Parshat Bamidbar, 5th Portion (Numbers 3:14-3:39), May 22, 2014

“...any outsider who approaches shall be put to death.”

Now the Levites are counted. And the work for the Mishkan is distributed, again by family.

The Jews were slaves. They might not have had a lot of experience organizing workers. But they did it in a very orderly and logical manner.

I read, “...any outsider who approaches shall be put to death.” I notice how I wish it would say that outsiders would be hugged. Must we assume that this was a hostile world? Am I being tested again? Were the Jews paranoid? Do they put strangers to death because they are afraid of being killed or taken as slaves. Or is it because the outsiders worship other gods?