Commentaire sur Les Nombres 1:54

כן עשו, “so they did.” They were warned never to touch the Tabernacle.

V. 54. שריחקו עצמן מן המשכן ונתנו מקום ללוים לחנות סביב למשכן :ויעשו וגו׳ (במדבר רבה): sie zogen sich von der Wohnung des Zeugnisses zurück und gaben den Leviten Raum, die Wohnung zu umlagern.

'ויעשו בני ישראל ככל אשר צוה וגו, “The Children of Israel did in accordance with all that the Lord had commanded Moses;” why did this Book not mention Aaron thus far? Rabbi Joshua son of Nechemyah quoting Rabbi Chiyah, says that Aaron had been busy establishing his family’s pedigree. The people had said to him that until he could prove the pedigree of Pinchas (his grandson) and to whom his son Elazar was married, (not to a daughter of Putiel, as written in Exodus 6,25, where he is reported as having married one of the daughters of that man, an idolater), he could not be included in the census. When G-d saw that the people were trying to belittle Aaron, He Himself testified that Pinchas was the son of Elazar who was the son of Aaron the High Priest, (Numbers 25,11) one fanatic having sired another fanatic. (Vayikra Rabbah 33,4)[This is a veiled reference to the founding father of the tribe of Levi, having been a fanatic, as is clear from when Levi and his brother Shimon killed all the males in the town of Sh’chem as retribution for the rape of their sister Dinah. (Genesis 34,2526) Pinchas had inherited part of that DNA when he killed Zimri the prince of Shimon for having cohabited with the Midianite woman Cosbi. (Numbers 25,15) Ed.] An alternate explanation: the verse above is testimony that none of the Israelites ever violated the commandment not to enter the sacred area of the Tabernacle and thus become liable to execution. (Ibn Ezra)