Numbers 4:16
And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertaineth the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is, in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof.
And to the office of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest,
pertaineth the oil for the light,.... The following things, to bear them, according to some Jewish writers; but rather it was to give the oil for the light, that is, the vessels, and so the vessels of the oil to the sons of the Kohathites; agreeably to which are the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, who paraphrase the words,
"and that which was delivered to Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, the oil for the light, &c.''
And indeed the words, as they are in the Hebrew text, may be rendered,
"and the oversight of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, shall be, or "let it be", the oil for the light, &c. {z};''
the same word being so rendered in a latter clause of this same text: he had the inspection of these, and on him lay to see to it, that these were carried by the Kohathites, the oil for the light of the lamps in the candlestick; of which see Exodus 27:20;
and the sweet incense: to burn on the altar of incense,
and the daily meat offering; offered with the lambs morning and evening, Exodus 29:40;
and the anointing oil; with which Aaron and his sons were anointed, the tabernacle and all its vessels, Exodus 30:23;
and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that therein is,
in the sanctuary, and in the vessels thereof: the former, the oil for the light, &c. were his immediate oversight and care; but the oversight of these by his brother Ithamar, according to the Jewish writers.
{z} So Montanus, Tigurine version, Piscator.