Consecrating the tribe of Levi
8
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 📚“Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When you light the lamps, the seven lamps will give light in front of the lampstand 📖”.3 And Aaron did so. He set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, just as the LORD commanded Moses. 4 📚And the workmanship of the lampstand was hammered gold. From its base to its flowers it was of hammered work. He made the lampstand according to the pattern 📖 which the LORD had shown to Moses.
5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 📚“Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.
7 📚And this is what you are to do to them to cleanse them: Sprinkle purifying water on them, and have them shave their whole body and have them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean. 8 📚Then have them take a young ox with its grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, and take another young ox as a sin offering;
8:8 The first ox was for a burnt offering. See the notes at Lev 1:1-9. The sin offering was an acknowledgment that though they were holy to the Lord they were still sinners and needed atonement.⚜
9 📚and bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation; and gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together, 10 📚and bring the Levites into the presence of the LORD. And the children of Israel shall put their hands on the Levites; 11 📚and Aaron shall present the Levites before the LORD as an offering of the children of Israel, so that they may perform the service of the LORD.
8:10-11 Lev 1:4. This laying on of hands signified their acceptance of the Levites to serve for them in the tabernacle. They became a living offering to God for His holy service (compare Rom 12:1-2).⚜
12 📚“And the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the ox; and you shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites. 13 📚And you shall set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and present them as an offering to the LORD. 14 📚In this way you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
15 📚“And after that the Levites shall go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. And you shall cleanse them and present them as an offering. 16 📚For they are to be given wholly to me from among the children of Israel. I have taken them for myself instead of the first issue of every womb, all the firstborn of the children of Israel. 17 📚For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. I set them apart for myself on the day that I struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt. 18 And I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn of the children of Israel.
19 📚And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron 📖 and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make atonement for the children of Israel, so that there will be no plague 📖 among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel approach the sanctuary”.
20 And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did this to the Levites. The children of Israel did to the Levites according to all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning them. 21 📚And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes. And Aaron presented them as an offering before the LORD, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them. 22 📚And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation in the presence of Aaron and his sons. They did to the Levites just as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning them.
23 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 24 📚“This is what pertains to the Levites: from twenty-five years of age, and upward, they shall go in to perform the work of the tabernacle of the congregation; 25 📚and at the age of fifty years they are to stop doing its work, and shall not serve any more; 26 📚they may assist their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to perform the duties, but shall not do any work. Thus shall you deal with the Levites about their duties”.
8:23-26 In Num 4:3 the beginning age for their service is given as 30 years. It would seem from this that during the first five years of service the Levites were apprentices and assistants. For 25 years they did the heavy work of the tabernacle. At age 50 they could completely retire if they wished, or continue on doing light work, or perhaps helping in the work of supervision, for an indefinite period of time, presumably many years more. No such age restrictions were given for Aaron and his sons, the priests. The priestly work of believers now (prayer, praise, giving of gifts, etc) does not cease at any age.⚜