NOTES for Num 8:1-25
The whole people participates in the installation of the Levites, thereby as if sharing in their ministry at the tabernacle. To some degree this action anticipates the laying on of hands by the apostles and the people upon newly chosen ministers, and here it is fitting to recall the book of Acts. This also joins together the special mission of priests and Levites with the holiness of the whole Israelite people, showing that for God there are no 'sacred' and 'non-sacred' people - His whole people belongs to Him, and therefore is holy.
This understanding, incidentally, significantly changed social relations in Christian society. The abolition of slavery, the erosion of class distinctions, the overcoming of racial, ethnic, and sexual discrimination - all this follows from the awareness that people are equal to one another. But the difference between equality and totalitarian sameness lies precisely in the fact that people can be the same in themselves, but equal only before someone who is higher than they are. Therefore, in order for people to become equal before the law, they must understand that they are equal before God.