Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Bilang 4:49

Behold we have found in Scripture that people said, What is the משא of the LORD?(Jeremiah 23:33). We know that the word משא can mean prophecy, so when they said What is the משא of the LORD? to Jeremiah the prophet the prophet didn't know what they meant — they were referring to the usage of each man his burden (משא) (Numbers 4:49). The Knower of hidden things told the prophet to say to them: each man's word will be his משא, and would you pervert the words of [the living God?] Thus, say "what is the word of the LORD, or what is the answer of the LORD" (see Jeremiah 23:35-36), for in such words is no doubt of the matter. And similarly, you will no longer call me בעלי [= my Master, but rather אישי = my Man] (Hosea 2:18) — But isn't בעל נעורים referring to a man? Thus, since there's doubt as to whether the noun בעל might refer to the Baal, i.e. an idol, the prophet said, even the word which has doubt as to the matter of an idol you will no longer call me, but rather אישי.

ולא ימותו גם הם גם אתם, “so that not both you and they will die.” This is the source for the halachah that the functions of the Levites are not interchangeable, that a priest may not perform functions designated for the Levite, nor the Levite functions reserved for the priest (Erchin 11, Maimonides Hilchot Kley Hamikdash 3,10). Not only this, but even priests who have been assigned certain tasks must not exchange their duties with priests who have been assigned different priestly assignments, nor must Levites exchange duties within the framework of what is their exclusive domain. If a Levite was assigned the duty to play an instrument or participate in the songs the Levites sing, he must not instead engage in washing the hands of the priests, for instance! This is why the Torah writes (Numbers 4,49) איש איש על עבודתו, “each man to his designated task.” This is the way these words have been defined in Sifri 116. The words: “but to the holy vessels and to the Altar they shall not approach,” are a warning, whereas the words following “so that they will not die,” are the Torah’s way of spelling out the penalty for non-observance of the warning. The words גם הם, “they also,” are the source for the inadmissibility of exchanging duties either by mutual consent or willful pre-empting the duties assigned to a colleague. It occurred once that Rabbi Joshua ben Chanayah wished to assist a colleague in closing the doors and he was stopped from doing so by Rabban Yochanan who told him that seeing he was one of the singers he had not business to concern himself with the duties of those who were in charge of the gates (Erchin 11).

עבדת הלוים THE SERVICE OF THE LEVITES — The things in the Tabernacle which were counted and its vessels constituted the service entrusted to the Levites in the wilderness — to carry them, to take them down and to set them up, each man according to the burden which was assigned to him, as is set forth in the section נשא (Numbers 4).