Numbers 4:1-8

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

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

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

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.

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.