Numbers 8:1-4 is a restatement by God; a set of instructions to Aaron that was given.

Numbers 8:2 " Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, `When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick.' " 

Notice that "the Lord spake unto Moses", for this was a major problem for Miriam and Aaron, Moses' sister and brother, as we will study from chapter 12. These two decided that God shouldn't be talking to Moses alone, and a little jealousy crept in. This second verse is talking about the seven light stand holder, or the lamp stand [Menorah]. Exodus 25:31 gives us the construction of this Menorah. "And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be the same."

Exodus 25:32 "And six branches shall come out of the sides of it, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side." The description of the lamp stand continues through the Exodus 25:37. This candlestick was to be placed on the south side of the Sanctuary where it would better light the holy of holies, rather than the entrance of the tabernacle tent. Only the High priest was allowed into the holy of holies, or the person entering would die.

Numbers 8:3 "And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as the Lord commanded Moses."

"As the Lord commanded Moses"; notice the chain of command here, God to Moses, and Moses to Aaron, with Aaron doing the work.

Numbers 8:4 "And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work: according unto the pattern which the Lord had shewed Moses, so he made the candlestick."

This Menorah, or candlestick ["work"] was made from one solid piece of gold that was beaten into shape. All of the shape as well as the fine work of flowers and candlestick

Numbers 8:5 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

So from verse five to fourteen, we will be studying the cleansing of the Levites, for these Levites were numbered for redemptions purposes, redeeming the firstborn of the rest of the tribes, freeing the firstborn men for service in the army, and releasing them from the commitment to service to the Lord. So now these Levites are to be cleansed for their service to God to work within the Sanctuary.

Numbers 8:6 " "Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them."

Moses has already consecrated the priests at this time, Aaron and his two sons, as recorded in Leviticus 8:1 - 9. So the consecrating of the priests is different than the cleansing or purifing of the Levites.

Numbers 8:7 "And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean."

The word "cleanse" as used here means to Levitically decontaminate these Levites. So this "water of purifying" means "sin water" as recorded in the American and English translations of the Scriptures, however the "water that cleanseth" today is the Living Water, which is Jesus Christ. The things that God is requiring of the Levites here is an outward purification, by the washing of their bodies, shaving their heads, and completely washing their cloths, to reflect on their inward purification of these Levites. This form of cleansing is very close to the cleansing process for that of a leper, as recorded in Leviticus 14:8, 8.

Numbers 8:8 "Then let them take a young bullock with his meat offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin offering."

To this point in Leviticus 8 we have seen the outward cleansing of the Levites that are given to service to the Lord, and here is the inward cleansing of the Levites.

Numbers 8:9 "And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt gather the whole assembly of the children of Israel together:"

"And thou shalt bring the Levites to enter the court", and then bring all the rest of the people into the tabernacle of the congregation. It would have been impossible to fit two and a half million people into the tabernacle at one time, but it would have been the tribal and family heads to present themselves to witness the cleansing of the Levites.

Numbers 8:10 "And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites:"

By putting the hands of these tribal leaders on the heads of these Levites, it then turns these Levites over, and releases them into the service of God.

Numbers 8:11 "And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the Lord."

"To execute the service of the Lord", was to serve in the tabernacle, and perform all the duties and offer the sacrifices required by God under the law. All of these blood sacrifices were done away with at the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus died, the veil was rent in two, and the approach to our Heavenly Father no longer went through the Holy of holies, and over the mercy seat that sat on the ark of the Covenant. When our Lord ascended into Heaven, He was there to mediate on our behalf at the throne of God. This is the reason that you and I pray our prayers in Jesus' name, for in doing so, we are telling God that we recognize that Jesus was the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary, lived the perfect and unblemished life, and became the perfect sacrifice that YHVH our heavenly Father promised mankind, all the way back to Genesis 3:15, in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:15 "And I [God] will put enmity between thee [Satan] and the woman [Eve], and between thy [Satan's] seed [the Kenites] and her Seed [Jesus Christ]; It [Christ] shall bruise thy [Satan's] head, and thou [the Kenites] shalt bruise His [Jesus] heel."

God was talking to Satan here, as given in verse fourteen; after Satan deceived Eve and caused her to have sexual relations that would bring about the birth of Cain, the son of Satan through Eve. It would be the kids of Satan that would kill the prophets, and take over the priesthood by the time of Jesus' birth. And then at the appointed time, Satan would cause the murderous hatred in the Kenites hearts to; "bruise the heel" of our Lord and Savior. This was the reason for Jesus, the Son of God, to come to this earth in the form of flesh man, live the perfect life, and then be offered as the unblemished blood sacrifice for one and all times.

Was it the Levitical priest that did this? Hardly, for over four hundred years prior [coming out of Babylon] it was recorded that those "Nethinims" [strangers (Kenites) given to service] returning to Jerusalem to set up the temple worship, had not one Levite amongst them. That is what the book of Ezra and Nehemiah is all about. No wonder the priests and Pharisees had murder in their hearts and wanted to kill Jesus at his birth, and at the start of his service.

I Chronicles 2:55 "And the families of the scribes which dwelt at Jabez; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and the Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab."

No the Kenites are not from the lineage of Abraham, nor of Adam, but of the lineage of Cain; for that is what "Kenite" means, "sons of Cain". Rechab was of the lineage of Cain, from the land of Hemath. Jabez is the earily heathen name of Jerusalem, and the scribes returning to Jerusalem are not Levites of the sons of Aaron, but strangers of Hamath, taken in as the woodcutters, and in time taking over the entire priesthood, coming out of Babylon in the fifth century B.C.

However, until the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, this Tabernacle and Temple form of worship was the way that mankind would approach the Father. The blood of animals had to be the covering for without the shedding of blood there would be no forgiveness of sin. When the hands are laid upon the heads of the bullocks, the transfer is made for the individual to the animal that would be sacrificed for that persons sins. It was a temporary covering for the year, and it would continue on until the perfect sacrifice could be made "for one and all times" [Hebrews 10:5 - 10].

But back in Numbers, this cleansing of the Levites, was symbolic of the Levites being turned over to the Lord. Remember that the Levites were taken to replace the firstborn of the sons of all the tribes, as God ordered by in Egypt. And now the people of the congregation are releasing this certain portion of the tribes [Levites] to serve only in the tabernacle.

Numbers 8:12 "And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, unto the Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites."

By these Levites laying their hands on the head of the bullocks was symbolic of sacrificing themselves to the Lord, and the service of the sanctuary. So now they are both outwardly cleansed and inwardly cleansed and ready for service. This is New Testament also, for Paul taught that we do have two bodies, and out ward body, our flesh body; and our inward body, our soul. One is mortal flesh that will see death, and the other inward body, the soul, will see spiritual death if that individual has not put himself or herself under the shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So the outwardly cleansing of verses six and seven dealt with the outward body, the flesh body, and the sin and burnt offerings atoned for the soul of the Levites, cleansing them before the Lord.

Numbers 8:13 "And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering unto the Lord."

The offering that is given here before the Lord, was the wave offering. Anything that is waved unto YHVH is God's, it wholly belongs to God. So from this point on, each of the sons of Aaron and the other Levites will belong to God's work only.

Numbers 8:14 "Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be Mine."

Remember that God put a claim on all the Levites in Numbers 3:45; "Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle; and the Levites shall be Mine: I am the Lord." They are separated for only one purpose, to give service in the sanctuary, instead of the military as all the other males 20 and over would be.

Numbers 8:15 "And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering."

Numbers 8:16 "For they are wholly given unto Me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the firstborn of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto Me."

"Wholly given" means they are the given ones, which is not to be confused with the non-Israelite Kenites, that were "strangers given to service" in the temple. Joshua 9:18-24 told of another time after the Israelites had entered into the promise land, and were tricked by some heathen people into living among the Israelites. They knew what the Israelites had done to those other nations, as God gave them their land. So they plotted and presented themselves to be the "Hewers of wood and drawers of water unto all the congregation", in the service of the tabernacle. This was forbidden by God, but because of Joshua and the elders not paying attention to who these heathen people were, God allowed it happened.

Here in Numbers, we see that God set the Levites up as the priestly tribe, and not all Levites were priests, for many had other duties outside the tabernacle, in support of Aaron and his sons. The priests were Aaron and his sons, and the others were given to service in support of the duties required at the tabernacle.

Numbers 8:17 "For all the firstborn of the children of Israel are Mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself."

Remember that there were 273 more firstborn males of the tribes of the children of Israel, than there were Levite males one month and older. So those 273 male firstborn had to be redeemed at five shekels per head. When God moved through Egypt and smote all the firstborn man and animals of the land, the Israelites were spared the death of that night of the Passover. Because the firstborn life was spared, God claimed each of the firstborn for Himself for the future, and here in Numbers, those firstborn are redeemed by the Levites, so instead of the firstborn given service to the tabernacle, only the Levites are to be giving service at the tabernacle.

Numbers 8:18 "And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel."

Exodus 32:26 tells us why God chose the Levites as the priests, and for priestly duties. After Moses came down off the mount and saw the children of Israel bowing and worshipping the golden calf, So Moses made a condition, and asked "Who will stand on the side of God?" and all the Levites stepped forward to the last man. So if the firstborn was taken from every tribe, you would have a mixture of many different families and tribes. However it became far more orderly with only one tribe as committed to service to the tabernacle, and one family, Aaron's, to the priestly duties. There were 22,273 men in the three families of the sons of Levi, and each were dedicated into the service of the Sanctuary [Numbers 3:42,43].

Numbers 8:19 "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 an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary." 

The plague that would have come on the children of Israel for violating God's law that no man other than Aaron and his sons, were to serve in the priest's duties, and the high priest only was to enter into the holy of holies.

Numbers 8:20 "And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according unto all that the Lord commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them."

To this point in time, in the second year after the departed out of their bondage in Egypt, the children of Israel had followed Moses instructions very well with very little trouble.

Numbers 8:21 "And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the Lord; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them."

This purification was an outward purification, by their washing of clothes, and their bodies and allowing Aaron to make an atonement for their cleansing. So the washing of clothes were the outward cleansing, while the atonement offering to the Lord was for the inward cleansing. As in I Corinthians 15:40 where Paul talks about the two bodies, the corruptible and the incorruptible; the body celestial, and the body terrestrial. Both of these bodies had to be cleansed before a person was fit to serve in the sanctuary.

Numbers 8:22 "And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them."

God selected Aaron and his two sons to oversee the duties of the tabernacle, and be the priests before the people and God. The two sons of Aaron each had a family to work under them to do certain tasks of the tabernacle. The Kohathites were separated from the other Levites, and given the duties of handling the holy things of the tabernacle, as the set up and took down to for movement of the Tabernacle. And the Gershonites and Merarites each has specific tasks in taking care of parts of the tabernacle, in setting up, and taking down the tent in packing and unpacking for movement as the tribes moved from one location to another. In doing this, the Levites were excluding from service in the Army, as all the other males of the tribes from 25 years old and older.

Numbers 8:23 "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,"

Numbers 8:24 ""This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: for twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:"

The age of twenty five was the start of the commencement of a five years' probation. The start of the the numbering of these priests would not be until that person reached the age of thirty (30). Each priest must serve in this probationary capacity by the directions of God given to Moses. However by Divine direction given to David, as recorded in I Chronicles 23:23, 24, and 27, this age of probationary service was change, and would then start at age twenty (20).

"In to wait", in the Hebrew text was to amass an army for war. However, these Levites were excluded from war, and army duties. So this army was not to fight, but to take care of the tabernacle duties of the congregation. This work is the hard work, of packing up the tent, the panels, the pillars, and all the other heavy duties in the movement of the Tabernacle. At twenty five they entered into the service to do the work, but they never were assigned the duty until they were thirty years old. There was a five year probation period before they were fixed an assignment.

Numbers 8:25 "And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:"

At the age of fifty the men would not be part of the heavy labor work any more; the wood cutting for the fires, water carrying for the sacrificing, slaughter and care of animals, and so on; as well as the duties of moving of the tabernacle.

Numbers 8:26 "But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service." Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charge."

This "charge" in the Hebrew text is "Mishmereth", # 4931; It was to keep custody, the sentry, and preservation of the order within the Sanctuary. Their duty was to observe, and make suggestions and lead the congregation in the ordinances set forth by God. So after the age of fifty, their duties shifted from the hard labor of the tabernacle, to more an advisory position within the tabernacle. These older men knew the tabernacle well both inside and out, and they knew where things were to be, and why everything was done in the orderly manner that it was done.