As David brings the ark into Jerusalem, he assembles Levites and priests to carry it to its place, as Torah requires. 1 Chronicles 15:5-11 enumerates Levites in each of six subtribes:
1. Koathites, 120
2. Merarites, 220
3. Gershomites, 130
4. Sons of Elizaphan, 200
5. Sons of Hebron, 80
6. Sons of Uzziel, 112
Six subtribes may be significant, six being the number of a man, the number of Adam, created on the sixth day.
Adding the numbers is also tempting. 120 + 220 + 130 + 200 + 80 + 112 = 862. It seems an innocuous number, but it’s the gematria for the Hebrew term tabnit, “pattern,” as in the tabernacle pattern that Yahweh showed Moses on the mountain (Exodus 25:9, 40) and the temple pattern David received from Yahweh and delivered to Solomon (1 Chronicles 28:19).
Here it is not an architectural pattern but a pattern of priests and Levites, a blueprint for a people-house, a choir and orchestra gathered around the ark of God.
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
