Numbers 3-4

Numbers 3 is about Aaron and the Levites. Only Aaron's descendants were priests and the Levites were appointed by God to serve them. "The Lord also said to Moses, “I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman. The Levites are mine, for all the firstborn are mine. When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.” God says this three times in this chapter, so it must be important!

God instructed Moses to count all the Levites by their families and clans and also to count every male a month old or more. The chief leader of the Levites was Eleazar, who was one of Aaron's sons. Since Aaron's two oldest sons died, Eleazar was the next oldest. He was appointed over those who were responsible for the care of the sanctuary.

The rest is just taking census of the Levites. There were clans within the Levites, and each clan had a specific duty, like taking care of the furniture or taking care of the building structure.

Now that they are moving, they need to pack everything up. Everything was holy so they needed to cover everything. Only the priests were allowed to touch it. If a Levite touched a holy object, they would die. Numbers 4:6 says to cover the ark of the Testimony with hides of sea cows (NASB says porpoise, KJV says badger..so the translations are wildly different). What I don't get is where would they find a manatee? Aren't they in the desert?