Numbers 1:47

47 But the Levites of the tribe of their family were not counted among the children of Israel.

Numbers 1:47 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 1:47

But the Levites
The tribe of Levi were excepted from this muster, they being employed in a kind of warfare, and therefore not to be engaged in another:

after the tribe of their fathers, were not numbered among them:
the rest of the tribes; the reason follows.

Numbers 1:47 In-Context

45 And the whole numbering of the children of Israel with their host from twenty years old and upward, every one that goes out to set himself in battle array in Israel, came to

46 six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.

47 But the Levites of the tribe of their family were not counted among the children of Israel.

48 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

49 See, thou shalt not muster the tribe of Levi, and thou shalt not take their numbers, in the midst of the children of Israel.