Numbers 4:1-20

Duties of the Kohathites

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

2 "Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, by their fathers' households,

3 from ¹thirty years and upward, even to fifty years old, all who enter the service to do the work in the tent of meeting.

4 "This is the work of the descendants of Kohath in the tent of meeting, concerning the most holy things.

5 "When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down ²the veil of the screen and cover the ³ark of the testimony with it;

6 and they shall lay a ⁴covering of porpoise skin on it, and shall spread over it a cloth of pure blue, and shall insert its poles.

7 "Over the table of the bread of the Presence they shall also spread a cloth of blue and put on it the dishes and the pans and the sacrificial bowls and the jars for the drink offering, and ⁵the continual bread shall be on it.

8 "They shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet material, and cover the same with a covering of porpoise skin, and they shall insert its poles.

9 "Then they shall take a blue cloth and cover the ⁶lampstand for the light, ⁷along with its lamps and its snuffers, and its trays and all its oil vessels, by which they serve it;

10 and they shall put it and all its utensils in a covering of porpoise skin, and shall put it on the carrying bars.

11 "Over the golden altar they shall spread a blue cloth and cover it with a covering of porpoise skin, and shall insert its poles;

12 and they shall take all the utensils of service, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and put them in a blue cloth and cover them with a covering of porpoise skin, and put them on the carrying bars.

13 "Then they shall take away the ashes from the ⁸altar, and spread a purple cloth over it.

14 "They shall also put on it all its utensils by which they serve in connection with it: the firepans, the forks and shovels and the basins, all the utensils of the altar; and they shall spread a cover of porpoise skin over it and insert its poles.

15 "When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is to set out, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them, so that they will not touch the holy objects ⁹and die. These are the things in the tent of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.

16 "The responsibility of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest is ¹⁰the oil for the light and the ¹¹fragrant incense and ¹²the continual grain offering and ¹³the anointing oil -the responsibility of all the tabernacle and of all that is in it, with the sanctuary and its furnishings."

17 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

18 "Do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites.

19 "But do this to them that they may live and ¹⁴not die when they approach the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each of them to his work and to his load;

20 but ¹⁵they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment, or they will die."

Numbers 4:1-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 4

This chapter relates an order to number the Levites fit for business, and gives an account of the time and age when they should enter into service, and how long they should continue therein, Nu 4:1-3; what their particular service should be; and first of the Kohathites, Nu 4:4-20; next of the Gershonites, Nu 4:21-28; and then of the Merarites, Nu 4:29-33; after which Moses and Aaron, with the chief of the congregation, numbered each of them, even as many as were at the age fit for service, as the Kohathites, Nu 4:34-37; the Gershonites, Nu 4:38-41; the Merarites, Nu 4:42-45; the sum total of which is given, Nu 4:46-49.

Cross References

• 1. Num 4:23, 30, 35; Numbers 8:24; 1 Chr 23:3, 24, 27; Ezra 3:8
• 2. Exodus 40:5; Leviticus 16:2; 2 Chronicles 3:14; Matthew 27:51; Hebrews 9:3
• 3. Exodus 25:10-16
• 4. Numbers 4:25
• 5. Exodus 25:30; Leviticus 24:5-9
• 6. Exodus 25:31
• 7. Exodus 25:37, 38
• 8. Exodus 27:1-8
• 9. Numbers 1:51; Numbers 4:19, 20; 2 Samuel 6:6, 7
• 10. Leviticus 24:1-3
• 11. Exodus 30:34-38
• 12. Leviticus 6:20
• 13. Exodus 30:22-33
• 14. Numbers 4:15
• 15. Exodus 19:21; 1 Samuel 6:19

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "the sum"
• [b]. Lit "sons"
• [c]. Lit "sons"
• [d]. Or "violet"
• [e]. Or "violet"
• [f]. Or "violet"
• [g]. Lit "snuff dishes"
• [h]. Or "violet"
• [i]. Or "violet"
• [j]. Or "fat ashes;" i.e. soaked with fat
• [k]. Lit "burden...of the sons"
• [l]. Lit "dwelling place," and so throughout the ch