17:10. And the Lord said to Moses: Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be kept there for a token of the rebellious children of Israel, and that their complaints may cease from me lest they die.
17:11. And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.
17:12. And the children of Israel said to Moses: Behold we are consumed, we all perish.
17:13. Whosoever approacheth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth. Are we all to a man to be utterly destroyed?
Numbers Chapter 18
The charge of the priests and of the Levites, and their portion.
18:1. And the Lord said to Aaron: Thou, and thy sons, and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the sins of your priesthood.
Thou, and thy father’s house with thee, shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.... That is, you shall be punished if, through negligence or want of due attention, you err in the discharge of the sacred functions for which you were ordained.
18:2. And take with thee thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, and the sceptre of thy father, and let them be ready in hand, and minister to thee: but thou and thy sons shall minister in the tabernacle of the testimony.
18:3. And the Levites shall watch to do thy commands, and about all the works of the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary nor the altar, lest both they die, and you also perish with them.