Numbers 4:4-14

4 This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the testimony, in the holy of holies:

5 When the camp is to be moved, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering veil and cover the ark of testimony with it

6 and shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins and shall spread over it a cloth entirely of blue and shall put in the staves thereof.

7 And upon the table of showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue and put thereon the dishes and the spoons and the bowls and covers to cover withal; and the continual bread shall be thereon.

8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet and cover the same with a covering of badgers’ skins and shall put in the staves thereof.

9 And they shall take a cloth of blue and cover the lampstand of the light and its lamps and its tongs and its snuffdishes and all the oil vessels thereof with which they minister unto it;

10 and they shall put it and all the vessels thereof within a covering of badgers’ skins and shall put it upon a bar.

11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue and cover it with a covering of badgers’ skins and shall put in the staves thereof;

12 and they shall take all the vessels of ministry with which they minister in the sanctuary and put them in a cloth of blue and cover them with a covering of badgers’ skins and shall put them on a bar.

13 And they shall take away the ashes with the burnt fat from the altar and spread a purple cloth thereon

14 and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof with which they minister about it: the censers, the fleshhooks, the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins and put in the staves of it.

Numbers 4:4-14 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.