Numbers 4:1-8

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.

Numbers 4:1-8 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

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "the sum"
• [b] Lit "sons"
• [c] Lit "sons"
• [d] Or "violet"
• [e] Or "violet"