Matthew Henry on Numbers 4:1-20
We have here a second muster of the tribe of Levi. As that tribe was taken out of all Israel to be God's peculiar, so the middle-aged men of that tribe were taken from among the rest to be actually employed in the service of the tabernacle. Now observe,
I. Who were to be taken into this number. All the males from thirty years old to fifty. Of the other tribes, those that were numbered to go forth to war were from twenty years old and upward, but of the Levites only from thirty to fifty; for the service of God requires the best of our strength, and the prime of our time, which cannot be better spent than to the honour of him who is the first and best. And a man may make a good soldier much so…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 4:15
the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it, but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die--The mode of transport was upon the shoulders of the Levites (see on Num 7:9), although afterwards wheeled vehicles were employed (Sa2 6:3; Ch1 15:12). And it was allowed to touch the covering, but not the things covered, on the penalty of death, which was inflicted more than once (Sa1 6:19; Sa2 6:6-7). This stern denunciation was designed to inspire a sentiment of deep and habitual reverence in the minds of those who were officially engaged about holy things.
John Gill on Numbers 4:15
And when Aaron and his sons had made an end of covering the sanctuary,.... Not the holy place, nor the most holy place, for these were not covered by them; but "the holy things" in them, as the Septuagint version, the ark, shewbread table, &c. and all "the vessels of the sanctuary"; all appertaining to those holy things, which are before mentioned. Jarchi interprets the "sanctuary", or the "holiness", of the ark and altar:
and all the vessels of the sanctuary; of the candlestick and the instruments of ministry:
as the camp is to set forward; which made the covering of them necessary, in order to their being carried as that moved:
after that the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it; or rat…
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