Numbers 8:3

Summary

Numbers 8:3 reports that Aaron carried out the instruction given to him: he arranged the lamps of the lampstand so that they faced toward its front, in the manner Yehovah had commanded Moses. The verse functions as a compliance report, confirming that the action matched the divine command.

Key words

• vayya'as ("he did", H6213A) — qal verb with narrative vav, marking the next event in the story sequence: "and then he did."
• ken ("so", H3651C) — adverb confirming correspondence to a prior instruction; together with vayya'as it forms the standard formula "he did so/thus."
• mul pené ("front of the face of", H4136 + H6440G) — two nouns in construct chain, stacking "front" upon "face of," intensifying the spatial precision of "toward the front side of."
• he'elah ("he lifted up", H5927H) — hiphil (causative) perfect of the root meaning "to go up"; the causative stem turns "to go up" into "to cause to go up," i.e., "he raised/set up."
• tzivvah ("he had commanded", H6680) — piel (intensive) perfect, referring back to a completed prior command from Yehovah to Moses.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence opens with the standard compliance formula vayya'as ken ("and he did so"), immediately naming the subject Aharon ("Aaron", H0175). This formula in Hebrew narrative typically closes a unit begun by a divine command, confirming exact execution without elaborating differences.

The phrase el-mul pené ha-menorah stacks two spatial nouns in construct — mul ("front of") governing pené ("face of") — which together specify direction with unusual precision: not simply "in front of" but "toward the front-facing side of" the lampstand (ha-menorah, H4501). The verb he'elah is a hiphil (causative) form of the root "to go up" (H5927H), literally "he caused [the lamps] to ascend." This causative sense is broader than "to light" and could describe raising, mounting, or setting the lamps in position — the text does not specify fire or kindling explicitly through this verb alone. The object neroteiha ("its lamps", H5216A) carries a feminine singular suffix agreeing with ha-menorah.

The closing clause ka'asher tzivvah YHWH et-Mosheh uses the relative particle ka'asher ("as", H0834D) to anchor Aaron's action to a specific prior command using the piel verb tzivvah ("he had commanded", H6680), with the direct object marker 'et preceding Mosheh ("Moses", H4872).

Differences between versions

The Hebrew he'elah ("he caused to go up/he raised", H5927H) is rendered by the LXX with ἐξῆψεν ("he kindled/lit"), specifying fire-lighting where the Hebrew verb itself denotes causation of ascent without naming fire explicitly. The Vulgate instead uses imposuit ("he placed/set upon"), describing physical placement of the lamps onto the lampstand rather than either lighting or raising. The provided LXX text also appears to lack an explicit equivalent for ha-menorah ("the lampstand") in the position where the Hebrew places it, showing a shorter or truncated construction compared to the Hebrew's fuller construct chain mul pené ha-menorah.