Numbers 4:26

And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(26) Which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about.—Or, which are . . . The curtains or hangings enclosed the whole of the court.

Benson Commentary

Numbers 4:26-28. Which is round about — Which court compassed both the tabernacle and the altar. Under the hand — Under his conduct and direction.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:21-33 We have here the charge of the other two families of the Levites, which, though not so honourable as the first, yet was necessary, and to be done regularly. All the things were delivered them by name. It intimates the care God takes of his church and every member of it. The death of the saints is represented as the taking down of the tabernacle, 2Co 5:1, and the putting it off, 2Pe 1:14. All shall be raised up in the great day, when these vile bodies shall be made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ, and so shall be for ever with the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

enter in to perform the service - literally, as in the margin, "to war the warfare," or, as the same phrase in part is rendered, Numbers 4:3, "enter into the host to do the work." The language is military. The service of God is a sacred warfare (Numbers 8:24-25 marginal reading).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24-28. This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, &c.—They were appointed to carry "the curtains of the tabernacle"—that is, the goats' hair covering of the tent—the ten curious curtains and embroidered hangings at the entrance, with their red morocco covering, &c.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The gate of the court, i.e. which court compassed both the tabernacle and the altar, Exodus 27:16.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the hangings of the court,.... Which made the great court that surrounded the tabernacle, Exodus 27:9,

and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court; the eastern gate that led into the court, an hanging of twenty cubits, Exodus 27:16,

which is by the tabernacle, and by the altar round about; that is, which hangings that formed the court, and were round about the tabernacle, and the altar of burnt offering; See Gill on Exodus 26:36,

and their cords; which fastened the hangings to pins or stakes fixed in the ground to keep them tight, that they might not be moved to and fro with the wind:

and all the instruments of their service; in the court, as the tables on which the sacrifices were laid, and the hooks, and cords, and pins, on which they were hung and fastened, as Aben Ezra; see Ezekiel 40:39,

and all that is made for them; for the vessels of service, or for the tabernacle, or the altar, as the same writer intimates:

so shall they serve; by bearing them and carrying them.

Geneva Study Bible

And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, {p} which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve.

(p) Which compassed both the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar of burnt offering.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

26. whatsoever shall be done with them] all that may have to be done with regard to them; e.g. the undoing of the hooks and loops, the rolling up of the strips of curtain and so on.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 26. - And their cords, and all the instruments of their service. Taking this verse in connection with verse 37, we must understand the word "their" as applying to the things mentioned in the previous verse. The Merarites carried the cords, &c. of the hangings of the court. Numbers 4:26

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The service of the Gershonites is introduced in Numbers 4:21-23 in the same manner as that of the Kohathites in Numbers 4:1-3; and in Numbers 4:24-26 it is described in accordance with the brief notice and explanation already given in Numbers 3:24-26.