There were thousands of priests in Israel; any man born into the tribe of Levi, between the ages of 30 and 50 years old was part of the priesthood. After they were ordained, they rotated through terms of service to the Lord at the tabernacle or wherever they were allowed and needed.

Later, when Israel settled in Canaan and the tribes received land grants, the Levites would be scattered among them as ministers and teachers. The priests would be given towns throughout Israel with land nearby for farming and pasturing their own animals. They were not allowed to own land because God himself was their portion in Israel. As it says in Deuteronomy 18:1-2:

“The Levitical priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance. They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them.”

The priests were supported by donations from the rest of Israel who brought tithes and offerings to the tabernacle on a regular basis. The Levites were not available for military service. Their function was to preserve the Law and help Israel obey it.

Protecting the Most Holy Things

All of the objects in the holy places were covered with special cloths and wrapped in durable leather before they were moved. The Ark of the Covenant was so sacred that when it was moved, Aaron and his sons waited until the Lord’s presence lifted away from it, then carefully took down the curtain that shielded it. They walked toward it and covered it with the curtain, probably without daring to look at it. The curtain was covered with a durable leather case and then a blue cloth was spread over the whole thing before the carrying poles were attached.

The other golden furnishings and utensils in the holy place were also covered with special cloths and durable leather cases before they were moved.  Eleazar, the son of Aaron, was the superintendent of the tabernacle furnishings. He was personally responsible for the pure lamp oil, the grain offering, the fragrant incense and the anointing oil.

The way all of these holy objects were handled was a matter of life and death for the Kohathites. If they looked at them or touched them inappropriately they were likely to perish.  Remember Nadab and Abihu on the first day of service in the tabernacle? They violated God’s directions and died on the spot.

Duties of the Kohathites

The Kothathites were responsible for the most sacred objects in the tabernacle. Under the supervision of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, they carried the Ark and the other furnishings from the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. They were not allowed to look at the sacred items, and they had to wait until Aaron and his sons had covered them and attached the carrying poles before they even came near.

“The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘See that the Kohathite tribal clans are not destroyed from among the Levites. So that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy things, do this for them: Aaron and his sons are to go into the sanctuary and assign each man his work and what he is to carry. But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy things, even for a moment, or they will die.’” Numbers 4:17-20

When it was time to travel, the Kohathites divided into two groups. Those who carried the Ark led the procession, with Moses, Aaron and sons walking behind. The Lord’s presence in the cloud above the Ark guided them from place to place.

The tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun followed Moses and Aaron.

Carrying the Tabernacle

The Gershonites and Merarites carried the tabernacle itself and they and their oxcarts traveled in the middle of Israel’s massive caravan. They walked behind Zebulun and in front of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad.

The second group of Kohathites, was in charge of all of the sacred furnishings of the holy places, except the Ark. They walked behind the tribe of Gad and in front of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin carrying their loads on their shoulders.

The rear guard of Dan, Asher and Naphtali came last. We will read the full account of the order of procession in tomorrow’s passages.

The Census of the Tribe of Levi

There was a lot of counting and record keeping in Numbers. First the tribes of Israel were counted and their names recorded. Then the tribe of Levi was counted again, this time after dividing it into its clans and families. Among the three clans there were 8,580 men between the ages of 30 and 50 years.

That was a lot of priests to keep track of but, “At the Lord’s command through Moses, each was assigned his work and told what to carry.” Numbers 4:49

The camp of Israel was huge, but under Moses’s leadership, it was organized and orderly. They stayed together and followed directions.

Purity in the Camp

One set of directions that was perhaps hard to accept was that certain people were always living and traveling outside the camp. People with skin diseases had to stay out there, as did people with temporarily unclean conditions such as bodily discharges and contact with a corpse. It was hard, but the Israelites were faithful to keep this command.

“The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.” Numbers 5:4

God also expected people who wronged other people to come forward, confess their sin and make restitution. If they couldn’t make things right with the person they offended, they were to do it with a close relative. If that wasn’t possible, they were to bring their restitution to the priest at the tabernacle and leave it with him. Whatever they gave in this sacred offering became the property of the priest. Then a ram was sacrificed as atonement.

Suspicion and Jealousy

In Numbers 5:11-31 we read about an unusual ceremony that was used to allay the suspicions of a jealous husband. If a man suspected his wife of infidelity, but had no proof, he would bring her, and an offering of barley flour, to the priest. The priest would take a clay jar of holy water and add some dust from the tabernacle floor. He would loosen the woman’s hair and place the grain offering in her hand, while he held the bitter water in his hand.

He would place her under a curse that if she were hiding an infidelity, the water would enter into her, cause her belly to bloat and make her unable to carry a child in her womb. She had to agree to the terms of the curse. Then the priest wrote the words of the curse on a scroll and washed them into the bitter water and made the woman drink it.

We don’t have any accounts of this ceremony uncovering a hidden infidelity, but just the fact that it existed would have made a woman think twice about being unfaithful. If the ritual was used by a jealous husband and his wife survived unscathed, he had no more reason to be suspicious of her. It was one way to restore harmony to a troubled marriage.

In tomorrow’s reading Israel is finally going to leave Mount Sinai. Their adventure goes on!