Merari

Merari is the third of Levi's three sons and the head of one of the three Levitical clans that carried the tabernacle through the wilderness. The name designates both the man himself and the clan-line — the Merarites — that descends from him and is set over the heaviest pieces of the sanctuary structure.

Third Son of Levi

Merari is named consistently in the listing of Levi's sons across the Pentateuch and Chronicles, always third after Gershon and Kohath. The Genesis migration-list to Egypt sets it down first: "And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari" (Gen 46:11). The Exodus genealogy of Moses and Aaron repeats the order: "And these are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were a hundred thirty and seven years" (Exo 6:16). Numbers retains the same listing as the wilderness census opens: "And these were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari" (Num 3:17). And Chronicles preserves it again at the head of the Levitical genealogy: "The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari" (1Ch 6:1).

The two sub-houses of Merari are named through his own sons: "The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. And these are the families of the Levites according to their fathers' [houses]" (1Ch 6:19). The Numbers census names the same two: "Of Merari was the family of the Mahlites, and the family of the Mushites: these are the families of Merari" (Num 3:33). Their numbering at one month old and upward came to "six thousand and two hundred" (Num 3:34). Their prince in the wilderness was Zuriel: "And the prince of the fathers' house of the families of Merari was Zuriel the son of Abihail: they will encamp on the side of the tabernacle northward" (Num 3:35).

The Merarite Charge: Boards, Bars, Pillars, Sockets

The clan's appointed work in the wilderness was the structural skeleton of the tabernacle — the heaviest, most awkward pieces, those that had to be carted rather than carried on the shoulder. The brief is set out as the Levitical duties are divided: "And the appointed charge of the sons of Merari will be the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets, and all its instruments, and its [the tabernacle's] service," (Num 3:36). The second muster repeats the assignment by family: "As for the sons of Merari, you will number them by their families, by their fathers' houses;" (Num 4:29), with the totals recorded later: "And those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, by their families, by their fathers' houses," (Num 4:42).

Because the Merarite load was the framing-timber and metalwork of the tent, they were given more wagons than the Gershonites and far more than the Kohathites — who had to carry the holy vessels by hand on poles: "and four wagons and eight oxen he gave to the sons of Merari, according to their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest" (Num 7:8). The Merarite ministry is the structural ministry — the boards, bars, pillars, and sockets without which the rest of the tabernacle could not stand.