Numbers 18:2

2 Let your brothers, the family of Levi, come near with you, so that they may be joined with you and be your servants: but you and your sons with you are to go in before the ark of witness.

Numbers 18:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 18:2

And to thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of
thy father
For his father Amram was of that tribe, and so the Levites were his brethren, as he is directed to consider them; which might serve to conciliate their minds, and make them easy with respect to his enjoyment of the priesthood: bring them with thee;
into the court of the tabernacle, for further they might not go: that they maybe joined unto thee:
as their name of Levites signifies, persons joined and united to others, as they were to the priests: see reason of their patriarch's name Levi in ( Genesis 29:34 ) ; and minister unto thee:
be assisting to the priests in killing the sacrifices, receiving the blood, and flaying the beasts, and in other things about the sanctuary, ( Numbers 3:6 ) ; but thou, and thy sons with thee, [shall minister] before the
tabernacle of witness;
which was the most holy place, where were the ark of the testimony or witness, and the tables of the covenant; and they might be said to minister before that, when they ministered in the holy place, which was before it, when they burned incense upon the altar of incense, ordered the shewbread, and trimmed the lamps of the candlestick, which none but the priests the sons of Aaron might do.

Numbers 18:2 In-Context

1 And the Lord said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father's family are to be responsible for all wrongdoing in relation to the holy place: and you and your sons are to be responsible for the errors which come about in your work as priests.

2 Let your brothers, the family of Levi, come near with you, so that they may be joined with you and be your servants: but you and your sons with you are to go in before the ark of witness.

3 They are to do your orders and be responsible for the work of the Tent; but they may not come near the vessels of the holy place or the altar, so that death may not overtake them or you.

4 They are to be joined with you in the care of the Tent of meeting, doing whatever is needed for the Tent: and no one of any other family may come near you.

5 You are to be responsible for the holy place and the altar, so that wrath may never again come on the children of Israel.