Numbers 4:21-28

Duties of the Gershonites

21 The Lord spoke to Moses:

22 "Take a census of the Gershonites^[a] also, by their ancestral houses and their clans.

23 Register men from 30 years old to 50 years old, everyone who is qualified to perform service, to do work at the tent of meeting.

24 This is the service of the Gershonite clans regarding work and transportation duties:

25 They are to transport the tabernacle curtains,^[b] the tent of meeting with its covering and the covering made of manatee skin^[c] on top of it, the screen for the entrance to the tent of meeting,

26 the hangings of the courtyard, the screen for the entrance at the gate of the courtyard that surrounds the tabernacle and the altar, along with their ropes and all the equipment for their service. They will carry out everything that needs to be done with these items.

27 "All the service of the Gershonites, all their transportation duties and all their [other] work, is to be [done] at the command of Aaron and his sons; you are to assign to them all that they are responsible to carry.

28 This is the service of the Gershonite clans at the tent of meeting, and their duties will be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

Numbers 4:21-28 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Nm 3:17,21-26
• [b]. Ex 26:1-13; 36:8-17
• [c]. Or of dolphin skin, or of fine leather; Hb obscure