Numbers 3:21-37

The Charges of the Various Divisions among the Levites

v. 21. of Gershon was the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shimites; these are the families of the Gershonites.

v. 22. Those that were numbered of them, mustered or entered into the rolls of service, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, for at that age the first-born boy babies were liable for the service of the Lord, even those that were numbered of them were seven thousand and five hundred.

v. 23. The families of the Gershonites shall pitch behind the Tabernacle westward, inside the armies led by the tribe of Ephraim.

v. 24. And the chief of the house of the father of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph, the son of Lael.

v. 25. And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the Tabernacle of the Congregation shall be the tabernacle, the inner curtains of variegated cloth, and the tent, the outer covering or curtain of goat-hair, the covering thereof, that of rams' skins and that of the leather of sea-cows, and the hanging for the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation, the entrance to the Holy Place,

v. 26. and the hangings of the court, and the curtain for the door of the court, which is by the Tabernacle, the white byssus curtains as well as the beautiful entrance curtain of variegated material, and by the altar round about, and the cords of it for all the service thereof, the various guy-ropes for the Tabernacle, but not for the court,

v. 37. The Gershonites had to tend to all the drapery and the curtains but the screen of the Most Holy Place.

v. 27. And of Kohath was the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izeharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites; these are the families of the Kohathites.

v. 28. In the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were eight thousand and six hundred, keeping the charge of the Sanctuary, taking their share in the ministry of the Holy Place.

v. 29. The families of the sons of Kohath shall pitch on the side of the Tabernacle southward, inside the armies led by the tribe of Reuben.

v. 30. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of the Kohathites shall be Elizaphan, the son of Uzziel.

v. 31. And their charge, for which they would be held responsible, shall be the ark, and the table, that of showbread, and the candlestick, and the altars, both the golden altar of the Holy Place and the altar of burnt offering in the court, and the vessels of the Sanctuary wherewith they minister, and the hanging, the screen of the Most Holy Place, and all the service thereof, everything that was connected with the actual carrying of these appointments from one station to the next.

v. 32. And Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, shall be chief over the chief of the Levites, and have the oversight of them that keep the charge of the Sanctuary; he was the superintendent of the work as here described.

v. 33. of Merari was the family of the Mahlites and the family of the Mushites; these are the families of Merari.

v. 34. And those that were numbered of them, mustered as in the other cases, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred.

v. 35. And the chief of the house of the father of the families of Merari was Zuriel, the son of Abihail; these shall pitch on the side of the Tabernacle northward, inside the armies under the leadership of the tribe of Dan.

v. 36. And under the custody and charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the Tabernacle, the great planks which formed its walls, and the bars thereof, the cross-bars which held the planks upright, and the pillars thereof, at the entrance to the Tabernacle and to the Most Holy Place, and the sockets thereof, the bases of the planks and of the pillars, and all the vessels thereof, the pins and the tools, and all that serveth thereto,

v. 37. and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, the bronze bases which held the pillars upright, and their pins, and their cords, the guy-ropes which held them in place. Theirs was the last work when camp was struck and the first when a new station was reached. The work was thus divided in a manner which practically excluded all friction and made for the greatest efficiency. In this respect we Christians of the New Testament may learn a lesson from the children of Israel.