The Levites and the Camp of Israel

The Levites are providing a buffer. They surround the sanctuary to keep, you know, any Israelite from any other tribe from getting too close to the presence of God in the sanctuary. So clearly what's happening here in chapter 18 is a response to the question that Israel is asking at the end of chapter 17. Everyone who comes near who comes near to the tablet, knuckle of the Lord shall die. Are we all to perish? And this is God's response to that question. No, you won't perish as long as you believe in the structures of the priesthood that I am establishing.