## Da'at Zekenim on Numbers Chapter 4

###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:5:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:5:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/4:5:1)

**וכסו בה את ארון העדות.**וכתיב ושמו בדיו פי' נתקנו בדיו אבל אין לפרש לשון שימה ממש דהא כתיב לא יסורו ממנו לעולם:

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
וכסו בו את ארון העדות , “they will cover with it the Ark of the Testimony;” at the end of verse six, the Torah adds: ושמו בדיו, “they shall set the staves thereof.” This means that these staves would be attached to the Holy Ark, but not in the ordinary sense of the words, seeing that the Torah, in Exodus 25,15 had already decreed that these staves were never to be removed from the Holy Ark.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:22:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:22:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/4:22:1)

**נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם.**לפי שבמנין דלעיל שמבן חדש ומעלה נמנו בני גרשון תחלה לפי שהיה גדול מבני לוי שנאמר ובני לוי גרשון וקהת ומררי ובמנין זה דמבן שלשים ומעלה נמנו בני קהת תחלה לפי שעקר עבודה עליהם הארון והמזבחות לכך הזכיר על בני גרשון גם הם כלומר לא הנחתים לגמרי מלמנות אלא גם הם תמנה:

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
נשא את ראש בני גרשון גם הם, “take the sum of the sons of Gershon, also;” seeing that on the first occasion, (Numbers 3,17) when the Levites were counted from 30 days old and up, the Gersonides were listed first, (seeing he was the oldest of sons of Levi, as per Genesis 46,11) whereas here when only the ones thirty years and older were counted and Kehot was counted first, (seeing that he performed the most holy tasks of the Levites), the words גם הם, “they also,” were added here to show that this section of the Levites also was counted.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:37:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:37:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/4:37:1)

**על פי ה' ביד משה.**בבני קהת ובני מררי כתיב ביד משה. ובבני גרשון לא נאמר אלא על פי ה' וי"ל שבפרשה של מעלה דאל תכריתו משפחות הקהתי כתיב וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן לפיכך כתיב כאן דמשה פקד ומפי הגבורה נאמר למשה ובבני מררי דלא כתיב בהו וידבר ה' אלא בני מררי למשפחותם וגו' פירש בסוף הפרשה דעל פי ה' ביד משה היה אבל גבי בני גרשון כתיב למעלה וידבר ה' אל משה אבל אהרן לא נזכר כלל לפיכך לא הוצרך גבי בני גרשון ביד משה:

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
על פי ה' ביד משה, “at the command of G–d, through Moses.” The counting of the sons of Kehot and the sons of Merari are described as having been done by Moses, whereas when it came to the counting of the sons of Gershon, the Torah only wrote: “at the command of the Lord,” without adding the words: “through Moses.” What is the reason for this? During the previous paragraph in verse 18, the Torah had written: וידבר ה' אל משה ואל אהרן, “the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, whereas in this paragraph G–d had only spoken to Moses; when the sons of Merari were counted, (verse 29) no mention was made of this having been at the command of G–d; it was necessary therefore to inform us that that count had also been commanded by the Lord. In order to make up for the omission of mentioning that the sons of Merari had also been counted at the command of the Lord, the Torah had to add that also the last section of Levites to be counted the sons of Gershon, had been counted at the express command by G–d to Moses.


###### Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:47:1
[Da'at Zekenim on Numbers 4:47:1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Da%27at%20Zekenim%20on%20Numbers/r/4:47:1)

**לעבוד עבודת עבודה.**שחיטה הפשט ונתוח שהם עבודת הכהנים וזה היו עושין הלוים כדכתיב בעזרא ובדברי הימים וגבי פסח של חזקיהו שהיו הלוים מפשיטין:

**Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009:**
לעבוד עבודת עבודה, “who were subject to the duties of service and porterage. Seeing that the specific tasks performed by the priests included the slaughtering of the sacrificial animals, removing their skins, and the cutting up of the various parts of them, the Levites were commanded to perform auxiliary tasks as detailed in by Ezra in the Book of in Chronicles II 29,34 in connection with the Passover festival celebrated under the reign of King Chizkiyahu, when due to the few number of priests available, the Levites were called upon to help in skinning the many animals that had been slaughtered on that day.