The word
hakraiv, here rendered bring near, is properly a sacrificial word, and signifies the presenting of a sacrifice or offering to the Lord. As an offering, the tribe of Levi was entirely given up to the service of the sanctuary, to be no longer their own, but the Lord's.
Numbers 1:49-
53 Only thou shalt not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel: ... 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.
Numbers 2:17 Then the
tabernacle of the congregation shall set forward with the camp of the Levites in the midst of the camp: as they encamp, so shall they set forward, every man in his place by their standards.
Numbers 2:33 But the Levites were not numbered among the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses.
Numbers 8:6-
15 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and
cleanse them. ... And after that shall the Levites
go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them,
and offer them [
for] an offering.
Numbers 8:22-
26 And
after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them. ... But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation,
to keep the charge,
and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.
Numbers 16:9-
11 [Seemeth it but] a small thing unto you, that the God of Israel hath
separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself to do the service of the tabernacle of the LORD, and to stand before the congregation to minister unto them? ... For which cause [
both] thou and all thy company [
are] gathered together
against the LORD: and
what [is] Aaron, that ye murmur against him?
Numbers 18:2-
6 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be
joined unto thee, and
minister unto thee:
but thou and thy sons with thee [
shall minister] before the tabernacle of witness. ...
And I, behold,
I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you [
they are]
given [
as] a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Exodus 32:26-
29 Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said,
Who [is] on the LORD'S side? [
let him come] unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. ... For
Moses had said,
Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.
Deuteronomy 33:8-
9 And of Levi he said,
[Let] thy Thummim and thy Urim [
be]
with thy holy one, whom thou didst
prove at Massah, [
and with] whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah; ...
Who said unto his father and to his mother,
I have not seen him; neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children:
for they have observed thy word, and kept thy covenant.
Malachi 2:4 And
ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you,
that my covenant might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.
