Numbers 18:2

2 But also bring your brothers with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and serve with you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony.^[a]

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 The Lord said to Aaron, "You, your sons, and your ancestral house will be responsible for sin against the sanctuary. You and your sons will be responsible for sin involving your priesthood.

2 But also bring your brothers with you from the tribe of Levi, your ancestral tribe, so they may join you and serve with you and your sons in front of the tent of the testimony.

3 They are to perform duties for you and for the whole tent. They must not come near the sanctuary equipment or the altar; otherwise, both they and you will die.

4 They are to join you and guard the tent of meeting, doing all the work at the tent, but no unauthorized person may come near you.

5 "You are to guard the sanctuary and the altar so that wrath may not fall on the Israelites again.

Footnotes

• [a]. Nm 8:5-26