Chapter Four

A census of the Levites from thirty to fifty years of age. — A repetition of the duties of each Levite family.

Numbers 4:1. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, saying: Numbers 4:2. Register the Kohathites from among the Levites, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, Numbers 4:3. from thirty years old up to fifty years old, all who can do duty, to do the work in the tent of meeting. According to the census conducted: Among the family of Gershon — 2,630 men. Kohath — 2,750 men. Merari — 3,200 men. Total — 8,580 men.

Numbers 4:5. When the camp is to move on, Aaron and his sons shall go in and take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it; Numbers 4:6. and they shall put on it a covering of fine leather, and spread over it a cloth entirely of blue, and shall put its poles in place; Numbers 4:7. and over the table of the showbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the plates, the dishes, the bowls, and the pitchers for the drink offering; the regular bread also shall be on it; Numbers 4:8. and they shall spread over them a cloth of scarlet, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place; Numbers 4:9. and they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the lampstand and its lamps and its snuffers and its trays and all the vessels for its oil with which it is tended; Numbers 4:10. and they shall put it and all its furnishings within a covering of fine leather, and shall put it on the carrying poles; Numbers 4:11. and over the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of fine leather, and shall put its poles in place. Numbers 4:12. And they shall take all the vessels of the ministry with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on the carrying poles. Numbers 4:13. And they shall remove the ashes from the altar, and spread a cloth of purple over it; Numbers 4:14. and they shall put on it all the vessels of the altar with which they minister at it — the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar — and they shall spread on it a covering of fine leather, and put its poles in place. [And they shall take a purple cloth and cover the basin and its base, and put a covering of fine leather on it, and put it on the carrying poles.] By protecting the sacred objects from crude direct contact with unclean human hands and from the eyes of idle curiosity, the coverings strengthened the sacred mystery of the sacred things of the Old Testament tabernacle.

Numbers 4:15. When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp moves on, after that the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. These are the things of the tent of meeting that the sons of Kohath are to carry. Numbers 4:17. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying: Numbers 4:18. Do not let the tribe of the clans of Kohath be destroyed from among the Levites; Numbers 4:19. but deal with them thus: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each to his task and to his load; Numbers 4:20. but they shall not go in to look on the holy things even for a moment, lest they die. To develop the sense of reverence for sacred objects in the common people of the Hebrew nation, strong measures were required.