Numbers 18:2-5

2-5. Thy brethren The Gershonites and Merarites might serve before the tabernacle, but not within it, nor near the vessels and the altar, lest both they and the priests should die. See Numbers 4:18, note. “While the Levitical law does not define the sanctuary duties of the Levites, but leaves them, as they might naturally be left at the outset, to perform such services as the priest might require of them, long usage gradually assigned to them specific tasks, as the charge of the gates, slaying the sacrifices, boiling or roasting their flesh, etc. 2 Chronicles 23:4; 2 Chronicles 30:17.” Dr. W.H. Green. These directions are made in view of the judgment fires which had already burned around the divine altars in the cases of the irreverent sons of Aaron (Leviticus x) and of Korah and his company. Chap. 16.