🔢WEB · Numbers 3:25
What does Numbers 3:25 mean?
"The duty of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,"
— Numbers 3:25 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Those who were counted of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, even those who were counted of them were seven thousand five hundred.
The families of the Gershonites shall encamp behind the tabernacle westward.
The prince of the fathers’ house of the Gershonites shall be Eliasaph the son of Lael.
The duty of the sons of Gershon in the Tent of Meeting shall be the tabernacle, and the tent, its covering, and the screen for the door of the Tent of Meeting,
and the hangings of the court, and the screen for the door of the court, which is by the tabernacle, and around the altar, and its cords for all of its service.
Of Kohath was 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.
According to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, keeping the requirements of the sanctuary.
Explanation
Numbers 3:25 records one specific assignment within a much larger organizational structure God gave Israel for maintaining the tabernacle, the portable sanctuary where He dwelt among His people during the wilderness years. In plain terms, this verse assigns the Gershonite family of Levites the responsibility for the tabernacle itself—the tent structure, its outer covering, and the screen that hung at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. These were the heavier fabric and structural elements of the sanctuary, distinct from the furniture and utensils inside (
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