Numbers 18:2

2 Moreover, bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi the tribe of your father, that they may be joined to you and minister [to] you, you and your sons with you before the tent of testimony.

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 Yahweh said to Aaron, "You, your sons, and your family with you will bear the guilt of the sanctuary, and you and your sons with you will bear the guilt of your priesthood.

2 Moreover, bring your brothers with you, the tribe of Levi the tribe of your father, that they may be joined to you and minister [to] you, you and your sons with you before the tent of testimony.

3 They will keep your responsibility and the responsibility of all the tent, only they may not come near the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, so both you and they will not die.

4 They will be joined to you, and they will keep the responsibility of the tent of assembly for the entire service of the tent; a stranger may not come near you.

5 You will keep the responsibility of the sanctuary and the responsibility of the altar, and there will no longer be wrath on the {Israelites}.