The family of Merari, though smaller than either of the other families of Levi, yet had a greater number of able men than any of them; for out of 6,200 males of a month old and upwards, we find 3,200 who were neither too young nor too old for the service of the sanctuary; which was more than one-half of their whole number. In this the wisdom and providence of God appear most conspicuously; for the Merarites were charged with the heaviest part of the sanctuary, as the boards, bars, sockets, etc; and though waggons were afterwards provided for them, yet the loading and unloading of the sockets, and other things of great weight, would require much strength, both bodily and numerical. - Compare Num 4:36, and Num 4:40, with Num 3:22, Num 3:28, Num 3:24.Thus God ever manifests his wisdom, in fitting men for the work to which they are appointed, whether with respect to number or gifts: "For to one is given, by the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, by the same Spirit; to another faith, by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing, by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues, but all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." Num 3:34, Deu 33:25, 1Co 10:13, 1Co 12:8-12, 2Co 12:9, 2Co 12:10 Reciprocal: Exo 27:6 - staves for the altar