Numbers 8:11

8:11 and Aaron is to offer ¹  the Levites before the Lord as a wave offering from the Israelites, that they may do the work ²  of the Lord.

Numbers 8:15

8:15 “After this, the Levites will go in ³  to do the work ⁴  of the tent of meeting. So you must cleanse them ⁵  and offer them like a wave offering. ⁶ 

Numbers 8:24-26

8:24 “This is what pertains to the Levites: ⁷  At the age of twenty-five years ⁸  and upward one may begin to join the company ⁹  in the work of the tent of meeting, 8:25 and at the age of fifty years they must retire from performing the work and may no longer work. 8:26 They may assist ¹⁰  their colleagues ¹¹  in the tent of meeting, to attend to needs, but they must do no work. This is the way you must establish ¹²  the Levites regarding their duties.”

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¹ tn The Hebrew text actually has “wave the Levites as a wave offering.” The wave offering was part of the ritual of the peace offering and indicated the priest’s portion being presented to God in a lifted, waving motion for all to see. The Levites were going to be in the sanctuary to serve the Lord and assist the priests. It is unclear how Moses would have presented them as wave offerings, but the intent is that they would be living sacrifices, as Paul would later say in Rom 12:1 for all Christians.

² tn The construction emphasizes the spiritual service of the Levites, using the infinitive construct of עָבַד (’avad) followed by its cognate accusative.

³ tn The imperfect tense could also be given the nuance of the imperfect of permission: “the Levites may go in.”

⁴ tn Heb “to serve.”

⁵ tn The two verbs in the rest of this verse are perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutive constructions, making them equal to the imperfect. Some commentators try to get around the difficulty of repetition by making these future perfects, “and you will have cleansed,” as opposed to a summary statement, “for thus you will cleanse….”

⁶ tc The Greek text adds “before the Lord.”

⁷ tn The Hebrew text has “this [is that] which [pertains] to the Levites.” “This is what concerns the Levites, meaning, the following rulings are for them.

⁸ tc The age of twenty-five indicated in v. 24 should be compared with the age of thirty indicated in Num 4:3,23,30. In order to harmonize the numbers given in chapter 4 with the number given in Num 8:24 the LXX (and perhaps its Hebrew Vorlage) has thirty in all of these references. See further G. J. Wenham, Numbers (TOTC 4), 97-98.

⁹ tn The infinitive is לִצְבֹא (litsvo’), related to the word for “host, army, company,” and so “to serve as a company.” The meaning is strengthened by the cognate accusative following it.

¹⁰ tn The verb is the Piel perfect of שָׁרַת (sharat, “to serve, minister”). Here the form has the vav (ו) consecutive, and so is equal to the imperfect tense stressing permission. After the Levites reached the age of retirement, they were permitted to assist the others, but were not permitted to do the work themselves.

¹¹ tn Heb “brothers,” but the meaning in this context is “fellow Levites.”

¹² tn Heb “you shall do, make.”