Commentaire de citation sur Les Nombres 8:14

בוקר ויודע ה' את אשר לו, “in the morning Hashem will make known the one who is His own, etc.” Moses referred to the fact that clear proof would be forthcoming if the Levites were performing their service with G’d’s consent or if the firstborn were still acceptable to Him as the ones chosen to represent the people as His servants in the Tabernacle. He would prove by the rejection of the 250 people offering incense that when G’d had said in Numbers 3,12 and 8,14 that the Levites had been chosen by Him, that it was not Moses who had chosen to replace the firstborn. In adding the words: ואת הקדוש והקריב אליו, “and who is holy, and He will draw him close to Himself,” Moses referred to Aaron’s position as High Priest. It is also possible that Moses meant that the firstborn must not consider themselves as having been rejected by G’d as we know from Numbers 3,13 and 8,17 כי לי כל בכור בבני ישראל, “for every firstborn among the Children of Israel has a special relationship to Me, etc.” On the other hand, the קדוש, “the priests,” would be confirmed as such by an act of Hashem on the morrow. It is their task to perform service in the Tabernacle/Temple as we read in Chronicles I 23,13 ויבדל אהרן להקדיש קודש קדשים הוא ובניו עד עולם, “Aaron and his sons were sanctified for the Holy of Holies, he and his sons throughout the generations.”

בקר וידע ה' את אשר לו, in the morning the Lord will make known who is His own.” Moses meant by this that “whereas you are claiming that we are trying to dominate the congregation of the Lord and that I do things without authority, on my own, tomorrow you will know if this is so; tomorrow you will have evidence that the Levites are His, especially.” He needed to reconcile the apparent contradiction between Numbers 8,14 “the Levites will be Mine” and Exodus 13,2: “sanctify for Me every firstborn.” The additional words ואת הקדוש refer to the occupant of the position of High Priest, i.e. Aaron, seeing that we have a verse in Chronicles I 23,13: “He set apart Aaron to sanctify him to become ‘holy of holies.’”

IN THE MORNING THE ETERNAL WILL MAKE KNOWN WHO ARE HIS — “for the Levitical service. AND WHO IS HOLY — for the priesthood.” This is Rashi’s language. He has explained it well; and the verse is thus stating that G-d will make it known if the Levites are His, just as it is said, and the Levites shall be Mine,⁴²Above, 8:14. or whether the firstborns are still His, just as it is said, for all the firstborn are Mine,⁴³Ibid., 3:13. so that He will not exchange them for the Levites. And who is holy, this refers to the priests who are sanctified for the Divine Service, just as it is said, and Aaron was separated, that he should be sanctified as most holy.⁴⁴I Chronicles 23:13. [He mentioned the Levites] because Korach, in [his attempt] to rally all the people to his side, contested also the [position of the] Levites, and tried to restore the entire service [of the offerings] to the firstborns. And then when these firstborns were burnt up,⁴⁵Further, Verse 35. it became clear that G-d did not choose them for the service, but when Aaron’s [burning of the] incense was accepted, it became known that he is the holy one [selected for the priesthood].