Numbers 4:1-7

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers;

3 From thirty years old and upward, even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

4 This [shall be] the service of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation, [about] the most holy things.

5 And when the camp moveth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:

6 And shall put on it the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over [it] a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staffs of it.

7 And upon the table of show-bread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover with: and the continual bread shall be upon it.

Numbers 4:1-7 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.