Numbers 1:3

1:3 You and Aaron are to number ¹  all in Israel who can serve in the army, ²  those who are ³  twenty years old or older, ⁴  by their divisions. ⁵ 

Numbers 1:45

1:45 All the Israelites who were twenty years old or older, who could serve in Israel’s army, were numbered ⁶  according to their families.

Numbers 3:8

3:8 And they are responsible for all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and for the needs of the Israelites, as they serve ⁷  in the tabernacle.

Numbers 26:2

26:2 “Take a census of the whole community of Israelites, from twenty years old and upward, by their clans, ⁸  everyone who can serve in the army of Israel.” ⁹ 

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¹ tn The verb (פָּקַד, paqad) means “to visit, appoint, muster, number.” The word is a common one in scripture. It has as its basic meaning the idea of “determining the destiny” of someone, by appointing, mustering, or visiting. When God “visits,” it is a divine intervention for either blessing or cursing. Here it is the taking of a census for war (see G. André, Determining the Destiny [ConBOT], 16).

² tn The construction uses the participle “going out” followed by the noun “army.” It describes everyone “going out in a military group,” meaning serving in the army. It was the duty of every able-bodied Israelite to serve in this “peoples” army. There were probably exemptions for the infirm or the crippled, but every male over twenty was chosen. For a discussion of warfare, see P. C. Craigie, The Problem of War in the Old Testament, and P. D. Miller, “The Divine Council and the Prophetic Call to War,” VT 18 (1968): 100-107.

³ tn The text simply has “from twenty years old and higher.”

⁴ tn Heb “and up.”

⁵ tn The noun (צָבָא, tsava’) means “army” or “military group.” But the word can also be used for nonmilitary divisions of labor (Num 4:3).

⁶ tn Literally the text has, “and all the numbered of the Israelites were according to their families.” The verb in the sentence is actually without a complement (see v. 46).

⁷ tn The construction uses the infinitive construct (epexegetically) followed by its cognate accusative. It would convey “to serve the service of the tabernacle,” but more simply it may be rendered as “serving.” Their spiritual and practical service is to serve.

sn The Levites had the duty of taking care of all the tabernacle and its furnishings, especially in times when it was to be moved. But they were also appointed to be gate-keepers (2 Kgs 22:4; 1 Chr 9:19) in order to safeguard the purity of the place and the activities that went on there. Their offices seem to have then become hereditary in time (1 Sam 1:3); they even took on more priestly functions, such as pronouncing the benediction (Deut 10:8). See further R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 348-49.

⁸ tn Heb “house of their fathers.”

⁹ tn Heb “everyone who goes out in the army in Israel.”