John Gill Commentary Numbers 4

And the Lord spoke to Moses, and to 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.

Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of
Levi
They were to begin with them first, and number them:

after their families, by the house of their fathers ;
as many as were of the age after mentioned; and the reason why they began with Kohath, and not Gershon, the eldest son, as in the former numbering, was; not as Aben Ezra suggests, because of Moses and Aaron, who sprung from him, for that, if it had any strength in it, would have held good before; but rather, as Chaskuni and others, because the Kohathites carried the ark and other holy things;

though the true reason seems to be, because of the order observed in taking down the tabernacle, and removing the parts of it, and the things in it; and it was most proper and reasonable, when they were about to take it down, first to take out the ark, table which was the business of the Kohathites to carry; next to take down the curtains, coverings, and hangings for the tabernacle and court, and the doors thereof, which were the charge of the Merarites; therefore, in this order the sum out of each of them fit for business were ordered to be numbered.

From thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old ,
&c.] This is the full time of the Levites service, and the prime season of man's life for business; at thirty years of age he is at his full strength, and when fifty it begins to decline.

It is said in the Misnah {x}, ``a son of thirty years for strength,'' upon which one of the commentators ^F25 makes this remark, that the Levites set up the tabernacle and took it down, and loaded the wagons, and carried on their shoulders from thirty years and upwards.

Thus both John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ, and Christ himself, entered into their ministry at this age:

all that enter into the host ;
army or warfare; for though the Levites were exempted from going forth to war, yet their service was a sort of warfare; they were a camp of themselves about the tabernacle, and part of their work was to watch and guard it, that it was neither defiled nor robbed; in allusion to this, the ministry of the word is called a warfare, and ministers of the Gospel good soldiers of Christ, and their doctrines weapons of warfare, (1 Timothy 1:18) (2 Timothy 2:3) (2 Corinthians 10:3 2 Corinthians 10:4) ; some interpret this of the troop, company, or congregation of the Levites, which a man of thirty years of age was admitted into for business:

to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation ;
not in the sanctuary, either in the holy place or in the most holy place, where they were never allowed to enter, or do any business in, such as sacrificing, burning incense but in that part of it which was called "the tabernacle of the congregation", or where the people assembled on occasion, and that was the court, which was so called, as Jarchi observes on (Exodus 29:32) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: Bartenora in Pirke Abot, c. 5. sect. 21.

This [shall be] the service of the sons of Kohath, in the
tabernacle of the congregation
What follows, (Numbers 4:4–15);

[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.

And when the camp sets forward upon the cloud's removing and the trumpets blowing: Aaron shall come, and his sons into the holy place: and they shall take down the covering veil, the veil that divided between the holy and the most holy place, which covered all in the holy of holies out of sight:

and cover the ark of testimony with it; together with the mercy seat and cherubim on it, that they might not be seen nor touched by the Levites when they carried them.

Now though the high priest himself might not go into the most holy place but once a year, on the day of atonement, yet on this occasion, when the tabernacle was to be taken down, and the things in it to be removed, both he and his sons might enter without danger; since, as Bishop Patrick observes, the divine Majesty was gone from thence in the cloud which gave the signal for the motion of the camp, and the taking down of the tabernacle.