3 Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work at the tent of meeting.
If you have not noticed, notice it now. There are many times that different groups of people get counted, especially here in the book of numbers. It is not that the Lord is a number freak, but that structure is important. As the Lord sets up His new nation, He puts structure into their lives, structure that was not there when they were slaves in Egypt. Other people put structure on them. Now the Lord places His righteous, holy structure on them, starting with structure in worship. There are carefully outlined boundaries, rules and roles. We all need these three in our lives. If you have kids you know how important these are. If you don’t have them with the kids, your kids are driving you nuts. Kids NEED these. They feel safe and secure when they have them, and will fight hard by rebelling until you give them. When kids misbehave, they are telling you that your boundaries, rules and roles are not clearly defined. When you establish these starting around age 2-3, then they feel safe and secure, the most needed things in a child’s development.
The Arnold Journey 