The Book of Numbers Is a Part of the Larger Picture

The tabernacle structure was filled with priests and with sacrifices. Its orderas were also upheld through principles of holiness. The nation, as it appears in these chapters has a number of levels of organization to it. At the highest level, there are national leaders like moses and aaron. On the level below that there are the tribes,. Below the level of the tribes, there are the patriarchal houses. Beneath those patriarchal houses, there can be clans. So the malites and mushites are clans of morari. Chiefs could be within a tribe, or the chief of an entire tribe, a tribal representative.