Numbers 18:1-7

The duties of priests and Levites. The priests are to have charge of the sanctuary, and the Levites are to help them; the latter, however, may not come into contact with the sacred utensils or the altar. No layman may approach on pain of death. The subject has already been treated in Numbers 1:50-53; Numbers 3:5-10; Numbers 3:38; and the principle of the disabilities of laymen has been illustrated in ch. 14.