Numbers 1:49

49 "Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel;

Numbers 1:49 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:49

Only thou shall not number the tribe of Levi
That is, along with the other tribes, for it might be numbered by itself, as it afterwards was, ( Numbers 3:43 ) ;

neither take the sum of them among the children of Israel;
which confirms what is before observed: now this being the declared will of God clears Moses from all partiality to his own tribe, he doing nothing but what he had a command of God for it.

Numbers 1:49 In-Context

47 But the Levites were not numbered by their ancestral tribe along with them.

48 For the LORD said to Moses,

49 "Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, and you shall not take a census of them among the people of Israel;

50 but appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it; they are to carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, and they shall tend it, and shall encamp around the tabernacle.

51 When the tabernacle is to set out, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up. And if any one else comes near, he shall be put to death.