John Calvin Commentary Numbers 8:7

"And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves." — Numbers 8:7 (ASV)

And thus you shall do unto them.

1. Aaron is commanded to sprinkle the water of purifying upon them, to cleanse them from their uncleanness.
2. They are also commanded to wash their clothes, so that they may diligently guard against any impurity being anywhere about them, by which their persons may be infected.
3. They are commanded to shave their skin with a razor, so that, by putting off their flesh, they may begin to be new men.

A sacrifice is afterwards added, and that twofold, to make an atonement for them. Once these things were completed, Aaron, by the right and in honor of the priesthood, is commanded to offer them just like the holy bread or incense.

But the purpose of this was so that they would acknowledge that they were no longer their own masters but devoted to God, and so that they would engage themselves in the service of the sanctuary.

It was in testimony of alienation that some of the people were ordered at the same time to lay their hands upon them, as if by this ceremony all the tribes testified that with their consent the Levites passed over to be God’s special possession, so that they might be a part or appendage of the sanctuary.

For private individuals (as we will see later) were accustomed to lay their hands on their sacrifices, yet not with the same purpose as the priests.¹⁷⁷

¹⁷⁷ This last sentence omitted in Fr.