The Count (2 of 2)

In context

Numbers 3 turns to the tribe of Levi. The Levites were given to Aaron and his sons to help them at the tabernacle (Numbers 3:6–9). They were taken “instead of all the firstborn” of Israel, because the Lord had claimed every firstborn when he struck down the firstborn of Egypt (Numbers 3:12–13). Counted from a month old, the Levites came to 22,000 and Israel’s firstborn sons to 22,273. The extra 273 were bought back at five shekels each, about an ounce and three-quarters of silver, paid to the priests (Numbers 3:39–51).

Chapter 4 gives each Levite family its load for the march, counting the men from thirty to fifty who did the work (Numbers 4:3). The priests first wrapped the holy things in cloths and sealskin; then the Kohathites carried them on poles and frames, without touching them or even looking (Numbers 4:5–20). The Gershonites carried the curtains and coverings, and the Merarites the boards, bars, pillars and sockets (Numbers 4:24–32). Centuries later David had the Levites carry the ark “on their shoulders with its poles, as Moses commanded” (1 Chronicles 15:15).