might be transferred to these beasts.
IV. The Levites themselves were offered before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, Num 8:11. Aaron gave them up to God, as being first given up by themselves, and by the children of Israel. The original word signifies a wave-offering, not that they were actually waved, but they were presented to God as the God of heaven, and the Lord of the whole earth, as the wave-offerings were. And in calling them wave-offerings it was intimated to them that they must continually lift up themselves towards God in his service, lift up their eyes, lift up their hearts, and must move to and fro with readiness in the business of their profession. They were not ordained to be idle, but to be active and stirring.
V. God here declares his acceptance of them: The Levites shall be mine, Num 8:14. God took them instead of the first-born (Num 8:16-18), of which before, Num 3:41. Note, What is in sincerity offered to God shall be graciously owned and accepted by him. And his ministers who have obtained mercy of him to be faithful have particular marks of favour and honour put upon them: they shall be mine, and then (Num 8:15) they shall go in to do the service of the tabernacle. God takes them for his own, that they may serve him. All that expect to share in the privileges of the tabernacle must resolve to do the service of the tabernacle. As, on the one hand, none of God's creatures are his necessary servants (he needs not the service of any of them), so, on the other hand, none are taken merely as honorary servants, to do nothing. All whom God owns he employs; angels themselves have their services.
VI. They are then given as a gift to Aaron and his sons (Num 8:19), yet so as that the benefit accrued to the children of Israel. 1. The Levites must act under the priests as attendants on them, and assistants to them, in the service of the sanctuary. Aaron offers them to God (Num 8:11), and then God gives them back to Aaron, Num 8:19. Note, Whatever we give up to God, he will give back to us unspeakably to our advantage. Our hearts, our children, our estates, are never more ours, more truly, more comfortably ours, than when we have offered them up to God. 2. They must act for the people. They were taken to do the service of the children of Israel, that is, not only to do the service which they should do, but to serve their interests, and do that which would really redound to the honour, safety, and prosperity of the whole nation. Note, Those that faithfully perform the service of God do one of the best services that can be done to the public; God's ministers, while they keep within the sphere of their office and conscientiously discharge the duty of it, must be looked upon as some of the most useful servants of their country. The children of Israel can as ill spare the tribe of Levi as any of their tribes. But what is the service they do the children of Israel? It follows, it is to make an atonement for them, that there be no plague among them. It was the priests' work to make atonement by sacrifice, but the Levites made atonement by attendance, and preserved the peace with heaven which was made by sacrifice. If the service of the priests in the tabernacle had been left to all the first-born of Israel promiscuously, it would have been either neglected or done unskillfully and irreverently, being done by those that were not so closely tied to it, nor so diligently trained to it, nor so constantly used to it, as the Levites were; and this would bring a plague among the children of Israel - meaning, perhaps, the death of the first-born themselves, which was the last and greatest of the plagues of Egypt. To prevent this, and to preserve the atonement, the Levites were appointed to do this service, who should be bred up to it under their parents from their infancy, and therefore would be well versed in it; and so the children of Israel, that is, the first-born, should not need to come nigh to the sanctuary; or, when any Israelites had occasion, the Levites would be ready to instruct them, and introduce them, and so prevent any fatal miscarriage or mistake. Note, It is a very great kindness to the church that ministers are appointed to go before the people in the things of God, as guides, overseers, and rulers, in religious worship, and to make that their business. When Christ ascended on high, he gave these gifts, Eph 4:8, Eph 4:11, Eph 4:12.
VII. The time of their ministration is fixed. 1. They were to enter upon the service at twenty-five years old, Num 8:24. They were not charged with the carrying of the tabernacle and the utensils of it till they were thirty years old, Num 4:3. But they were entered to be otherwise serviceable at twenty-five years old, a very good age for ministers to begin their public work at. The work then required that strength of body and the work now requires that maturity of judgment and steadiness of behaviour which men rarely arrive at till about that age; and novices are in danger of being lifted up with pride. 2. They were to have a writ of ease at fifty years old; then they were to return from the warfare, as the phrase is (Num 8:25), not cashiered with disgrace, but preferred rather to the rest which their age required, to be loaded with the honours of their office, as hitherto they had been with the burdens of it. They shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle, to direct the junior Levites, and set them in; and they shall keep the charge, as guards upon the avenues of the tabernacle, to see that no stranger intruded, nor any person in his uncleanness, but they shall not be put upon any service which may be a fatigue to them. If God's grace provide that men shall have ability according to their work, man's prudence should take care that men have work only according to their ability. The aged are most fit for trusts, and to keep the charge; the younger are most fit for work, and to do the service. Those that have used the office of a servant well purchase to themselves a good degree, Ti1 3:13. Yet indeed gifts are not tied to ages (Job 32:9), but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit. Thus was the affair of the Levites settled.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 5–26. Public domain.
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Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Numbers 8:20 serves as a profound concluding statement, affirming the meticulous and complete obedience of Moses, Aaron, and the entire congregation of Israel in carrying out the Lord's specific instructions for the consecration and purification of the Levites. This verse underscores the successful fulfillment of divine command, marking a pivotal moment where the community collectively participated in setting apart those designated for sacred service within the Tabernacle, thereby ensuring the proper functioning of Israel's worship and covenant relationship with God.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Numbers 8:20 employs several significant literary devices to underscore its message. The most prominent is Repetition, specifically the emphatic use of the verb "did" (Hebrew: ʿāśāh) at the beginning and end of the verse ("did...so did"). This repetition creates a powerful sense of Emphasis and Completion, signaling that the divine instructions were not merely acknowledged but meticulously and exhaustively fulfilled. This structure functions as a form of Inclusio within the verse itself, framing the statement of divine command with the affirmation of its perfect execution. Furthermore, the precise and formulaic language, "according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses," exemplifies Covenant Language, reinforcing the idea that Israel's well-being and relationship with God were predicated on their exact obedience to His stipulations. The verse acts as a Summary Statement, bringing closure to the detailed instructions of the preceding verses and confirming the successful establishment of the Levites in their sacred roles.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Numbers 8:20 profoundly illustrates the theological principle of obedience as the cornerstone of the covenant relationship between God and His people. The meticulous adherence to divine commands, involving both leadership and the entire congregation, demonstrates that true worship and service are rooted in faithful execution of God's revealed will. This act of corporate obedience ensured the proper functioning of the Tabernacle, the dwelling place of God's presence, and maintained the sanctity necessary for His continued presence among Israel. The setting apart of the Levites, affirmed by the community, also highlights the divine ordering of ministry and the communal responsibility to support those called to sacred service, recognizing that their consecrated work benefits the entire community.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Numbers 8:20 serves as a timeless reminder of the profound importance of precise and communal obedience to God's commands. For ancient Israel, this meant ensuring the sanctity and order of their worship life, which was intrinsically linked to God's presence among them. For believers today, this verse calls us to examine the thoroughness of our own obedience, both individually and corporately. It challenges us to move beyond mere intellectual assent to God's word and into active, meticulous fulfillment of His will in our lives and within the church. Just as the entire congregation participated in setting apart the Levites, we are reminded of our collective responsibility to affirm, support, and pray for those called to spiritual leadership and service, recognizing that their ministry is for the edification of the whole body. Our faithfulness in even seemingly small acts of obedience contributes to the overall health and effectiveness of God's work in the world and demonstrates our love for Him.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
What was the significance of "all the congregation of the children of Israel" participating in the Levites' consecration?
Answer: The participation of "all the congregation" was profoundly significant, emphasizing the communal nature of the Levites' appointment and the corporate responsibility of Israel in upholding God's covenant. As described in Numbers 8:10, the congregation laid their hands on the Levites, which was an act of identification, transfer, and commissioning. It signified that the Levites were being given to the Lord on behalf of the entire community, and that the community affirmed their unique role and accepted them as their representatives in sacred service. This collective involvement underscored that the Tabernacle service was not just for the priests and Levites, but for the benefit and spiritual well-being of all Israel, requiring the affirmation and support of the whole people.
Why is the repetition of "did" so important in Numbers 8:20?
Answer: The repetition of the verb "did" (Hebrew: ʿāśāh) at the beginning and end of the verse ("And Moses...did...so did the children of Israel unto them") is a powerful literary and theological device. It serves to emphasize the completeness, exactness, and faithfulness of the obedience. It's not just that they performed the actions, but that they performed them precisely "according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses." This repetition acts as a strong affirmation that no detail was overlooked and the divine instructions were perfectly fulfilled, highlighting the ideal standard of covenant obedience that God expected from His people, a theme echoed in Deuteronomy 5:32.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Numbers 8:20, with its emphasis on meticulous obedience and the setting apart of a people for sacred service, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ and the New Covenant. The Levites, consecrated through elaborate rituals and communal affirmation, served as a type, foreshadowing the perfect and ultimate High Priest, Jesus, who did not need to be purified, for He was without sin, being "holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens" (Hebrews 7:26-27). He perfectly fulfilled all righteousness and every divine command, not merely "according unto all that the LORD commanded Moses," but as the very embodiment of God's will, declaring, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work" (John 4:34). Furthermore, under the New Covenant, the concept of a dedicated priesthood is expanded. Through Christ's singular, atoning sacrifice, all believers are now consecrated and set apart as a "royal priesthood" and a "holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9), called to offer spiritual sacrifices of praise and good deeds (Hebrews 13:15-16) and to serve God in their daily lives. Just as the congregation laid hands on the Levites, signifying their communal acceptance and commissioning, so too are believers united in Christ, affirmed by the Spirit, and empowered to participate in His ongoing mission, serving as living temples where God's presence dwells (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). The obedience of Moses and Israel in Numbers 8:20 points forward to the perfect obedience of Christ, which establishes a new covenant where all His followers are consecrated for a life of worship and service.