[13] And the LORD spake
unto Moses and unto Aaron, and gave them a charge unto the children of
Israel, and unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel
out of the land of Egypt.
The Lord gave them a charge, both to the children of
Israel, and to Pharaoh - God's authority is sufficient to answer all objections,
and binds us to obedience without murmuring or disputing.
[14] These be the heads of their
fathers' houses: The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel; Hanoch, and
Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi: these be the families of Reuben. [15]
And the sons of Simeon; Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar,
and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman: these are the families of Simeon.
This genealogy ends in those two great patriots, Moses
and Aaron; and comes in here to shew that they were Israelites, bone of
their bone, and flesh of their flesh, whom they were sent to deliver, raised
up unto them of their brethren, as Christ also should be, who was to be
the prophet and priest, the Redeemer and law - giver of the house of Israel,
and whose genealogy also like this was to be carefully preserved. The heads
of the houses of three of the tribes are here named, agreeing with the
accounts we had, Genesis 46:8- 27.Reuben and Simeon seem to be mentioned
only for the sake of Levi, from whom Moses and Aaron descended, and all
the priests of the Jewish church.
[16] And these are the names
of the sons of Levi according to their generations; Gershon, and Kohath,
and Merari: and the years of the life of Levi were an hundred thirty and
seven years. [17] The sons of Gershon;
Libni, and Shimi, according to their families. [18]
And the sons of Kohath; Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel: and the
years of the life of Kohath were an hundred thirty and three years.
[19] And the sons of Merari; Mahali and Mushi:
these are the families of Levi according to their generations.
The age of Levi, Kohath, and Amram, the father, grandfather,
and great grandfather of Moses is here recorded; and they all lived to
a great age, Levi to one hundred thirty seven, Kohath to one hundred thirty
three, and Amram to one hundred thirty seven: Moses himself came much short
of them, and fixed seventy or eighty for the ordinary stretch of human
life. Psalms 90:10.For now Israel was multiplied, and become a great nation,
and divine revelation was by the hand of Moses committed to writing, and
no longer trusted to tradition; the two great reasons for the long lives
of the patriarchs were ceased, and therefore from henceforward fewer years
must serve men.
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