Ess Miskán háédut

...

עבדת הלוים THE SERVICE OF THE LEVITES — The things in the Tabernacle which were counted and its vessels constituted the service entrusted to the Levites in the wilderness — to carry them, to take them down and to set them up, each man according to the burden which was assigned to him, as is set forth in the section נשא (Numbers 4).

To carry, to disassemble, and to set it up . . . Rashi is answering the question: Is not the simple meaning of the verse that the work of the Levites was to make the accounts of the mishkon, i.e., to count the vessels of the mishkon? [But this cannot be, as the Levites were not involved at all with the construction of the mishkon.] Thus Rashi explains: “. . .To carry, to disassemble. . .”

...

Guard them diligently until such time as you weigh them out in the presence of the officers of the priests and the Levites and the officers of the clans of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the House of the LORD.”

THESE ARE THE ACCOUNTS OF THE TABERNACLE, THE TABERNACLE OF THE TESTIMONY. Scripture uses this expression because the term “Tabernacle” means the curtains of fine-twined linen, which are so called both when the command was given and at the construction of the Tabernacle, while “the Tabernacle of the Testimony” includes the entire building, which is the Tabernacle made to house the Tablets of the Testimony.
In the opinion of many scholars the phrase these are the accounts of the Tabernacle refers back to all the things mentioned above, the verse stating that the Tabernacle and its vessels, namely, the house and the court and all that was made for them, constituted the service entrusted to the Levites at the command of Moses by the hand of Ithamar [whose duty it was to hand over to each family the service that devolved upon it]. But the holy vessels — the ark, the table, the candelabrum, and the altars — are not included in the term “Tabernacle,” for they were in the hands of Eleazar. But this is not my opinion, for why should Scripture mention the entrusting of those things given to Ithamar, and not mention that of Eleazar, which was the more honored one? Rather, these are the accounts of hints at those things that Scripture mentions in the section further on, thus stating that the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation was a hundred talents etc., — from which were made the sockets, the hooks for the pillars, the overlaying of their capitals and their fillets. And the brass of the wave-offering, which was seventy talents, from which were made the brazen altar and its grating and all its vessels, and the sockets of the court and the pins — all these Moses gave over by number and weight through the hand of Ithamar. Now the section does not say what was done with the gold, for that was partly in the charge of Ithamar, namely, that used for covering the boards and the bars, and part of it was in the charge of Eleazar — the ark and the cover, the candelabrum, the table, and the golden altar. Now since one cannot know exactly how much gold went into the covering of each of these vessels, Scripture did not say that Moses gave it over to them by number and weight. It is for this reason that Scripture did not mention here the entrusting of the things given to Eleazar, for its intention here is only to speak of the work of the Tabernacle, not of that involved in the journeyings. Do not object [to this explanation] because Scripture mentions here the brazen altar, which was in the charge of Eleazar, for Scripture had to state that they made it out of the brass of the wave-offering, therefore it was not particular to exclude this one item from the general list of objects of which it said that they were by the hand of Ithamar, this being the way of Scripture in many places.
Scripture does not mention in this section the laver and its base [which were also made of brass, and were under the charge of Ithamar], because it was not made according to a specified weight; instead, he put into it all the mirrors that the women brought together and thus Moses did not know its weight. It is possible that these were not under the charge of Ithamar [and therefore they are not mentioned], but they come into the category of that which Scripture says [of the children of Kohath, whose work was under the charge of Eleazar], and their charge was the ark, and the table, and the candelabrum, and the altars, and the vessels of the Sanctuary wherewith the priests minister, for through the laver and its base the priests were enabled to minister at the altar. Thus they do not come into the listing given in this section.