민수기 8:19 해설: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Sforno & Or HaChaim

“I formally assign the Levites” [8:19]. Rashi writes here. Israel is mentioned five times in this verse. This teaches us that the Holy One loves Israel. Therefore, they are mentioned five times, like the five books of the Torah.¹⁴Rashi, Numbers, 8:19.

Bahya writes. It is a parable. A child goes to the teacher. The father comes and asks about his child. He says: has my son eaten? Did my son drink? Has my son slept? Did my son go to the teacher? Did my son come home from the teacher? He mentions him at every question and says my son, out of love. So too is the Holy One. He mentions Israel five times in one verse, for the five books of the Torah, on which the world stands.¹⁵Bahya, Numbers, 8:19.

Bahya writes that one can see the great strength that Aaron had. He lifted up twenty-two thousand Levites from the ground in one day.¹⁶Bahya, Numbers, 8:20.

ואתנה וגו׳ AND I HAVE GIVEN [THE LEVITES etc.] — Five times are the “children of Israel” mentioned in this verse (where the last four times they might have been alluded to by a personal pronoun), in order to show what affection they are held by the Lord in that the mention of them is repeated five times in one verse corresponding in number to the “Five Books of the Torah”. Thus I have seen stated in Genesis Rabbah (Leviticus Rabbah 2:4; cf. Genesis Rabbah 3:5).

ולא יהיה בבני ישראל נגף [AND I HAVE GIVEN THE LEVITES … TO DO THE SERVICE OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL] THAT THERE BE NO PLAGUE AMONG THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL [WHEN THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL COME NIGH UNTO THE SANCTUARY] — The meaning is: I have given them etc. so that it should be unnecessary for them to come near to the Sanctuary, because [having sinned by worshipping the Calf], if they came near there would be a plague among them.