Numbers 3:1-39--The Levites are Numbered

Numbers 3:1-39
English Standard Version

The Sons of Aaron
3 These are the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai. 2 These are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. 3 These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. 4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the Lord when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord in the wilderness of Sinai, and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of Aaron their father.

Duties of the Levites
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near, and set them before Aaron the priest, that they may minister to him. 7 They shall keep guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, as they minister at the tabernacle. 8 They shall guard all the furnishings of the tent of meeting, and keep guard over the people of Israel as they minister at the tabernacle. 9 And you shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons; they are wholly given to him from among the people of Israel. 10 And you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall guard their priesthood. But if any outsider comes near, he shall be put to death.”

11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, 13 for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the Lord.”

14 And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, saying, 15 “List the sons of Levi, by fathers' houses and by clans; every male from a month old and upward you shall list.” 16 So Moses listed them according to the word of the Lord, as he was commanded. 17 And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. 18 And these are the names of the sons of Gershon by their clans: Libni and Shimei. 19 And the sons of Kohath by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. 20 And the sons of Merari by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, by their fathers' houses.

21 To Gershon belonged the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites; these were the clans of the Gershonites. 22 Their listing according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was 7,500. 23 The clans of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle on the west, 24 with Eliasaph, the son of Lael as chief of the fathers' house of the Gershonites. 25 And the guard duty of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting, 26 the hangings of the court, the screen for the door of the court that is around the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords—all the service connected with these.

27 To Kohath belonged the clan of the Amramites and the clan of the Izharites and the clan of the Hebronites and the clan of the Uzzielites; these are the clans of the Kohathites. 28 According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were 8,600, keeping guard over the sanctuary. 29 The clans of the sons of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle, 30 with Elizaphan the son of Uzziel as chief of the fathers' house of the clans of the Kohathites. 31 And their guard duty involved the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary with which the priests minister, and the screen; all the service connected with these. 32 And Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest was to be chief over the chiefs of the Levites, and to have oversight of those who kept guard over the sanctuary.

33 To Merari belonged the clan of the Mahlites and the clan of the Mushites: these are the clans of Merari. 34 Their listing according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was 6,200. 35 And the chief of the fathers' house of the clans of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle. 36 And the appointed guard duty of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the tabernacle, the bars, the pillars, the bases, and all their accessories; all the service connected with these; 37 also the pillars around the court, with their bases and pegs and cords.
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38 Those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, guarding the sanctuary itself, to protect the people of Israel. And any outsider who came near was to be put to death. 39 All those listed among the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron listed at the commandment of the Lord, by clans, all the males from a month old and upward, were 22,000.

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The Levites are going to be counted in this section, but it's going to be for a different reason and it's going to be treated a little differently.  Instead of choosing a particular tribe out of a group of three tribes to be the leader, there is a particular family or "clan" of the Levites that are given the responsibility of leading the Levites and all the people of Israel--namely Aaron and his sons who would serve as High Priest and priests in the Tabernacle and Temple.  Something is summarized here quickly for us that we already read about in Leviticus 10.  Aaron lost two of his four sons because they did not obey the command of the LORD on how they were to perform their duties and they offered "unauthorized fire" or what I may refer to sometimes as "false fire" because of another translation that I'm used to.  Aaron wasn't even allowed to mourn the loss of his sons because his duties were so important that they could never cease because that's how much work it took to make atonement for the people.

Now the Levites as a whole were given to Aaron and his sons and they are told that their job is to protect Aaron, the people of God by performing their duties in the Tabernacle (I find this part of their job description to be one of the most important) and to protect everything that was holy--both the priesthood and the Tabernacle and all of its furnishings and the instruments used in the service of the LORD that were created for the work to be done in the Tabernacle and were never to be used for "common" use.  Let's come back to that second point of their job description that I was talking about though.  Remember last chapter how the Levites all camped on the inside of the camp next to the Tabernacle so they could be close to it?  So then, how are they supposed to protect the nation of Israel from threats if they are not on the perimeter keeping guard?  The answer is that God realized that the greatest threat to Israel came from inside if the people broke the covenant and started to become like all the nations around them.  The Levites were responsible for teaching the Law to the people, for enforcing the rules about holiness and cleanliness, in making atonement for sin so that the judgment of God did not fall on the people (this was specifically the job of Aaron and his sons) and to deal with the issues of sin and rebellion--even by executing the death penalty when necessary to preserve the holiness of God's people, the priesthood and the Tabernacle.

The Levites were also to fulfill another role for the people--they were to be consecrated to the LORD and given completely to His ministry in the place of the firstborn that were to be consecrated to the LORD and belonged to Him.  For this reason, the Levites would be counted to make sure that the number of Levites equaled the number of firstborn males (counting all the firstborn makes is the next passage) and redemption (paying an actual price of five shekels of silver for each head (divided equally among all the people).  We'll get to that passage more next time, but you can see that there is a logic and an order to how God is systematically counting the people and showing them how He has selected Israel from among all the nations, and he has selected the tribe of Levi from among all the tribes for this service and He has selected Aaron and his sons from among the Levites.

So then, what does this mean to us today?  Well, Jesus is our Great High Priest though He is not of the order of Aaron, but of Melchizedek, but I think it's fair to see Jesus as the spiritual leader of all the people that is responsible for their spiritual health and security as He made atonement for us and mediates the covenant of the LORD with us and with God and intercedes for us and speaks to us on behalf of God.  But what about the rest of the Levites?  I think that's the church for we are called to be a holy priesthood that is wholly devoted to the LORD and His service.  We are to protect our High Priest (though He does not really need our protection) the Tabernacle (in a way, that is also Christ, but it is also the Church as we've talked about before) and the people to protect them from the corruption of sin that attacks the camp from the inside.  We are to expect no other inheritance other than the eternal ministry of serving as priests of God forever (the Levites really don't receive any land in the Promised Land other than the Cities of Refuge that we'll get to later) and everything that belonged to them really belonged to God.  So, when you read these duties of the Levites and the sons of Aaron, ask yourself how you can be doing these things in light of how we have been commanded to be "ministers" and "priests" of the New Covenant in the New Testament--we've already seen several places that say this in 1 Peter 2, Romans 15 and 2 Corinthians 3.  So then these instructions are not just for the tribe of Levi, but they are also for each and every one of us that call ourselves by the name of Christ and the name of the LORD.