Week 50, Day 4: Respect

Today’s Reading:  Numbers 4:1-49

Some thoughts from today’s reading…

In this chapter we have some more details given about the duties of the three families of the Levites.  To serve the person was to be between the age of 30 and 50.  What I want to point out is how Aaron and Moses are instructed to go in before the men of Kohath come in to move the articles from inside the tent.  Aaron and Moses are to cover everything and insert the poles into those articles that were fashioned with such.  Thus none of the Levites would be able to see or touch the items themselves.  Verse 15 & 20 tells us that if they were to see the holy objects, even for a moment, they would die.  What I gather from this is the respect these articles used in worship were to be regarded with.  They were Holy and were not to be treated as common objects, no matter how curious someone might have been to see these.  It also emphasizes to me how few people of Israel were able to see these things.  Thus I believe this explains well why we have such detail recorded for us about what the tent and the objects looked like.  So few would have ever seen these things other than through what was recorded.

Question:  The number of Levites counted this time are 8,580.  Last time I had asked about why all the males of Levi were numbered.  What is the difference between the 22,000 counted in chapter 3 and the number counted here?

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