Numberschapter 4
49 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy objects and all their equipment, as soon as the camp is ready to move, the Kohathites shall come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy objects, or they will die. These are the transportation duties of the Kohathites regarding the Tent of Meeting.
It stands in Kohath carries the holy things: and must not look, verses 1 to 20.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The Levite service assignments. Kohath bears the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the vessels. But only after Aaron and his sons have covered them; they must not touch nor look upon the holy things lest they die. Gershon bears the curtains, coverings, and hangings. Merari bears the boards, bars, pillars, sockets, and cords. Each clan numbered from thirty to fifty years. The working age. Kohath 2,750; Gershon 2,630; Merari 3,200. Total 8,580. ‘Every one according to his service and according to his burden.’ The care of holy things is as exacting as the care of the army.
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 4The history
The instructions come to Moses and Aaron, and at verse 21 to Moses alone; Aaron is the high priest. His two surviving sons hold the supervision, Eleazar over the Kohathites and Ithamar over the Gershonites and Merarites, an office Ithamar already held over the tabernacle's materials at Exodus 38:21.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The chapter belongs to the second year after the Exodus, about 1444 BC on the date the book gives at Numbers 1:1 rather than on any outside record. The place is Sinai, and the tent stands in the middle of a camp already arranged in four divisions around it by the three chapters before this one. The occasion is the last piece of that arrangement, since the tent now has to come down, travel and go up again, and this chapter is the loading plan.
A first hearer knew that a portable shrine was ordinary technology, since Egyptian burials have produced gilded wooden shrines that break down into panels, Tutankhamun's among them.
He knew the three colours by sight, since blue, purple and scarlet are the colours of the tabernacle's own hangings at Exodus 26:1. Here the same three are the colours of its packing, one to each class of object. He knew that the veil named at verse 5 was the screen of the most holy place, so the curtain that hid the ark inside the tent travelled on the ark outside it.
Albert Barnes reads the Hebrew behind the words rendered as coming to serve at verses 3 and 23 as meaning literally to war the warfare, so the phrase sounded military to him.
What it meant to them
For a nation about to spend forty years striking camp and pitching it again, this was the difference between order and disaster. Israel learned that holiness comes with logistics, down to which man lifts which pole.
It also taught the price of privilege, since the Kohathites carried the holiest objects in Israel and were forbidden to touch them and forbidden to watch them being covered. Verse 15 states the penalty without softening it.
The last verse puts every man in his own place, each with his work and his burden, which told a tribe with no land of its own exactly what its inheritance was.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments , 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 4:23
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible , 1871, on Numbers 4:34
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 4 falls in First census and camp order (chapters 1–10). Twelve tribes numbered; the camp arranged around the tabernacle; the order of march; the cloud lifts.
After it: From Sinai to Kadesh, chapters 11–14.
The whole shape of Numbers→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Kohath carries the holy things: and must not look
1. (vv. 1-4)
Numbers 4:1
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,.... After they had taken the number of the Levites, and made an exchange of the firstborn of Israel for them; and now they are ordered to number them a second time, and take out from them such as were fit for service: saying; as follows.”
Numbers 4:2
“Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi,....”
Numbers 4:3
“From thirty years old - In Num 8:24, the Levites are ordered to enter on the service of the tabernacle at the age of twenty-five years; and in 1Ch 23:24, they were ordered to commence that work at twenty years of age. How can these different times be reconciled? 1. At the time of which Moses speaks here, the Levitical service was exceedingly severe, and consequently required men full grown, strong, and stout, to perform it; the age therefore of thirty years was appointed as the period for commencing this service, the weightier part of which is probably here intended.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 4:3
“From thirty - This age was prescribed, as the age of full strength of body, and therefore most proper for their labourious work of carrying the parts and vessels of the tabernacle, and of maturity of judgment, which is necessary for the right management of holy services. Whence even John and Christ entered not upon their ministry till that age.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 4:4
“This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath, in the tabernacle of the congregation,.... What follows, Num 4:4, about the most holy things; which Aben Ezra interprets only of the ark, which was indeed a most holy thing, and stood in the most holy place; but there were other holy things, in the care of which the service of the Kohathites lay; as the shewbread table, the candlestick, and the altars of incense and burnt offering, and the vail, and the ministering: vessels, which Jarchi reckons with it, as more holy than all other things.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 4:4
“About the most holy things - Omit “about.” The sense is, “this is the charge of the sons of Kohath, the most holy things:” i. e. the ark of the covenant, the table of showbread, the candlestick, and the golden altar, together with the furniture pertaining thereto. It appears, from a comparison of Num 4:16, Num 4:28, Num 4:33, that the ministry of the Kohathites was superintended by Eleazar, the older of the two surviving sons of Aaron; and that of the two other families by Ithamar.”
Kohath is counted first, though Gershon stands first in Levi's line at Numbers 3:17, so the order of the three families here follows the load rather than the birth. Numbers 3 had counted every male Levite from a month old, while this count takes only the men between thirty and fifty, the ones who will lift. Albert Barnes points out that the phrase rendered enter into the host is military language, literally to war the warfare. Two other passages give a different starting age, twenty-five at Numbers 8:24 and twenty at 1 Chronicles 23:24, and Adam Clarke reads the difference as the heaviest carrying work being reserved for men in full strength.
2. (vv. 5-8)
Numbers 4:5
“They shall take down - For upon this necessary occasion the inferior priests are allowed to come into the holy of holies, which otherwise was peculiar to the high-priest. The covering veil - The second veil, wherewith the ark was covered while the tabernacle stood, Exod. xl, 3.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 4:7
“The dishes - Upon which the shew-bread was put. Continual bread - So called because it was continually to be there, even in the wilderness; where though they had only manna for themselves, yet they reserved corn for the weekly making of these loaves, which they might with no great difficulty procure from some of the people bordering upon the wilderness.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 4:8
“And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet,....”
The veil that screened the most holy place comes down and becomes the ark's innermost wrapping, so the curtain that hid the ark inside the tent now travels on it. The ark takes three coverings where the rest take two, and it alone wears blue on the outside, while the table of shewbread wears scarlet and the brasen altar wears purple at verse 13. Barnes reads put in the staves as setting them in order, since Exodus 25:14-15 says the ark's staves were never drawn out of their rings. The shewbread stays on the table while it moves, the continual bread shall be thereon, so the bread before God carries on through the march.
3. (vv. 9-14)
Numbers 4:9
“And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps,.... Which had lamps in it, and were continually lighted, and gave light in the holy place: and his tongs, and his snuff dishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it; by supplying the lamps with oil, and snuffing and trimming them.”
Numbers 4:10
“And they shall put it, and all the vessels thereof, within a covering of badgers' skins,....”
Numbers 4:11
“And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue,.... The altar of incense, which was overlaid with gold, and therefore called a golden one, to which the allusion is in Rev 8:3, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins; after the cloth of blue was spread upon it: and shall put to the staves thereof; into the rings, both made to bear and carry it, upon occasion, from place to place.”
Numbers 4:12
“And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary,.... The garments in which the priests, ministered in the sanctuary, which were laid up in proper places, and which they only wore when in service: and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins; all wrapped up in one bundle: and shall put them on a bar; the same sort of carriage on which the candlestick and its vessels were borne; see Gill on Num 4:10.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 4:12
“For safety, that these holy things might not be filled by rain, or tarnished by the sun. For decency, most of them had a cloth of blue, or purple, or scarlet over them; the ark, a cloth wholly of blue, perhaps an emblem of the azure skies, which are spread between us and the Majesty on high; It was a fit sign of the darkness of that dispensation.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 4:13
“The altar - Hence we may conclude, that they did offer sacrifices at other times, though not so constantly and diligently, as they did in Canaan. Moreover the taking away of the ashes only doth sufficiently imply that the fire was preserved, which as it came down from heaven, Lev. ix, 24.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 4:14
“And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof,....”
The packing runs outward from the ark: the table, then the candlestick, then the golden altar of incense, then the ministering vessels, then the brasen altar out in the court. The candlestick and the loose instruments go on a bar, because only the ark, the table and the two altars were built with rings and staves of their own. Matthew Henry reads verse 13 as a purple cloth spread over ashes in which the holy fire was banked and preserved, so the fire that Leviticus 6:12-13 forbade to go out kept burning while the altar moved. Blue, purple and scarlet are the three colours of the tabernacle hangings at Exodus 26:1, and here they are the colours of its packing.
4. (vv. 15-16)
Numbers 4:15
“And when Aaron and his sons had made an end of covering the sanctuary,.... Not the holy place, nor the most holy place, for these were not covered by them; but "the holy things" in them, as the Septuagint version, the ark, shewbread table, &c. and all "the vessels of the sanctuary"; all appertaining to those holy things, which are before mentioned.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 4:15
“Uzza was struck dead for the breach of this law. Thus were the Lord's ministers themselves then kept in fear, and that was a dispensation of terror, as well as darkness; but now, through Christ, the case is altered; we have seen with our eyes, and our hands have handles, the word of life ( 1 John i. 1 ), and we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 4:16
“And to the office of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, pertaineth the oil for the light,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 4:16
“Eleazar - He himself is to carry these things, and not to commit them to the sons of Kohath. The oversight - The care that all the things above mentioned be carried by the persons and in the manner expressed.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The Kohathites carry the holiest things in Israel and are forbidden to touch them, and the verse gives the penalty without softening it, lest they die. 2 Samuel 6:6-7 records the rule set aside when the ark went on a cart and Uzzah put out his hand to steady it, and Matthew Henry names that death in his comment here. Eleazar, the elder surviving son of Aaron, carries the oil, the incense, the daily meat offering and the anointing oil himself and holds the oversight of everything else, while verses 28 and 33 put Gershon and Merari under his brother Ithamar.
5. (vv. 17-20)
Numbers 4:17
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, and unto Aaron,.... And gave them a very solemn and awful charge about this affair of the Kohathites, it being a very hazardous one they were employed in: saying; as follows.”
Numbers 4:18
“Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites. Or give no occasion, as the Targum of Jonathan; or be not the cause of their cutting off, as Jarchi, through negligence or inadvertency of theirs, in packing up the above things, and delivering them to them.”
Numbers 4:19
“But thus do unto them,.... As after directed: that they may live and not die; live long, and not die a sudden and violent death: when they approach unto the most holy things; the ark, the shewbread table, &c. to take them up and carry them: Aaron and his sons shall go in; into the holy and most holy places: and appoint them in everyone to his service, and to his burden; what everyone shall do, and how they shall take them up, and bear them.”
Numbers 4:20
“When the holy things are covered - Literally, כבלע keballa, when they are swallowed down; which shows the promptitude with which every thing belonging to the holy of holies was put out of sight, for these mysteries must ever be treated with the deepest reverence; and indeed without this they could not have been to them the representatives of heavenly realities. See the concluding note Num 4:36 (note).”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The warning goes to Moses and Aaron rather than to the men in danger, and it takes the form of a charge to the priests, cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites. Careless covering would destroy the family that carries, so the weight of the risk sits on the men who pack. Verse 20 keeps the bearers out while the holy things are being covered, which means the Kohathites handled what they were never permitted to see. Adam Clarke observes that the Hebrew behind covered is nearer to swallowed up, and Henry read the whole arrangement as the darkness of that dispensation, which is a reading of the older commentators rather than a claim the text makes.
B. Gershon carries the curtains and coveringsvv. 21-28
Gershon is the eldest of Levi's three sons and his families are numbered second, and their charge is the fabric of the tent, the curtains, the coverings, the hanging at the door, the hangings of the court and the cords. Verse 24 calls it to serve, and for burdens, and verse 26 closes so shall they serve, so one word covers the standing work and the carrying work alike. Every load is assigned by Aaron and his sons, and verse 27 says ye shall appoint unto them in charge all their burdens, so each man received his piece from the priests. Gershon answers to Ithamar, the younger son of Aaron, who had already kept the account of the tabernacle's materials at Exodus 38:21.
Numbers 4:21
“And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Though Aaron is not mentioned here, he was concerned in taking the sum of the Gershonites, as well as of the Kohathites, as appears from Num 4:41, saying; as follows.”
Numbers 4:22
“Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon,.... As well as of the sons of Kohath; for though Gershon was Levi's eldest son, yet his posterity were not excused from the service of the tabernacle, and bearing things of it in journeying: throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families; all in their several houses, and in the several families in those houses, that were of the age next mentioned, were to be numbered.”
Numbers 4:23
“From thirty years old and upward, until fifty years old, shalt thou number them,.... Take an account how many there are of that age, and so fit for service (a); See Gill on Num 4:3, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation; as the rest of the Levites; see Num 4:3; (a) לצבא צבא "ad militandum militiam", Montanus, Drusius.”
Numbers 4:24
“This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens. The former of these phrases Aben Ezra interprets of setting up the tabernacle, making the bread (the shewbread), slaying (the sacrifices), and keeping, that is, watching and guarding, the tabernacle; and the latter of what they did when journeying, bearing and carrying the things assigned to them, afterwards mentioned.”
2 more voices on this verse
Numbers 4:24
“THIS is the gist of the whole matter—"This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens: and they shall bear . . . so shall they serve." The Gershonites were part of the tribe of Levi which God selected, instead of the first-born of all Israel, to serve Him in a very special manner. They were to act as the representatives and substitutes for all the first-born, who were set apart, as the Lord's in a very peculiar sense.”
Charles Spurgeon· written before 1892· The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2829: “Lowly Service” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
Numbers 4:24
“This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, &c.--They were appointed to carry "the curtains of the tabernacle"--that is, the goats' hair covering of the tent--the ten curious curtains and embroidered hangings at the entrance, with their red morocco covering, &c.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 4:25
“The curtains - The curtains or covering of goats-hair. The tabernacle - The ten curtains which covered the boards of the tabernacle; for the boards themselves were carried by the Merarites. His covering - The covering of rams-skins which was put next over those ten curtains.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 4:26
“And the hangings of the court,....”
Numbers 4:27
“At the appointment of Aaron and his sons,.... As they shall order and direct: shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites; everyone of them was to take their share, as Aaron and his sons should appoint them: in all their burdens, and in all their service; what each of them should carry, and in what they should perform duty: and ye shall appoint to them in charge all their burdens; charge them carefully to keep all that were committed to them to bear, that none be lost, not a pin nor a cord.”
Numbers 4:28
“The Gershonites and Merarites are superintended by Ithamar, Aaron’s younger son, who had already had the oversight of the tabernacle in its construction Exo 38:21. Thus, readily do the permanent offices of the leaders of the Israelite community spring out of the duties which, under the emergencies of the first year of the Exodus, they had been led, from time to time, to undertake.”
C. Merari carries boards, bars, and socketsvv. 29-33
As for the sons of Merari: Merari carries the frame, the boards, the bars, the pillars, the sockets, the pins and the cords. Verse 32 orders that the instruments of their charge be reckoned by name, so every pin and every cord was inventoried and answered for, and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown draw from it that God disregards nothing belonging to his service. This is the heaviest load in the chapter, since the sockets of the sanctuary alone weighed a hundred talents of silver at Exodus 38:27, and Numbers 7:8 gave Merari four wagons where Gershon had two and Kohath had none.
Numbers 4:29
“As for the sons of Merari,.... The third and youngest son of Levi: thou shalt number them after their families, by the house of their fathers; which is the form of expression used of them all; See Gill on Num 4:2.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 4:29
“It was a useful lesson, showing that God disregards nothing pertaining to His service, and that even in the least and most trivial matters, He requires the duty of faithful obedience.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 4:30
“From thirty years old and upward,.... The Septuagint version here, and in Num 4:3, renders it, from twenty five years old and upward, agreeable to Num 8:24, at the which age the Levites went into the tabernacle, to wait and to learn their business, but they did not enter upon it till thirty: even unto fifty years old shalt thou number them; at which age they were discharged from business: everyone that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation; See Gill on Num 4:3.”
Numbers 4:31
“And this is the charge of their burden,.... What should be committed to their care and charge, and they should bear and carry: according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; which was assigned to them as their part, and which was very heavy and cumbersome, and therefore they had wagons allowed them, Num 7:8, the boards of the tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and sockets thereof; all these belonged to the holy and to the most holy place; see Exo 26:15.”
Numbers 4:32
“And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 4:32
“None of these shall be lost. Commandment is given concerning the bones, a covenant made with the dust. They are in safe custody, and shall be produced in the great day, when this tabernacle shall be set up again, and these vile bodies made like the glorious body of Jesus Christ.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Numbers 4:33
“This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari,....”
D. The workmen counted, every man to his burden
1. (vv. 34-41)
Numbers 4:34
“Moses and Aaron and the chief of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites, &c.--This enumeration was made on a different principle from that which is recorded in the preceding chapter [Nu 3:15]. That was confined to the males from a month old and upward, while this was extended to all capable of service in the three classes of the Levitical tribe.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 4:35
“From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Numbers 4:36
“Those that were numbered - In Num 3:27, etc., we have an account of the whole number of the Levites, and here of those only who were able to serve the Lord in the sanctuary. By comparing the two places we find the numbers to stand thus: - Levite Family Able Men Unable Men Total Kohathites 2,750 5,850 8,600 Gershonites 2,630 4,870 7,500 Merarites 3,200 3,000 6,200 Thus we find that the whole number of the Levites amounted to 22,300, of whom 3,580 were fit for service, and 13,720 unfit, being either too old or too young.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Numbers 4:37
“These were they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Numbers 4:38
“And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Numbers 4:39
“From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Kohath yields two thousand seven hundred and fifty men of working age and Gershon two thousand six hundred and thirty. Set against Numbers 3, where the whole families from a month old came to eight thousand six hundred for Kohath and seven thousand five hundred for Gershon, about a third of each family falls inside the window from thirty to fifty. Each count closes with the same refrain, according to the commandment of the Lord by the hand of Moses, which is how the chapter says that the arrangement came from God rather than from the men carrying it out.
2. (vv. 42-49)
Numbers 4:43
“From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Numbers 4:44
“Even those that were numbered of them after their families,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Numbers 4:46
“All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chief of Israel numbered,.... See Gill on Num 3:34.”
Numbers 4:47
“From thirty years old and upward even unto fifty years old,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Numbers 4:48
“Even those that were numbered of them,.... See Gill on Num 4:34.”
Numbers 4:49
“According to the commandment of the Lord, they were numbered by the hand of Moses,....”
Merari numbers three thousand two hundred, more serving men than either of the other two families, though Numbers 3:34 counted Merari the smallest of the three at six thousand two hundred. The chapter gives no reason for that proportion and the older commentators supply none they agree on. The total is eight thousand five hundred and fourscore out of the twenty and two thousand Levites counted from a month old at Numbers 3:39, and the last verse sets each man in his place, every one according to his service, and according to his burden. It takes that many men to move one tent, and Israel is still camped at Sinai.
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 4. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.