v). The Family and Privilege of Merari (Numbers 3:33-37).
‘Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari.'
The two clans of the Levite sub-tribe of Merari were the Mahlites and the Mushites.
‘And those that were numbered of them, according to the number of all the males, from a month old and upward, were six thousand and two hundred.'
Of these there were six ‘larger families' (or ‘chieftains') from which were drawn the two service units or hundreds who looked after the responsibilities of the sub-tribe.
‘And the prince of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail: they shall encamp on the side of the tabernacle northward.'
Their chieftain was Zuriel the son of Abihail. They encamped on the north side of the Dwellingplace, between it and the tribes of Dan, Asher and Naphtali.
‘And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari shall be the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its instruments, and all its service, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords.'
The responsibility of the sons of Merari was for the ‘nuts and bolts' of the Sanctuary, all the small parts so necessary for the whole.