Bilangan 8:24

8:24 “This is what pertains to the Levites: ¹  At the age of twenty-five years ²  and upward one may begin to join the company ³  in the work of the tent of meeting,

Bilangan 9:3

9:3 In the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, ⁴  you are to observe it at its appointed time; you must keep ⁵  it in accordance with all its statutes and all its customs.” ⁶ 

[8:24]  ¹ 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.

[8:24]  ² 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.

[8:24]  ³ 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.

[9:3]  ⁴ tn The literal Hebrew expression is “between the evenings” (so also in vv. 5, 11). Sunset is certainly one evening; the other may refer to the change in the middle of the afternoon to the late afternoon, or the beginning of dusk. The idea is probably just at twilight, or dusk (see R. B. Allen, TWOT 2:694).

[9:3]  ⁵ tn The two verbs in this verse are identical; they are imperfects of instruction. The English translation has been modified for stylistic variation.

[9:3]  ⁶ tn The two words in this last section are standard “Torah” words. The word חֹק (khoq) is a binding statute, something engraved and monumental. The word מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat) means “judgment, decision,” but with a more general idea of “custom” at its core. The verse is making it very clear that the Passover had to follow the custom and form that was legislated in Egypt.