Question
In Numbers 8:24 it states that the Levites that were allowed to work at the Mishkan (Tabernacle) were reqired to be 25 years and up, while in Numbers 4:3 it says 30 to 50. Can you please explain to me the discrepancy?
Answer
There are a number of answers given to your question (which, by the way, is exceedingly perceptive. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to step outside the parsha one is learning and look upon the Torah as a connected whole.) Rashi explains simply that “coming to join the crowd that serves” (in this week’s parsha) means coming to be trained in the service. They spent five years in training and then went to work officially at age thirty.
Best wishes,
Michoel Reach