Commentary for Numbers 1:53

ולא יהיה קצף THAT THERE BE NO ANGER [UPON THE CONGREGATION] — If you act according to My commands there will be no anger, but if not, — i.e., that strangers take part in this their (the Levites’) service, there will be anger, just as we find at the incident with Korah (Numbers 17:11): “for there is anger gone forth [from the Lord]”.

AND THE LEVITES SHALL PITCH ROUND ABOUT THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY, THAT THERE BE NO WRATH UPON THE CONGREGATION OF THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, AND THE LEVITES SHALL KEEP THE CHARGE OF THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY. Although this [verse] was said [specifically] about the Tabernacle set up between the standards in the desert, it constitutes a commandment for all times, [and thus applies] also to the Sanctuary [in Jerusalem], and it is on the basis of this [verse] that [David and Samuel] instituted the mishmaroth.⁹⁶The “guards” of the Sanctuary. Guard was kept in the Sanctuary at Jerusalem at twenty-four places; the guards being priests and Levites. The priests kept watch at three places, the Levites at twenty-one (Midoth 1:1). Thus Ramban understands that the order of the mishmaroth was a twofold one: consisting of the Divisions, as explained above in Note 92, and of guards, as explained here. See my Hebrew commentary p. 200. And the meaning of [the verse before us], and the Levites shall keep the charge at the Tabernacle of the Testimony is that they should keep guard of and patrol the Tabernacle at night, just as the Rabbis have said:⁹⁷Sifre Korach 116. “The priests are to keep watch within [the enclosures or the walls], and the Levites outside,” all of them constituting a kind of “guard of the king’s head.” Similarly we have been taught in the Beraitha of Thirty-two Rules:⁹⁸In interpreting the legal precepts of the Torah, there are thirteen basic principles of exegesis formulated by Rabbi Ishmael. For explaining the Agadic (homiletic) teachings of the Torah, there are thirty-two such rules, formulated by Rabbi Eliezer the son of Rabbi Yosei the Galilean. Ramban’s quotation here is found in Enelow’s edition of the work, page 30. See in Genesis (Vol. I, p. 437) where Ramban refers to this Tannaitic work as “the Midrash of Thirty-two Rules by which Agadah is explained.” Thus, although a wider latitude of interpretation was applied to the homiletic teachings of the Torah, they were yet guarded by a set of rules which assured all such elucidations as being authentic expressions of the Torah. “What is [an example of] a subject not explained in its [proper] place but explained elsewhere? It is written etc. Similarly, it is stated: The families of the sons of Kohath were to pitch on the side of the Tabernacle southward;⁹⁹Further, 3:29. The families of the Gershonites were to pitch behind the Tabernacle westward;¹⁰⁰Ibid., Verse 23. And the prince of the father’s house of the families of Merari being Zuriel the son of Abichail, they were to pitch on the side of the Tabernacle northward.¹⁰¹Ibid., Verse 35. We have not yet heard, however, that the Holy One, blessed be He, commanded [Aaron] that he should divide his sons into twenty-four Divisions.⁹²A mishmar [literally: a guard] is a Division of priests and Levites for duty in the Sanctuary. According to tradition, Moses divided the priests into eight Divisions, four from the families of Eleazar and four from Ithamar, and later on when the Sanctuary was built in Jerusalem, David and Samuel sub-divided them into twenty-four Divisions. Each Division served for a period of one week, and during the three Festivals all the Divisions were in attendance simultaneously (see “The Commandments” Vol. I, pp. 46-47). See also Ramban further, Verse 53, and at Note 96, for additional aspects of this term as used by Ramban. — It should be noted that the concept of mishmaroth applied also to the Levites and Israelites, for just as the priests were divided into twenty-four Divisions, so also were the other two groups. Each week a new mishmar of priests, Levites, and Israelites would arrive in Jerusalem to attend to the Divine Services in the Sanctuary. The Israelites’ function was to “stand by” the daily offerings brought for the whole congregation of Israel, for “how can a man’s offering be offered while he does not stand by it?” (Taanith 26a). Such a group of Israelites is referred to as a ma’amad (literally: “stand by”). In the text of Ramban before us, however, reference is only to the Divisions of the priests and Levites. Where, then, have we heard it? [In the verse in I Chronicles 24: 19, following the division of the priests by David and Zadok into twenty-four Divisions, where it is stated]: These were the orderings of them in their service, to come into the House of the Eternal according to the ordinance given unto them by the hand of Aaron their father, as the Eternal, the G-d of Israel, had commanded him. We thus learn that this commandment [of dividing the priests into mishmaroth]⁹²A mishmar [literally: a guard] is a Division of priests and Levites for duty in the Sanctuary. According to tradition, Moses divided the priests into eight Divisions, four from the families of Eleazar and four from Ithamar, and later on when the Sanctuary was built in Jerusalem, David and Samuel sub-divided them into twenty-four Divisions. Each Division served for a period of one week, and during the three Festivals all the Divisions were in attendance simultaneously (see “The Commandments” Vol. I, pp. 46-47). See also Ramban further, Verse 53, and at Note 96, for additional aspects of this term as used by Ramban. — It should be noted that the concept of mishmaroth applied also to the Levites and Israelites, for just as the priests were divided into twenty-four Divisions, so also were the other two groups. Each week a new mishmar of priests, Levites, and Israelites would arrive in Jerusalem to attend to the Divine Services in the Sanctuary. The Israelites’ function was to “stand by” the daily offerings brought for the whole congregation of Israel, for “how can a man’s offering be offered while he does not stand by it?” (Taanith 26a). Such a group of Israelites is referred to as a ma’amad (literally: “stand by”). In the text of Ramban before us, however, reference is only to the Divisions of the priests and Levites. was already given to Moses and Aaron.”
We have also been taught in Tractate Tamid:¹⁰²Tamid 25 b. “The priests kept watch at three places in the Sanctuary.” And in the Gemara there the Rabbis said:¹⁰³Ibid., 26 a. The Mishnah there explains which were the three specific places in the Temple at Jerusalem where the priests used to keep watch. “Whence do we know this? Said Abaye: Scripture states, And those that were to pitch before the Tabernacle eastward were Moses, and after him Aaron and his [two] sons, keeping the charge of the Sanctuary.¹⁰⁴Further, 3:38. [This teaches us that] Aaron was [to guard] in one place and his [two] sons in two [other] places etc.,” as is explained there. Thus we learn that these commandments apply for all times and not only at the Tabernacle, and the verses in the Book of Chronicles¹⁰⁵The twenty-four Divisions of the priests are mentioned in I Chronicles 24:7-18; those of the Levites, ibid., Verses 20-31. Verse 19 there [quoted above in the text] states that the command to make such Divisions was already given to Moses and Aaron. See also ibid., 9:22. It remained, however, an oral tradition among the priests that they would be finally divided into such twenty-four Divisions until Ezra (the author of the Book of Chronicles) came and showed that the total number of these Divisions has been alluded to, in the Torah. explain the subject of the mishmaroth⁹²A mishmar [literally: a guard] is a Division of priests and Levites for duty in the Sanctuary. According to tradition, Moses divided the priests into eight Divisions, four from the families of Eleazar and four from Ithamar, and later on when the Sanctuary was built in Jerusalem, David and Samuel sub-divided them into twenty-four Divisions. Each Division served for a period of one week, and during the three Festivals all the Divisions were in attendance simultaneously (see “The Commandments” Vol. I, pp. 46-47). See also Ramban further, Verse 53, and at Note 96, for additional aspects of this term as used by Ramban. — It should be noted that the concept of mishmaroth applied also to the Levites and Israelites, for just as the priests were divided into twenty-four Divisions, so also were the other two groups. Each week a new mishmar of priests, Levites, and Israelites would arrive in Jerusalem to attend to the Divine Services in the Sanctuary. The Israelites’ function was to “stand by” the daily offerings brought for the whole congregation of Israel, for “how can a man’s offering be offered while he does not stand by it?” (Taanith 26a). Such a group of Israelites is referred to as a ma’amad (literally: “stand by”). In the text of Ramban before us, however, reference is only to the Divisions of the priests and Levites. and the [details of the] whole institutions.

והלוים יחנו סביבת, this is another difference between the Levites and the other tribes, i.e. that they were to be encamped immediately adjacent to the sacred domain of the Tabernacle. Whereas the other tribes encamped each around its flag, the Levites’ “flag” was the Tabernacle.