And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth on it:
All Commentaries on Numbers 4:13 Go To Numbers 4
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
Ashes, which might be upon the grate of the altar, where the sacred fire had been burning. This shows that the precept was already observed. The Septuagint do not mention the ashes. But some copies, with Origen, (hom. iv.) and the Samaritan Pentateuch, insert some words at the end of ver. 14, which Grotius believes have been omitted by the Massorets, in the present Hebrew Bibles. "They shall take a purple veil, and fold up the laver and its foot, and put them in a covering of violet skins, and place them upon the bars. "(Calmet)
The children of Caath were the most honoured among the Levites, as Moses and Aaron sprung from the same family, Eleazar, the future pontiff, presided over them in a particular manner, while his younger brother Ithamar, directed the rest. (Haydock)
