The chief of all the leaders of the descendants of Levi was Aaron the priest's son Eleazar. He was assigned to oversee those who were in charge of the services of the sanctuary.

They were numbered under the supervision of Moses according to what the LORD had said. Each person was assigned a responsibility to carry out, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

All of those individuals numbered 23,000. No male from the age of a month and above was numbered among the Israelis because no inheritance was to be assigned to them among the Israelis.