And these are the sons of Levi by their names Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari.
Three names look like a simple family record. But everything that follows in the chapter — who camps where, who carries what, who serves whom — runs along these three lines.
The verse is a heading. The chapter then takes each name in turn and gives that family its own load to carry.
Levi had three sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari (Num. 3:17). Their families and descendants formed three different groups, each with different tasks. The Gershonites looked after the tabernacle, the tent and the coverings (v. 25). God entrusted the instruments of the sanctuary to the Kohathites (v. 32). The Merarites took care of the boards, the bars, the pillars and sockets of the tabernacle (v. 37).
Levi's family did not earn this position. It rests on what God did in one night in Egypt.
The Levites were firstfruits offered to God. They stood in place of the firstborn, in whom God had taken Israel to Himself when He struck down the firstborn of the Egyptians.
A Levite knew whose he was before he knew what he carried. That belonging goes back to a price paid in Egypt.
In Egypt, God had spared the firstborn of the Israelites on the basis of the blood of the Passover lamb. This was the price by which the firstborn had been redeemed. So they belonged to God. Now, this is the place God gave the Levites: He chose them instead of all the firstborn. A Levite would therefore see himself as redeemed by God, and so as God's possession.
Commentators note that each name matches the load that family carried. Gershon means "stranger," and his family carried the coverings.
This is what makes the saint "a stranger" in the world — which is what the name Gershon means. If we walk showing the character of the Lord Jesus, and so realise that our place is the wilderness, we can be sure of the result. It will plainly mark us out as strangers in the world.
The middle family carried the ark, and their name matches that charge.
"Kohath," all are agreed, means "assembly." He does indeed have the ark in his charge, the centre of gathering. God reveals Himself to us in Christ, and as the fruit of His work. So to lift up Christ is to draw people to Him, just as He promised.
Merari's family handled the frame — the boards, bars, pillars and sockets that held the tabernacle up. Their name matches that work too.
So Merari's service has to do with the house of God... with supporting, strengthening and steadying what is His witness in the world. He stands for the workman, as Gershon stands for the "stranger" and pilgrim, and Kohath for the one occupied with Christ. His name — Merari, "bitterness" — speaks of how painful this service is, and self-love will break down under it.
The split into three families was never a ranking.
Although the whole tribe of Levi stood "joined with Aaron," for service they fell into different classes. "They did not all have the same office"... Paying careful attention to this important point would save us from much of that "unwise" comparing of ourselves and our service with other people and their service. Such comparing is most unholy, and as a result most unhealthy.
Birth decided which of the three families a man belonged to, and with it his work. He did not apply for it.
So not every Levite had the same area of work – and none of them could choose his own service. If you were born a Merarite, you could not look after the vessels of the sanctuary, which God had entrusted to the Kohathites. So it is with Christian service: God gives different types of service to different believers.
One mind lay behind all three assignments.
God puts the families of the tribe into their different places. He is sovereign in appointing them, so of course everything stands in its place, perfectly ordered — Kohath with his precious vessels, Gershon with his fine linen, Merari with his boards and pillars. Service is a gift, and so the gift is what appoints a man to his service, since the Giver can make no mistake.
- Redeemed first. God took the Levites in place of the firstborn He spared in Egypt. They belonged to Him before they carried anything.
- Named for the work. Gershon means "stranger," and his family carried the coverings. Kohath means "assembly," and his family carried the ark. Merari means "bitterness," and his family carried the frame.
- One standing, three offices. All alike stood joined with Aaron, yet they did not all have the same job. So there is no ground for comparing yourself with others.
- Assigned, not chosen. A Merarite could not take a Kohathite's job. The Giver makes no mistake, so the place He gives is the right one.
- Bitterness included. Merari's name means "bitterness": holding up God's witness is painful work, and self-love breaks down under it.
And these are the names of the sons of Gershon according to their families Libni and Shimei.
Numbers 3 sets the tribe of Levi apart for the work of the tabernacle. The chapter moves by names: Levi's three sons, then the sons under each of them. Verse 18 names Gershon's two sons, and with the name comes a family line and a load to carry.
The Levite count did not start at working age. It started in infancy. Kelly notes how early it began, and what that shows about God's grace.
Here they are counted — apart from Israel, but still counted — from infants only days old, marked out for service long before it could begin. (Compare Gal. 1:15) God gives strength before He asks for service; but from their earliest days He sets them apart, according to His grace and His purposes.
Libni and Shimei did not step forward to claim a role. Kelly points to who did the choosing.
It was not at all a question of picking out the men who seemed best suited to carry the boards and the curtains, or the vessels of the sanctuary. God arranged it all, taking it completely out of man's hands: He chose suited men Himself.
Birth decided the branch, and the branch decided the task, with no crossing over:
So not every Levite had the same area of work – and none of them could choose his own service. If you were born a Merarite, you could not take care of the vessels of the sanctuary; God entrusted those to the Kohathites. So it is with Christian service: God gives different types of service to different believers.
One writer reads the names themselves, joining the two sons to their father.
"Gershon" means "exile." His two sons are Libni, "white," and Shimei, "my report" — names that are not hard to join into one meaning. A true exile is someone who feels his exile from the home of his heart, even if it lasts only a while. Out of that spirit of being a stranger comes power for purity and freedom from defilement. And the last name may well speak of what has the greatest value for him here: the "report" of things he cannot yet see.
after-check: meaning kept
Later in the chapter these two families receive the tent and its coverings to carry. Mackintosh asks what those coverings stood for.
There was little to attract anyone in the rams' skins and badgers' skins. But little as there was, it was the Gershonite's high privilege to take them all up and carry them gladly on his shoulders across the trackless sands. So what are we to understand by the covering of the tabernacle? I believe that, in a word, it pictured the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the part that met the eye.
Mackintosh ties that carrying back to the name Gershon itself:
This is what makes the believer "a stranger" in the world — which is what the name Gershon means. If we walk showing the character of the Lord Jesus, and in doing so know our place is in the wilderness, we can be sure it will give our character a very clear mark of the stranger in this world.
Gershon's load was not Kohath's or Merari's. Mackintosh shows how the separate loads still leaned on each other.
The boards and sockets were no use without the curtains, and the curtains were no use without the boards and sockets. And the pins looked so small — yet who could measure how much they did to hold things together and keep the visible unity of the whole? So everything worked to one common end, and each man reached that end by attending to his own special line.
- Named — God counted the Levites while they were still infants, marking them out for service "long before it could begin," because He gives strength before He asks for service.
- Placed — Libni and Shimei did not apply for a post; God "chose suited men Himself," and no Levite could swap branches.
- Burdened — the Gershonites carried the tent and its coverings, which Mackintosh reads as a picture of "the character of the Lord Jesus Christ" — the part that met the eye.
- Strangers — carrying curtains instead of settling in a house stamped the family with the meaning of their father's name, "exile."
- Joined — curtains needed boards, boards needed curtains, and even the pins held the whole together. Different tasks, one end.
And the sons of Kohath according to their families Amram and Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.
This verse lists four names: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel — the families of Kohath. Commentators read the list as a picture of how God hands out work, and of the limits He sets on it.
These families had a fixed place in the camp and a fixed set of holy things in their care.
Kohath (which means assembly), with the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites and Uzzielites, numbered 8,600 people. Their place was on the south side, and they had charge of the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the screen, and all the service that went with them.
What they carried points beyond itself.
The things the Kohathites carried are all pictures of the objective truths of Christianity — not the subjective ones, as we have seen in Gershon. For all this furniture speaks of Christ and His perfect work. So Kohath stands for the ministry of the glory of the Lord Jesus, set out in unique excellence, far above and apart from any human understanding or appreciation of it. It is absolute, living and real. John's Gospel presents this beautifully, and so does Hebrews 1.
Read in the order the verse gives them, the meanings of the four names fit together.
Kohath's first son is Amram, "people of the Exalted One." It is a beautiful name, if we link it with that gathering to Christ which Kohath's own name seems to speak of. The next is Izhar, "oil," the undoubted type of the Spirit as the Anointer. Then we have Hebron, "union," as some put it, or "communion," as we have taken it elsewhere. Either way, it is the effect of the Spirit's work. Last comes Uzziel, "the power of God," the father of Elizaphan. Plainly these names run together in the most natural way, and they harmonize in a blessed picture of what Kohathite ministry produces.
The count of these families did not start with grown men.
They are counted from one month old and upward, just as the firstborn are, and for the same reason. If God redeemed or counted only strong men, would it not look as if He took "pleasure in the legs of a man"? But it is the soul He values, and the soul of an infant is precious in His sight: His "delight" is "in the sons of men."
This family received nothing from the princes' offering. What they carried explains why.
The sons of Kohath had the privilege of carrying all that was most precious among the instruments and furniture of the sanctuary. So they received no part of the princes' offering. It was their high and holy service to carry these things on their own shoulders, and not to use wagons or oxen. The more closely we look at the things put in the charge of the Kohathites, the more we shall see that they set forth, in type, the deeper and fuller ways God has shown Himself in Christ.
Each family of Levi had its own work, and no one was to take up another's.
Korah came from Izhar, the second name in this verse.
Korah was the son of Izhar, a son of Kohath. With Dathan and Abiram he led the rebellion against Moses and Aaron, saying that they took too much on themselves, when all the people were holy.
The tragedy was not that Korah had too little, but that he would not stay with what he had.
How much better it would have been for Korah if he had stayed content with his Levite service, which was of the very highest order. His work as a Kohathite was to carry some of the most precious vessels of the sanctuary, but he aimed at the priesthood, and fell into the pit.
- Named — Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel head the four families of Kohath. They camped on the south side, with the ark, table, lampstand and altars in their charge.
- Counted — the count starts at one month old. God values the soul, not a man's strength, and the soul of an infant is precious to Him.
- Meaning — in order, the names make one picture: a people of the Exalted One, anointed by the Spirit, brought into communion, and held by the power of God.
- Carried — this family used no wagons and no oxen. What they carried spoke of Christ, and it went on their own shoulders.
- Kept — each family had its own load and was not to reach for another's. Korah, of Izhar's line, refused that limit, aimed at the priesthood, and fell.
And the sons of Merari according to their families Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' houses.
Numbers 3 counts the tribe of Levi family by family. This verse closes the list with Levi's third son, Merari, and his two sons, Mahli and Mushi. The list looks like plain record-keeping. But commentators see God giving names, places and work to the people He had taken for Himself.
God chose the Levites in place of Israel's firstborn. That choice had a price behind it:
In Egypt, God had spared the firstborn of the Israelites on the basis of the blood of the Passover lamb. This was the price by which the firstborn had been redeemed. So they belonged to God. Now this is the place God gave the Levites: He chose them instead of all the firstborn. A Levite would therefore regard himself as redeemed by God and so as God's possession.
The names are strange for a tribe set apart to serve. One writer ties their meaning to the work these families were given:
The last of Levi's three sons is Merari, "bitter," with his two sons, Mahli, "sick," and Mushi, "yielding." These are the strangest names of all for sons of Levi. These families have charge of the boards of the tabernacle and its bars, its pillars and sockets, and those of the court and the pegs and cords. Here it is clear that Merari is taken up not so much with Christ Himself as with the people of the Lord... His work is mainly what we may call church work. And who has ever done this work without finding the bitterness that Merari's name expresses?
Each of Levi's three sons led a group with its own charge. Merari's group got the framework, not the furniture or the coverings:
The Gershonites looked after the tabernacle, the tent and the coverings (v. 25). The Kohathites were trusted with the vessels of the sanctuary (v. 32). The Merarites had the care of the boards, the bars, the pillars and sockets of the tabernacle (v. 37).
Those parts held the whole structure together. One writer sees a picture in that:
Merari had charge with his sons of the boards, the sockets, pins and cords. These held the building together... In the framework of the tabernacle, bars of acacia wood join the boards. This is a picture of the building Ephesians speaks of, "the whole structure, being joined together" — the church. The work of Merari suggests the thought of union.
The verse groups these men by clan and father's house. Nobody chose his own role, one writer notes:
Merari, with the Mahlite and Mushite families, numbered 6,200, and their place was on the north side, opposite Dan... Each had his specific work given, and there could be no misunderstanding about it. How strange it would have been if these 22,000 Levites had formed committees and sub-committees to divide the work and direct it! ... God had given all the instructions. Obeying them and doing the work faithfully were the essential things. The same is true in connection with the church. Every member in the body of Christ has a service to render. The Lord Himself puts each member in place, and He gives each one his service. He did the same for these sons of Levi and their families, giving them their specific work in and around the tabernacle.
Merari's portion was the boards, sockets, pegs and cords — the plainest load in the camp. One writer ties that to the meaning of his name:
His name — Merari, "bitterness" — speaks of how painful such service is. Self-love breaks down under it, or runs off into some odd path that is easier on flesh and blood... Who cares for these boards and bars, and pillars and pins and cords? Who thinks of God's plan and pattern, and all the small details of divine appointment? Who wants work of this menial kind, costing so much and bringing in so little? ... It calls only for steady accuracy and careful obedience.
Yet one writer makes the smallest item in Merari's charge a test of whose taste the work serves:
Putting one "pin" in its true place may mean giving up your own will to God. It means willingly taking up what is little, and not counting it little. It means listening carefully to God's words, which is sweeter to Him than much that people think a costlier sacrifice. Service about God's house must own Him as Master, and that He may have things to His taste, not we to ours.
- Redeemed. God took Levi in place of the firstborn He spared by the blood of the Passover lamb. Every man in this list belonged to God before he ever served Him.
- Named. Merari, Mahli and Mushi mean "bitter," "sick," "yielding." They are strange names for a serving tribe, and commentators tie them to the work these families were given.
- Assigned. Merari's families carried the boards, bars, pillars, sockets, pegs and cords. These parts held everything together — a picture of the church joined together.
- Ordered. God gave the work; nobody chose it, and no committees divided it. The Lord Himself still places each member of the body of Christ.
- Costly. Self-love runs from this service: plain, unnoticed, detailed. Yet putting one pin in its true place is obedience God values above showier offerings.
Of Gershon, the family of the Libnites, and the family of the Shimites these are the families of the Gershonites.
This verse takes Gershon, the first of Levi's three sons, and names his two clans. Behind that dry roll-call lies a question the rest of the chapter answers: why does God count a family at all, and who decides what each branch of it will do?
The census reaches down to babies one month old, long before any of them could lift a curtain.
Here they are counted — apart from Israel, but still counted — from babies only days old. They are marked out for service long before that service could begin. God gives strength before He claims service. But from their earliest days He sets them apart according to His grace and His intentions.
Another writer asks why the count did not start with grown men.
The count runs from a month old and upward, as it does for the firstborn, and for the same reason. If God redeemed or counted only men in their strength, would it not look as if He took "pleasure in the legs of a man"? (Ps. 147:10.) But it is the soul He values, and the soul of an infant is precious in His sight.
The three names form one picture, each feeding the next.
"Gershon" means "exile"; his two sons are Libni, "white," and Shimei, "my report": these names are not hard to join into one meaning. A true exile is someone who feels his exile, even if it lasts only a while, from the home of his heart. Out of that spirit of being a stranger comes power for purity and freedom from defilement. The last name may point to what has the fullest value for him in this case: the "report" of things not now seen.
The Gershonites carried the outside of the tabernacle, not its treasures. That load was no small honour.
Here was Gershon's work, to carry through the waste and howling wilderness the tabernacle and its coverings. There was little that was attractive about the rams' skins and badgers' skins. Yet it was still the high privilege of the Gershonite to take them all up. He was glad to carry them on his shoulders across the trackless sands. What, then, are we to understand by the covering of the tabernacle? I believe it pictured the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was what would meet the eye.
One commentator reads the same charge forward into Christian service and names the ministry it stands for.
The Gershonites were responsible for the coverings of the tabernacle, the hangings for the entrance of the tabernacle, all the hangings of the court, its entrance hangings and cords, and so on. These all speak of the practical moral character of the Lord Jesus or of His saints. Gershon would therefore stand for the ministry that insists on the moral perfection of the Lord Jesus. It also insists on the practical righteousness that should mark all believers, as a witness to our faith in the perfect one.
The tent they carried matched the name they bore.
This is what makes the believer "a stranger" (as the name Gershon means) in the world. Suppose we walk in the display of the character of the Lord Jesus. Suppose that, in doing so, we realise that our place is in the wilderness. Then we may be sure it will give our character in the world the clear tone of a stranger. The curtain pictured another feature of the stranger character: looking ahead. This was most blessed. God dwelling in curtains made it clear that neither He nor the ark of His strength had found a resting place. Both were still travelling on towards "a rest that remained."
Splitting Levi into named clans was not bookkeeping; it fixed who did what.
So not every Levite had the same sphere of activity – and none of them could choose his own service. If you were born a Merarite, you could not look after the vessels of the sanctuary. Those were the Kohathites' charge. So it is with Christian service: God gives different types of service to different believers.
The clan lines divided the work without dividing the tribe.
In standing, the whole tribe of Levi was "joined with Aaron." In service, they fell into different classes. "All had not the same office." I know of nothing in the walk and service of the Christian that demands more attention than this. Proper attention to it would save us from much of that "unwise" comparing of ourselves and our service with other people and their services.
- Counted — God counted Gershon's clans from a month old. He marked them out for service long before they had strength for it. He values the soul, not the legs.
- Named — Gershon is "exile," Libni "white," Shimei "my report." The sense of exile produces purity, and purity lives on the report of what is not now seen.
- Charged — they carried the coverings and hangings, the outside that meets the eye. It pictures the character of Christ and the practical righteousness expected in His people.
- Strangers — they carried a tent, not a house. Neither God nor the ark had found a resting place, so they kept moving toward a rest still ahead.
- Assigned — no Levite chose his own work, and in standing they were all one. That leaves no room for comparing your service with anyone else's.
Those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, those that were numbered of them were seven thousand five hundred.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
The families of the Gershonites encamped behind the tabernacle westward.
Numbers 3 gives each Levite family its own station around God's tent, and verse 23 puts the Gershonites at the back, on the west. Why did God fix where each family camped, and what did that spot have to do with their work?
Each Levite house received its own line of service from God. One writer draws out what that means for anyone who serves:
There were three principal houses — Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. They, with their sons, each have a line of service given into their hands in Numbers 4... In practice, nothing is more important than this: each servant of God should know the work He has given him to do. And once he knows it, he should stick to it. It also matters greatly never to interfere with another's service. The Lord is sovereign in this. He divides according to His own will.
God placed each family; none of them chose. Another writer ties that placing to the gift behind it:
In the first part of this section God puts the families of the tribe into their different places. He is sovereign in appointing them. So everything is of course in its place and perfectly ordered — Kohath with his precious vessels, Gershon with his fine linen, Merari with his boards and pillars. Service is gift, and therefore gift is the appointment to service, since the Giver can make no mistake.
Set the Levite positions side by side and a square appears:
It should be noted that Merari's camping north of the tabernacle is significant. Kohath camps to the south, Gershon to the west, while Moses, Aaron, and his sons camp toward the east. So they fill Judah's place in the inner circle.
Moses and Aaron camped on the east, at the entrance the priests guarded. Gershon lay at the far end, behind the tent, with Ephraim camped further out on the same side:
Gershon (exile) with his sons, Libni and Shimei, were 7,500 souls. Their place was on the west side of the tabernacle, opposite Ephraim... They had charge of the tabernacle, the tent, the coverings and the hangings of the door of the tabernacle.
The reason for all this ordering was the One in the middle of it:
God has His people numbered and gathered around Himself. He dwelt in the camp — "in the midst of which I dwell." Could love do more? Impossible! The twelve tribes guarded the tabernacle of the Lord. The Levites camped right around the court. Moses, Aaron, and the priests guarded the entrance through which people came to God... But what gave the camp in the wilderness its unity, strength, and glory was the presence of God in His tabernacle, at the centre of His chosen people.
The name Gershon carries its own lesson:
First, his name — "exile" — speaks plainly of separation from the place he belongs to. For us that place is heaven. Gershon belongs by birth to Canaan, and his life afterward in Egypt fits his name. Is this not to be our character too — "strangers," because we belong to heaven, "partakers of the heavenly calling"?
What they carried matched the name they bore:
Notice too that the curtains, coverings, and hangings that Gershon handles are in fact all lines of separation. They define the tabernacle itself, or they mark off the court and separate it from the wilderness around. So they speak easily and naturally of the boundary lines of God's special enclosure — which is what the Church is in the world.
One writer applies this to the Church:
If we walk showing the character of the Lord Jesus, and in doing so realise that our place is in the wilderness, we can be sure of the result. It will mark us out clearly as strangers in the world... The Church has laid down the rams' skins and badgers' skins, and with them the Gershonite character. In other words, the Church has stopped walking in the footsteps of her rejected Lord and Master. So she is no longer the weary, worn stranger she should be, walking the dry and barren desert with the burden on her shoulders. She has settled down in the green places of the world and made herself at home.
- Centre. God dwelt in the middle of the camp. Every tent, Levite or tribal, took its place from Him.
- Assigned. God gave Gershon the west side. No family chose its own ground.
- Named. Gershon means exile — a family whose very name marked them as people away from home.
- Matched. Their charge was the curtains and hangings, the lines that separated God's enclosure from the wilderness around it.
- Kept. Do not lay the burden down. Carrying it is what keeps a believer a stranger instead of a settler.
And the prince of the father's house of the Gershonites was Eliasaph the son of Lael.
Numbers 3 sets the tribe of Levi around the tabernacle — Israel's tent sanctuary — family by family, and this verse names the man put over the Gershonite branch. God chose this leader; the people did not. And both his name and his father's fit the work his family carried.
The whole arrangement of Levite service came from God, down to who would head each family.
It was not at all a matter of picking out those who might seem best for carrying the boards and the curtains, or the vessels of the sanctuary. God arranged it all, taking it completely out of man's hands: He chose suitable men Himself. Where is there any happiness except in simply doing the will of God? Nothing else is so sweet.
The verse calls Eliasaph chief of his father's house — head of one branch of the family. Older translations call him its prince. Both his name and his father's point past the man himself.
His prince is Eliasaph, "God has added" — a name we met before in the leader of the tribe of Gad, and close in meaning to Joseph. "Increase" fits the practical line of Gershon's work. The reminder that increase comes from God is a good one for those on this path. They may be in danger of self-occupation, and that always means self-confidence. He is the son of Lael, "of God," or "belonging to God." The name seems to well up out of the deep joy of a soul that has found here the secret of its strength and progress.
The most honoured load — the holy vessels — did not go to the eldest line.
Here the principle of election was displayed. Gershon was the eldest son of Levi, so his descendants might have expected the task of carrying the sacred vessels on their shoulders. Instead God gave that work to the descendants of Kohath, Levi's second son. How often we see in Scripture that blessing and privilege do not run in the order of nature.
Their load looked plain — skins and cloth. One writer reads the outer covering as a picture of what people saw in Christ.
Here was Gershon's work: to carry the tabernacle and its coverings through the barren, howling wilderness. This was true Levite service, and most blessed service. There was little that was attractive in the rams' skins and the badgers' skins. Yet it was the high privilege of the Gershonite to take them all up and carry them cheerfully on his shoulders across the trackless sands. What, then, are we to understand by the covering of the tabernacle? I believe, in a word, it pictured the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was the part the eye would see.
Carrying that covering marked the man who carried it. One writer applies this to the church of today.
This is what makes the believer a stranger in the world — and "stranger" is what the name Gershon means. Suppose we walk in the character of the Lord Jesus and, in doing so, realise that our place is the wilderness. Then we may be sure it will give us the clear mark of a stranger in the world… The Church has laid down the rams' skins and badgers' skins, and with them the Gershonite character. She has stopped walking in the footsteps of her rejected Lord and Master. She should be the tired and worn stranger, treading the dry and barren desert with the burden on her shoulders. Instead she has settled down in the green places of the world and made herself at home.
Naming a head over the Gershonites drew a line around their work. Neighbouring families depended on them but could not do their job for them.
Gershon had nothing to do with the boards and the pins, and Merari had nothing to do with the curtains or the coverings. Yet they were closely connected and depended on each other. The boards and sockets would not do without the curtains, and the curtains would not do without them… Suppose a Gershonite took it into his head to leave the curtains and turn to the pins. He would leave his own work undone and interfere with the work of the Merarite. That would never do.
- Chosen — God appointed the head of the Gershonites. No one picked the man who seemed best suited.
- Named — Eliasaph means "God has added," Lael "belonging to God." Increase comes from God, which leaves no room for self-confidence.
- Passed over — Gershon was the eldest, yet the holy vessels went to Kohath's line. In Scripture, privilege often ignores the order of nature.
- Loaded — the coverings they carried had little to attract the eye. They pictured the character of the Lord Jesus as people saw Him.
- Distinct — the curtains were Gershon's, the pins Merari's. Leave your own charge to take up another's, and both jobs suffer.
And the charge of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting was the tabernacle and the tent, its covering, and the curtain of the entrance to the tent of meeting.
God handed one Levite family the soft parts of the tabernacle: its curtains, its coverings, and the screen at the door. Why this family, and what does a job made of cloth and cords teach about serving God?
Gershon was Levi's firstborn son. The most honoured job might have gone to his line. It did not:
God appointed the duties of the Levites as it pleased Him. So each Levitical family could set to work, and no one was to interfere with them. They were responsible to God, and from Him they had received authority for their service. Here the principle of election showed itself. Gershon was the eldest son of Levi. His descendants might have expected to be chosen to carry the sacred vessels on their shoulders. But God entrusted that work to the descendants of Kohath, Levi's second son. How often we see in Scripture that blessing and privilege do not run in the order of nature.
The verse names fabrics and skins, not gold. Each material carries meaning:
These curtains are made of goats' hair or fine twined linen. The coverings are rams' skins and badgers' skins. From Revelation 19:8 we are clear that the "fine linen" is "righteousness" — practical righteousness. The curtains that form the tabernacle itself represent this righteousness in Christ. In His flesh the divine Word "tabernacled," as John 1:14 puts it. The hangings for the court represent the righteousness of saints, shown outside the sanctuary in the world. The hangings for the "door" and "gate" again represent Christ, the only way of access.
All these pieces have one thing in common. They are edges:
The curtains, coverings, and hangings that Gershon has to do with are in fact all lines of separation. They define the tabernacle itself, or mark off and separate the court from the wilderness around. They speak, then, easily and naturally, of the boundary lines of God's special enclosure — which the Church is in the world.
The outer covering was the plainest part of the structure, and the part everyone saw:
Here was Gershon's work: to carry the tabernacle and its coverings through the waste and howling wilderness. There could be little attractiveness in the rams' skins and badgers' skins. Yet even so, it was the high privilege of the Gershonite to take them all up and carry them cheerfully on his shoulders across the trackless sands. What, then, are we to understand by the covering of the tabernacle? I believe, in a word, it pictured the character of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was what would meet the eye.
The family's name fits the job:
Gershon and his sons had charge of the coverings and the fine linen. Gershon means exile, a stranger. His service shows us that we are separated ones and strangers in the world. This separation must show itself in practical righteousness.
Curtains also said something about God: He had no settled house yet. That brings a warning:
The Church has laid down the rams' skins and badgers' skins, and with them the Gershonite character. In other words, the Church has stopped walking in the footsteps of her rejected Lord and Master. She should be a tired and worn stranger, crossing the parched and barren desert with the burden on her shoulders. Instead she has settled down in the green places of the world and made herself at home. But there was another feature of the stranger character pictured in the curtain — anticipation. God dwelling in curtains showed plainly that neither God nor the ark of His strength had found a resting-place. They were journeying on toward "a rest that remained."
Each family had its own job, and that was the point:
Gershon had nothing to do with the boards and pins, and Merari had nothing to do with the curtains or the coverings. Yet the two depended on each other. "The boards and sockets" would not do without "the curtains," and the curtains would not do without the boards and sockets. Suppose a Gershonite had decided to abandon "the curtains" and turn his hand to "the pins." He would have left his own work undone and interfered with the work of the Merarite.
This removed all competition over which task was grander:
Seen in this light, it would be a matter of complete indifference whether a man had to carry a pin, a curtain, or a golden lampstand. The great question for each and for all was simply, "Is this my work? Is this what the Lord has given me to do?"
- Chosen — God assigned each family's work. Being firstborn won Gershon nothing; privilege in Scripture often runs against the order of nature.
- Covering — this family carried the outer fabric and skins: a picture of the character of Christ, the part that met the eye.
- Boundary — curtains, hangings and screens are all lines of separation. They mark off God's enclosure from the wilderness around.
- Stranger — the name Gershon means exile or stranger, and the work fitted the name. A people carrying curtains has not settled down.
- Content — God assigns every task, so pin and curtain and lampstand rank alike. One question is left: is this the work He gave me?
And the hangings of the court, and the curtain of the entrance to the court, which surrounds the tabernacle and the altar, and the cords thereof for all its service.
Numbers 3 gives each Levite family its share of the tabernacle, and Gershon's share ends here: the linen wall of the courtyard, the curtain at its gate, and the ropes. Why would God spell out ropes and curtains by name, and what did this humble charge teach the people who carried it?
No Levite picked his own job. One writer draws out what that means for every servant of God:
Nothing is more important in practice than this: every servant of God should know the work He has given him to do, and once he knows it he should stick to it. It also matters greatly never to interfere with another's service. The Lord is sovereign in this. He divides according to His own will.
A fixed task feels different depending on the heart:
To someone whose will was unbroken, it might seem a hardship and a very tiresome task to have to keep the same position, or to do exactly the same line of work. Such a person might long for something fresh — some variety in his work. But where the will was subdued and the heart adjusted, each one would say, "My path is perfectly plain; I have only to obey."
One writer reads the fine linen of these hangings as a picture of righteousness — first in Christ, then in His people:
Revelation 19:8 makes it clear that the "fine linen" is "righteousness" — practical righteousness. The curtains that make up the tabernacle itself represent this righteousness in Christ. In His flesh the divine Word "tabernacled," as John 1:14 puts it. The hangings for the court represent the righteousness of saints, shown outside the sanctuary in the world.
One writer sums up what this family's work stood for:
Gershon would therefore stand for the ministry that insists on the moral perfection of the Lord Jesus. It also insists on the practical righteousness that should mark all believers, as a witness to our faith in the perfect One.
Notice what all of Gershon's items have in common: they mark edges.
Notice that the curtains, coverings and hangings Gershon deals with are all lines of separation. They define the tabernacle itself, or they mark the court off from the wilderness around it. So they speak, easily and without strain, of the boundary lines of God's special enclosure — and the Church is such an enclosure in the world.
That boundary is no theory. Linen means conduct:
Gershon's separation is not imaginary. It is not a line drawn in the air. Practical righteousness keeps it up, as these linen hangings suggest. How much depends on it! If God cannot walk with the world, then my walking with Him needs one thing first: separation from it.
The verse names the screen for the entrance apart from the hangings around the court:
Here, then, was the entrance to the court. There was only one. To see inside, people had to come to that many-coloured hanging. The white curtains on the other three sides were five cubits high, about seven and a half feet — only a giant could look over them.
The plain linen speaks of the character of God's people. The curtains at the door and gate speak of someone else — they "represent Christ, as the only way of access" (Frederick W. Grant).
The verse ends with cords. One writer imagines dropping the man whose whole job is pins and cords:
Why not let this sad-faced Merarite go, with his pins and cords of the tabernacle always getting tangled, and be content with Kohath and Gershon? But if we are to set up the Lord's tabernacle in the wilderness, we must have the pins and cords.
Which is why the size of the task was never the point:
Seen in this light, no one would care whether a man had to carry a pin, a curtain, or a golden lampstand. The great question for each and for all was simply: "Is this my work? Is this what the Lord has given me to do?"
- Assigned. God handed out the work, family by family. Know your own task and leave other people's alone — that is the first mark of a real servant.
- Linen. Gershon carried fine linen — a picture of righteousness: perfect in Christ, then seen in the daily conduct of His people.
- Boundary. Those hangings drew the line between God's enclosure and the wilderness outside. Practical righteousness keeps that line up, not talk.
- Door. The wall had one entrance only. Commentators read the curtain at that gate as Christ, the one way in.
- Cords. The ropes look like nothing, but the tent will not stand without them. The only question is this: did the Lord give you this work?
And of Kohath, the family of the Amramites, and the family of the Izharites, and the family of the Hebronites, and the family of the Uzzielites these are the families of the Kohathites.
The verse lists four families that came out of Kohath — Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel. Why does God name and count households like this, and what did it mean to belong to this branch of Levi?
The list is not filler. One writer sees in it God's care to leave no guesswork in His service.
Their number is given, and they were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle. Everything was set out with the greatest possible care. God would avoid confusion in the service of the tabernacle, and also room for human will. He would make it the humblest thing on earth — a matter of simple obedience.
Kohath's line is where the priests came from. So this short list of families stands close to the ark and the priesthood.
Out of Kohath came Aaron and the priestly family, and the sons of Kohath had special charge of the ark and the other vessels of the sanctuary.
Kohath was not Levi's eldest son. Yet his families carried the holiest things, and one writer sees a pattern in that.
Whilst Gershon was the eldest son of Levi, and so his descendants might have expected that they would be selected to carry the sacred vessels on their shoulders, that work was entrusted to the descendants of Kohath, who was Levi's second son. How often do we see in Scripture that blessing and privilege do not run in the order of nature.
The Kohathites got no cart to help them. That was an honour, not a hardship.
Gershon and Merari might need wagons and oxen to carry the boards, but not Kohath. His charge was too precious to hand over to anyone or anything but himself. So it was his high and honoured place to carry it all on his shoulders. What a privilege it was to carry the ark, the table, or the golden lampstand! Would it not show he could not value his high calling at all, if he had looked for oxen to help him in his holy service?
One writer finds these names hard to read, then draws out what the leader's name says about this service.
Kohath comes next with his four sons, whose names (with his own) are much harder to read. His charge was the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils belonging to all this. As a picture, the Kohathite service looks outward: he is occupied with what is outside himself, in Christ. Fittingly, his prince is Elizaphan, "whom God has hidden." Here, in the presence of God and taken up with Christ, self is lost. He is the son of Uzziel, the "power of God."
Korah was one of these Kohathites. The highest privilege did not keep him from wanting more.
How much better it would have been for Korah if he had stayed content with his Levite service. It was of the very highest order. His work as a Kohathite was to carry some of the most precious vessels of the sanctuary. But he aimed at the priesthood, and fell into the pit.
Birth settled what each Levite handled. One writer carries that over to Christian service today.
Not every Levite had the same area of work — and none of them could choose his own service. If you were born a Merarite, you could not care for the vessels of the sanctuary. God had entrusted those to the Kohathites. So it is with Christian service: God gives different types of service to different believers.
- Named — God names four families, leaving no room for confusion or human will in His service.
- Chosen — Kohath was not the eldest, yet his families got the holiest charge. Privilege does not follow the order of nature.
- Carried — No wagon spared them. They bore the most precious vessels on their own shoulders, and that was their honour.
- Hidden — Their leader's name points to a service where, in the presence of God, self is lost.
- Content — Korah held this very charge and still reached for the priesthood. The greatest privilege is wasted on a heart that wants someone else's place.
According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, who kept the charge of the sanctuary.
The count of Kohath's families ends with more than a number. It gives 8,600 males, counted from babyhood, and a job: "keeping guard over the sanctuary." Two questions follow. Why does God count babies among His servants? And what does it mean for a whole family to stand guard over holy things?
God counted Levi from the nursery, long before any of them could serve. One writer draws out what that says about God's timing:
Here they are counted — apart from Israel, but still counted — from infants only days old, marked out for service long before that service could begin. God gives strength before He claims service. But from their earliest days He sets them apart according to His own grace and intentions.
Another writer gives the reason God did not wait for strength:
They are numbered from a month old and upward, as the firstborn are, and for the same reason. If God redeemed or counted only men in their strength, would it not look as if He took "pleasure in the legs of a man"? But it is the soul He values, and the soul of an infant is precious in His sight.
The guard had a King to protect. One writer sets the Levites' work beside the priests' work:
They are to be the bodyguard of the divine King. The priests go in to God to perform their intercessory service on behalf of the people. In the same way, the Levites keep the people from the wrath that would follow if a stranger intruded into the tabernacle of God. And they carry the holy things of that tabernacle through the desert on all their journeys.
These 8,600 men were not priests. One writer shows where the line fell:
The priests were given the ministry of the sanctuary. There they acted as worshippers and intercessors. The work of the Levites as given in this chapter, and the one that follows, was of a more outward nature. They had to guard the tabernacle. They put it up and took it down. They carried its different parts. The LORD ordered every detail of this work.
The 8,600 did not pick their post. One writer reads the care behind that as the lesson:
God laid it all down with the greatest possible care. He would avoid confusion in the service of the tabernacle, and He would leave no room for human will. He would make it the humblest thing on earth — a matter of simple obedience. Their charge, we gather, was to be a most honourable service: the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the vessels of the sanctuary that they minister with, and the screen, and all its service.
The limits went further than the choice of job:
They could not choose their burden. They were not even allowed to touch the holy vessels. First the priests covered them in the ordered way and put them on bars or poles. Only then did the Kohathites come forward, each to receive his appointed service and learn what his duty was.
The family name itself points to what this guard duty was for:
"Kohath," all are agreed, means "assembly." He has indeed in his charge the ark, the centre of gathering. In Christ, and as the fruit of His work, God reveals Himself to us. To lift Christ up in that way is to draw men to Him, just as He promised.
Another writer warns what follows when the Church stops carrying them:
The Church grew weary of the curtains and the boards, and laid aside her Gershonite and Merarite character. In the same way she has laid aside her Kohathite character, because she has stopped carrying the ark and the table on her shoulder.
No Kohathite carried alone. The load itself set the rule:
They must walk together. No vessel of the sanctuary could be carried without a bar, which supposes at the very least two bearers. They had to set aside every personal consideration. One might be stronger than another, or able to walk faster. But neither the strong nor the weak could decide the pace or the time. That depended on the cloud alone, which directed every movement of the camp.
- Redeemed — God counted the Levites like the firstborn, and for the same reason: they were His own before they were His workers.
- Counted — the count starts at one month old. God values the soul, and He marks out His servants long before they can lift anything.
- Assigned — no Kohathite chose his burden. God fixed every detail, leaving no room for human will, only obedience.
- Guarding — they stood as a bodyguard around the King's tent. They kept the stranger out, and so kept the wrath away.
- Carried together — every holy vessel needed two bearers on one bar. The cloud set the pace, not the strongest man in the pair.
The families of the sons of Kohath encamped on the side of the tabernacle southward.
Numbers 3 gives each Levite family its own place around the tabernacle, the tent where God lived among His people. Kohath's descendants get the ground to the south. One line about a compass direction raises real questions. Who chose the spot? What came with it? Why record it at all?
The families do not select their ground. One writer sees a purpose behind such exact instructions:
Their number is given; and these were to be on the side of the tabernacle southward. Everything was laid down with the greatest possible care. God would avoid confusion in the service of the tabernacle, and also room for human will. He would make it to be the humblest thing on earth — a matter of simple obedience.
The south side was not a neutral address. The priests came from this branch of Levi, and its charge was the holy furniture itself:
Out of Kohath came Aaron and the priestly family, and the sons of Kohath had special charge of the ark and the other vessels of the sanctuary. Kohath was to pitch tent on the south side of the sanctuary. Aaron and the priests, along with Moses, had to dwell on the east side, facing the entrance to the court. They kept charge there, and no stranger could come near, on pain of death.
Wagons and oxen could carry the loads of other Levite families. Not Kohath's. One commentator treats that as an honour, not a hardship:
Gershon and Merari might need wagons and oxen to carry the boards, and so on, but not Kohath. His charge was too precious to trust to anyone or anything but himself. So it was his high and honoured place to carry it all upon his shoulders. What a privilege, for example, to be allowed to carry the ark, the table, or the golden lampstand! And would it not have shown a complete failure to appreciate his high calling if he had looked for the help of oxen in his holy service?
The name Kohath also carries meaning. One writer links it to what the family carried:
"Kohath," all are agreed, means "assembly." He has indeed in his charge the ark, the centre of gathering. To lift up Christ as the One in whom, and as the fruit of His work, God reveals Himself to us, is to draw men, according to His assurance, to Him.
The names of Kohath's own sons are read the same way — Amram as "people of the Exalted One," Izhar as "oil," Hebron as "union" or "communion" — and the leader named in the next verse fits the pattern too: "His prince is beautifully Elitzaphan, 'whom God has hidden,' for here it is indeed in the presence of God, and in occupation with Christ, that self is lost."
One writer draws a lesson for teaching today from what they carried:
Everything the Kohathites carried pictures the truths of Christianity as they are in themselves. They are not truths about our own experience, which is what we saw with Gershon. For all this furniture speaks of Christ and His perfect work. So Kohath stands for the ministry that sets out the glory of the Lord Jesus in unique excellence. That glory is far above and apart from anything we can understand or appreciate of it.
The south side had another occupant. Reuben's tribe camped on that same side. One writer sees grievances growing out of that closeness:
Turn to Numbers 2, which gives the order in which the tribes were to encamp around the tabernacle. Then turn to Numbers 3, which gives similar details about the Levites. We find that both the tribe of Reuben and the Kohathites had their place on the south side. As a result they were close together to discuss and stir up their imagined grievances.
Korah was a Kohathite. He held the privilege this verse describes, and reached past it:
How much better it would have been for Korah had he rested content with his Levite service, which was of the very highest order. His work as a Kohathite was to carry some of the most precious vessels of the sanctuary. But he aimed at the priesthood, and fell into the pit.
- Place — God chose the south side; Kohath did not. He ordered the camp so there was no confusion and no room for human will.
- Charge — That place came with the ark, the table, the lampstand and the other vessels of the sanctuary, held by the family that gave Israel its priests.
- Shoulder — No wagons for Kohath. The most precious load rode on men's shoulders.
- Assembly — Kohath means "assembly." He carried the ark, the centre of gathering. Lifting up Christ draws people to Him.
- Contentment — Korah held this very honour and reached past it. The highest service becomes ruin the moment it stops being enough.
And the prince of the father's house of the families of the Kohathites was Elizaphan the son of Uzziel.
Numbers 3 gives every branch of the tribe of Levi its place in camp, its leader, and its exact work at the tabernacle — the tent where God lived among Israel. Verse 30 names the leader of the Kohathites: Elizaphan son of Uzziel, set over the families who carried the holiest furniture of all.
God fixed every detail here. He chose which side of the tent each family slept on, and who led them. One writer draws out why God left nothing loose:
Their number is given; and these were to be on the side of the tabernacle southward. Everything was laid down with the greatest possible care. God would avoid confusion in the service of the tabernacle, and also leave no room for human will. He would make it the humblest thing on earth — a matter of simple obedience.
A dictionary entry gathers what else is recorded about him:
Son of Uzziel, and a 'chief' of the Kohathites. Numbers 3:30; 1 Chronicles 15:8. He is called ELZAPHAN in Exodus 6:22; Leviticus 10:4. With Mishael he had the painful duty of removing the dead bodies of Nadab and Abihu.
The man who once carried out those dead bodies is now the head of the families who carry the holy things.
after-note: DELETE
The Kohathite charge was the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars. This was the one load no cart could carry:
Gershon and Merari might need wagons and oxen to carry the boards and so on, but not Kohath. His charge was too precious to hand to anyone or anything but himself. So it was his high and honoured place to carry it all on his shoulders. What a privilege, for example, to be allowed to carry the ark, the table, or the golden lampstand!
And the men under Elizaphan handled these things without ever looking at them:
Whenever Israel travelled, the Kohathites carried these things, though they did not see them. Before they could carry them, the priests had to cover them with the right coverings and insert the carrying poles.
Some commentators read the Hebrew names as part of the picture:
His charge was the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, and the utensils belonging to all this... So it is easy to see that, in the picture, the Kohathite ministry looks outward. His occupation is with what is outside himself in Christ... His prince is fittingly Elizaphan, which means "whom God has hidden." For here it is indeed in the presence of God, and in occupation with Christ, that self is lost. He is the son of Uzziel, the "power of God."
Mackintosh draws a lesson for Christians out of the family name:
Nothing shows higher character in the world than the gathering spirit expressed in the name of Kohath. Should not Christians rebuke man's often-repeated attempts at forming associations, by a real union in everything? And how can they do that? Only by gathering more closely around their common centre, Christ, in all the blessed fullness and variety of that Name.
Elizaphan did not campaign for the post. God placed him, as God placed each family of the tribe:
In the first part of this section God puts the families of the tribe into their several places. He is sovereign in His appointment here, and so of course everything is perfectly ordered in its place — Kohath with his precious vessels, Gershon with his fine linen, Merari with his boards and pillars. Service is gift, and therefore gift is the appointment to service, since the Giver can make no mistake.
Another writer imagines what would have happened had the Levites organised themselves instead:
Each had his specific work given. There could be no misunderstanding about it. How strange it would have been if these 22,000 Levites had formed committees and sub-committees to divide the work and direct it! All this would have brought in disorder. All they needed to do was the work into which the Lord had called them.
- Placed — the south side, the named chief, the listed vessels. God fixed each family's position, leaving no confusion and no room for human will.
- Given — Elizaphan's headship was appointment, not ambition. Service is gift, and the Giver makes no mistake in handing it out.
- Honoured — the men he led carried the ark and the table on their shoulders. No cart, no oxen: the charge was too precious for that.
- Hidden — his name means "whom God has hidden," son of "the power of God": in occupation with Christ, self is lost.
- Enough — the Levites needed no committees to divide the work. Knowing the task God gave, and doing it, was the whole of their obedience.