פירוש על במדבר 8:24

זאת אשר ללוים THIS IS THAT WHICH BELONGETH TO THE LEVITES [FROM TWENTY FIVE YEARS etc.] — This suggests: years (the question of age) can disqualify them for the service (i.e. if they are younger than 25 and older than 50 years), but bodily blemishes cannot disqualify them, [as in the case of priests] (Sifrei Bamidbar 62; Chullin 24a).

זאת אשר ללוים, this is a new commandment which had not been mentioned elsewhere. Both in Bamidbar and in Nasso G’d had instructed to appoint the Levites to their respective tasks of carrying, etc. from the age of thirty. The number 25 had not been mentioned at all. Here we are told that even though Levites below the age of 30 were not considered as mature enough physically for “active duty,” they were enlisted for “passive duty,” i.e. guard duty which did not require physical exertion, already from the age of twenty-five. This will be spelled out a little later.

מבן חמש ועשרים שנה ומעלה יבוא לצבא צבא, “from 25 years of age and up he shall join the legion of service.” Rashi, in commenting on the apparent contradiction in Numbers 4,3 where the Torah gives this age as 30, says that the Levites are to commence training for their duties from the age of 25 and to assume those duties once they have attained the age of 30. Nachmanides commenting on Rashi, says that if so, the meaning of the words לצבא צבא have to be understood as the Levites joining the community of their older colleagues from that age and stand there observing how their senior colleagues performed their duties and to familarise themselves with the details of all the laws governing their activities. This would also explain the absence of the words לעבוד עבודה, “to perform service,” as we are used to reading in connection with this. According to the plain meaning of the text, the people counted by Moses and Aaron were indeed the thirty year olds, whereas here the Torah calls upon those who knew that they were at least 25 years old to come forward on their own. Such relatively young men were allowed to perform duties although they were not promoted to the status of supervisors over other Levites. In those days, while people did not necessarily keep track of each year they had lived, they did keep track of decades they had lived, as it was commonly known that certain changes in one’s body are experienced with the passing of every decade. Turning 25 did not leave a noticeable impression on their bodies, so that there was no point in counting 25 year olds. Everybody knew when he turned 30. Ibn Ezra claims that the Levites were employed to perform heavy duties from the age of 30 and up, whereas until that age they were allowed to perform only duties carried out within the confines of the Tabernacle. Nachmanides does not accept this, as the Torah uses the term לצבא צבא both for the 25 year olds and for the ones above 30 years of age.