Numbers 4:28-33

4:28 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites concerning the tent of meeting. Their responsibilities will be under the authority ¹  of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. ² 

The Service of the Merarites

4:29 “As for the sons of Merari, you are to number them by their families and by their clans. 4:30 You must number them from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the company to do the work of the tent of meeting. 4:31 This is what they are responsible to carry as their entire service in the tent of meeting: the frames ³  of the tabernacle, its crossbars, its posts, its sockets, 4:32 and the posts of the surrounding courtyard with their sockets, tent pegs, and ropes, along with all their furnishings and everything for their service. You are to assign by names the items that each man is responsible to carry. ⁴  4:33 This is the service of the families of the Merarites, their entire service concerning the tent of meeting, under the authority of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”

Ezra 8:26-30

8:26 I weighed out to them ⁵  650 talents of silver, silver vessels worth 100 talents, ⁶  100 talents of gold, 8:27 20 gold bowls worth 1,000 darics, and two exquisite vessels of gleaming bronze, as valuable as gold. 8:28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, just as these vessels are holy. The silver and the gold are a voluntary offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers. 8:29 Be careful with them and protect them, until you weigh them out before the leading priests and the Levites and the family leaders of Israel in Jerusalem, ⁷  in the storerooms of the temple of the Lord.”

8:30 Then the priests and the Levites took charge of ⁸  the silver, the gold, and the vessels that had been weighed out, to transport them to Jerusalem to the temple of our God.

[4:28]  ¹ tn Or “the direction” (NASB, TEV); Heb “under/by the hand of.” The word “hand” is often used idiomatically for “power” or “authority.” So also in vv. 33, 37, 45, 48.

[4:28]  ² sn The material here suggests that Eleazar had heavier responsibilities than Ithamar, Aaron’s fourth and youngest son. It is the first indication that the Zadokite Levites would take precedence over the Ithamar Levites (see 1 Chr 24:3-6).

[4:31]  ³ sn More recent studies have concluded that these “boards” were made of two long uprights joined by cross-bars (like a ladder). They were frames rather than boards, meaning that the structure under the tent was not a solid building. It also meant that the “boards” would have been lighter to carry.

[4:32]  ⁴ tn Heb “you shall assign by names the vessels of the responsibility of their burden.”

[8:26]  ⁵ tn Heb “upon their hand.”

[8:26]  ⁶ tn Possibly “100 silver vessels worth [?] talents” or “silver vessels weighing 100 talents.”

[8:29]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[8:30]  ⁸ tn Heb “received.”