Bible Commentaries
Numbers 1

Verse 1

1:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of {a} Sinai, in the tabernacle of the congregation, on the first [day] of the {b} second month, in the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,

(a) In the place in the wilderness that was near mount Sinai.

(b) Which is part of April and part of May.

Verse 4

1:4 And with you there shall be a {c} man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers.

(c) That is, the chiefest man of every tribe.

Verse 5

1:5 And these [are] the names of the men that shall {d} stand with you: of [the tribe of] Reuben; Elizur the son of Shedeur.

(d) And afflict you when you number the people.

Verse 16

1:16 These [were] the renowned of the congregation, {e} princes of the tribes of their fathers, heads of thousands in Israel.

(e) Or captains, and governors.

Verse 18

1:18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first [day] of the second month, and they declared {f} their pedigrees after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

(f) In showing every man his tribe and his ancestors.

Verse 47

1:47 But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among {g} them.

(g) Which were warriors, but were appointed to the use of the Tabernacle.

Verse 51

1:51 And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down: and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the {h} stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

(h) Whoever is not of the tribe of Levi.

Verse 53

1:53 But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath {i} upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.

(i) By not having due regard to the tabernacle of the Lord.