18:2 “Bring with you your brothers, the tribe of Levi, the tribe of your father, so that they may join 1 with you and minister to you while 2 you and your sons with you are before the tent of the testimony.
18:12 “All the best of the olive oil and all the best of the wine and of the wheat, the first fruits of these things that they give to the Lord, I have given to you. 3
1 sn The verb forms a wordplay on the name Levi, and makes an allusion to the naming of the tribe Levi by Leah in the book of Genesis. There Leah hoped that with the birth of Levi her husband would be attached to her. Here, with the selection of the tribe to serve in the sanctuary, there is the wordplay again showing that the Levites will be attached to Aaron and the priests. The verb is יִלָּווּ (yillavu), which forms a nice wordplay with Levi (לֵוִי). The tribe will now be attached to the sanctuary. The verb is the imperfect with a vav (ו) that shows volitive sequence after the imperative, here indicating a purpose clause.
2 tn The clause is a circumstantial clause because the disjunctive vav (ו) is on a nonverb to start the clause.
3 tn This form may be classified as a perfect of resolve – he has decided to give them to them, even though this is a listing of what they will receive.