Hebrew Bible Study
Hebrew Bible Study

Chasidut for Numbers 8:19

וָאֶתְּנָ֨ה אֶת־הַלְוִיִּ֜ם נְתֻנִ֣ים ׀ לְאַהֲרֹ֣ן וּלְבָנָ֗יו מִתּוֹךְ֮ בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ לַעֲבֹ֞ד אֶת־עֲבֹדַ֤ת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ בְּאֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד וּלְכַפֵּ֖ר עַל־בְּנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל וְלֹ֨א יִהְיֶ֜ה בִּבְנֵ֤י יִשְׂרָאֵל֙ נֶ֔גֶף בְּגֶ֥שֶׁת בְּנֵֽי־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל אֶל־הַקֹּֽדֶשׁ׃

And I have given the Levites— they are given to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, that there be no plague among the children of Israel, through the children of Israel coming nigh unto the sanctuary.’

Kedushat Levi

Numbers 8,19. “I have given the Levites, etc.;” this ‎sounds strange as in the previous verse G’d had spoken of having ‎‎“taken” the Levites, i.e. ‎ואקחה את הלוים‎. According to Rashi ‎on the verse commencing with ‎ואתנה את הלוים‎, the words ‎בני ‏ישראל‎ occur five times in this paragraph to show how fond G’d ‎was of the Children of Israel. Rashi adds that he has copied ‎this interpretation from Vayikrah Rabbah. When a person ‎has a choice of selecting one item from amongst many similar ‎ones, this is proof that he liked the one he chose more than the ‎others. If G’d chose the Levites from all the tribes of Israel for ‎special tasks, this is proof that He liked this tribe best of all. There ‎was a suspicion that the fact that G’d chose the Levites would be ‎interpreted as proof that G’d did not like the other tribes. This ‎prompted the Torah to mention the other tribes five times, as ‎proof that G’d loved all the tribes of Israel. If He nonetheless ‎chose the Levites for special tasks it was only so that they could ‎serve as an instrument to atone for the sin of the golden calf, a ‎sin in which none of the Levites had participated.‎
We find something puzzling when perusing the sequence of ‎the offerings used in the process of purifying the Levites. In verse ‎‎8 when the offerings are prepared, the burnt offering, ‎עולה‎ is ‎mentioned ahead of the sin offering, ‎חטאת‎, whereas when ‎presentation of these two offerings is reported (verse 12) we find ‎that the sin offering is mentioned first.‎
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