Numbers 4:17-20

Numbers 4:17-20

 

And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:

But thus do unto them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach unto the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:

But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

 

a. This set of instructions compliment what was said in a few verses earlier in the chapter.

 

1). Numbers 4:15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

 

2). The Kohathites were not permitted to see the most holy things or touch them. This means that only the priests who covered the items and those who built the four furnishings of the Tabernacle knew what they looked like. If the Kohathites who carried the items didn’t know what they looked like then certainly the ordinary Israelite didn’t know either.