Commentary on Harmony of the Law Volume 2 Complete John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE LAW · VOLUME 2
5l. And when the tabernacle setteth forward, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
51. Quando autem proficiscetur tabernaculum, deponent illud Levitie: quum consistet tabernaculum, erigent illud Levitae et extraneus qui accesserit, morietur.
52. And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, throughout their hosts.
52. Et castrametabuntur filil Israel quisque in castris suis, et quisque juxta vexillum suum, et per exercitus suos.
53. But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of testimony.
53. Levitae vero castrametabuntur in circuitu tabernaculi testimoni et non erit ira super coetum filliorum Israel: custodientque Levitiae custodiam tabernaculi testimonii.
54. And the children of Israel did according to all that the Lord commanded Moses, so did they.
54. Fecerunt ergo filii Israel juxta omnia quae praeceperat Jehova Most, sic fecerunt.
1. And the Lord spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai Although this is the first numbering of the people, of which we have an account, still, inasmuch as God had already imposed a tax upon every person, the amount of which has been recorded, we infer that it was in fact the second. But the reason for thus numbering the people a second time was, because they were very soon about to remove their camp from the wilderness of Sinai to take posession of the promised land. Since, however, their impiety withheld them from doing so, there was a third census taken just before their actual entrance into the land, and with this object, that it might be obvious, on comparison, how marvellously the people had been preserved by the springing up of a new generation, in spite of so many plagues and so much slaughter; for although a great proportion of them had been cut off, almost as many persons were found as before.
Further, it must be observed, that the people were not numbered except at God's command, in order that He might thus assert His supreme dominion