(2) That they may be joined unto thee.--There is an allusion here to the meaning of the name Levi, which was given to Leah's third son. (See Genesis 29:34.) The Hebrew verb is the same as that which occurs in the speech of Leah.

And minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons . . . --Or, and they shall minister unto thee, both unto thee and to thy sons with thee, before the tent of witness. The service of the Levites was executed before the tent--i.e., in the court; that of the priests was in the holy place, as well as in the court (Numbers 18:7).

Verse 2. - Thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi. The Levites generally, as distinguished from the Kohathites in particular (see on chapter 3). That they may be joined unto thee. וְילָּווּ, a play upon the name Levi (see on Genesis 29:34). But thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness. The Hebrew has only וְאַתָּה וּבָנֶי אִתָּך, which may be rendered, "And thou and thy sons with thee (shall be)," etc., or more naturally read with what goes before, "that they may minister unto thee; both thee and thy sons with thee," etc. The Septuagint and the Targums appear to favour the former rendering, but it is not evident what distinction could be drawn between priests and Levites as to the mere fact of being before the tabernacle.

18:1-7 The people complained of their difficulty and peril in drawing near to God. God here gives them to understand, that the priests should come near for them. Aaron would see reason not to be proud of his preferment, when he considered the great care and charge upon him. Be not high-minded, but fear. The greater the trust of work and power that is committed to us, the greater danger there is of betraying that trust. This is a good reason why we should neither envy others' honours, nor desire high places.And to thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father,.... For his father Amram was of that tribe, and so the Levites were his brethren, as he is directed to consider them; which might serve to conciliate their minds, and make them easy with respect to his enjoyment of the priesthood:

bring them with thee; into the court of the tabernacle, for further they might not go:

that they maybe joined unto thee: as their name of Levites signifies, persons joined and united to others, as they were to the priests: see reason of their patriarch's name Levi in Genesis 29:34,

and minister unto thee: be assisting to the priests in killing the sacrifices, receiving the blood, and flaying the beasts, and in other things about the sanctuary, Numbers 3:6,

but thou, and thy sons with thee, shall minister before the tabernacle of witness; which was the most holy place, where were the ark of the testimony or witness, and the tables of the covenant; and they might be said to minister before that, when they ministered in the holy place, which was before it, when they burned incense upon the altar of incense, ordered the shewbread, and trimmed the lamps of the candlestick, which none but the priests the sons of Aaron might do.