Numbers 4:3

Numbers 4:3 From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, all who enter into the service to perform the skilled work in the Tent of Meeting.

The Hebrew word service in Numbers 4:3 has the meaning of military service and thus refers to warfare. God viewed the children of Israel in the wilderness as an army fighting for His testimony. Apparently, the children of Israel were fighting for themselves. Actually, they were fighting for God’s testimony on earth, for among them was the Tabernacle of the Testimony, God’s dwelling place on earth. In this warfare there were two main functions: the function of fighting the enemies and the function of maintaining the tabernacle, which represented God’s testimony in the universe. Only those between the ages of thirty and fifty had the privilege of doing the work in and around the tabernacle. Those between twenty and thirty, however, were qualified for the military service, that is, for fighting the enemy.