Commentaries:
No entry exists in Forerunner Commentary for Numbers 3:38.
Numbers 3:38
Excerpted from: Knowing God: Formality and Customs (Part 2)Just hold that in your mind a little bit. The priests were camped right in front of the tabernacle door, and the only door into the tabernacle was on the east side.
So all the Jews were on this side, all the Reubenites were on that side, all the Ephraimites were on that side, and all the Danites were on the other side, but the Levites camped inside those other twelve, and circled the entire tabernacle. Then inside, closer—in fact right in front of the door of the tabernacle—all of the sons of Aaron (the descendants of Aaron, the priests) camped right in front of the door.
Remember that both the priests and the Levites were instructed to kill anybody who made an unauthorized attempt at entry. What God did was establish three walls of defense to protect against any unauthorized attempt to enter. The first wall was the outer ring around the entire tabernacle, consisting of the twelve tribes, that could at least prevent an unauthorized intrusion from Gentiles (because everything inside was Israelites.)
The second wall consisted of the Levites, and they could defend against illegal intrusion by any Gentile who might slip through, and also against any illegal intrusion by any Israelite who came from the other twelve tribes. And then there was an inner wall of priests massed right in front of the door to prevent anyone except a priest from entering. Taken together they were like the cherubim guarding Eden. Together, what they were doing, was guarding the way to the Tree of Life which you and I are allowed access to.
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