🔢WEB · Numbers 4:39
What does Numbers 4:39 mean?
"from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting,"
— Numbers 4:39 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Those who were counted of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred fifty.
These are those who were counted of the families of the Kohathites, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.
Those who were counted of the sons of Gershon, their families, and by their fathers’ houses,
from thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, everyone who entered into the service, for work in the Tent of Meeting,
even those who were counted of them, by their families, by their fathers’ houses, were two thousand six hundred thirty.
These are those who were counted of the families of the sons of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to the commandment of Yahweh.
Those who were counted of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers’ houses,
Explanation
Numbers 4:39 is a single clause within a larger census report, and it simply establishes the age range of Levite men who qualified for service in the Tabernacle: from thirty to fifty years old. The verse belongs to a section of Numbers 4 dealing with the Gershonite clan of Levites, one of three Levitical families (along with the Kohathites and Merarites) given specific responsibilities for the care and transport of the Tent of Meeting and its furnishings. The full count in this passage records how many Gershonite men fell within this age bracket and were therefore eligible and fit to perform their assigned duties.
The book of Numbers was written to record Israel's organization and journey from Sinai toward the Promised Land, traditionally attributed to Moses under divine instruction. Chapters 3 and 4 focus on the tribe of Levi, whom God set apart from the rest of Israel to serve in the sanctuary rather than to fight as soldiers or inherit land like the other tribes
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