Numbers 8:24

24 This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait* upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:

Numbers 8:24 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 8:24

This [is it] that [belongeth] unto the Levites
The fixed and settled time for their service, as is after related: from twenty and five years old and upward, they shall go in to wait
upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation;
in ( Numbers 4:3 ) ; the time for the Levites entering on the work of the tabernacle is fixed to thirty years and upward, which Jarchi reconciles thus; at twenty five years old the Levite goes in to learn the rites of service, and he learns five years, and when thirty years of age he services; the same is observed by others F23; but what Aben Ezra proposes seems much better; at thirty years of age a Levite entered into the service of bearing and carrying burdens; and at twenty five years of age he entered into the service of the tent or tabernacle, where he was employed in lighter service, such as opening and shutting the doors of the sanctuary, keeping out strangers and unclean persons, and singing the songs of the sanctuary; but was not concerned till thirty years of age in carrying the vessels of the sanctuary on the shoulders, as the Kohathites; or in taking down and setting up the tabernacle, loading and unloading the wagons, as the Gershonites and Merarites; which is the business assigned unto them, and spoken of in ( Numbers 4:22-35 ) , where the age of thirty years, and upward, is mentioned, as the time of their entrance on it, ( Numbers 4:23 Numbers 4:30 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F23 Ben Gersom in loc. Bartenora in Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21.

Numbers 8:24 In-Context

22 And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.
23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
24 This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:
25 And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:
26 But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge.
The King James Version is in the public domain.