Each to His Service

Numbers 4 counts the Levites again, this time those from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, who could enter the service to do the work in the Tent of Meeting. The chapter assigns each clan its burden when the camp set out.

The Kohathites carried the most holy things, but only after Aaron and his sons had prepared them. The priests took down the veil of the screen and covered the ark of the covenant with it, then with sealskin, then with a cloth of blue. They wrapped the table of show bread, the lampstand, the golden altar, and the vessels, and they inserted the carrying poles. The warning was serious: they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die. Eleazar oversaw the oil, incense, and the whole tabernacle.

The Gershonites, under Ithamar, carried the curtains, coverings, and screens. The Merarites, also under Ithamar, carried the boards, bars, pillars, sockets, pins, and cords, and you shall appoint by name the instruments of the charge of their burden. The total of Levites serving was 8,580. Every person and every object had its place. Paul writes that God has given each member of the body different gifts, so that all may serve together (1 Corinthians 12).