Numbers 4:20

20 The Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects, even for a moment,^[a] or they will die."

Numbers 4:20 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 4:20

But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are
covered
They were not to be present while they were packing up, test they should see any of them with their eyes; they were not to go in until they were quite covered out of sight; which may signify the hiding of the mysteries of grace in those things under the former dispensation, when even the Levites themselves were not admitted to a sight of them; see ( Ephesians 3:4 Ephesians 3:5 ) ;

lest they die;
by the immediate hand of God.

Numbers 4:20 In-Context

18 "Do not allow the Kohathite tribal clans to be wiped out from the Levites.

19 Do this for them so that they may live and not die when they come near the most holy objects: Aaron and his sons are to go in and assign each man his task and transportation duty.

20 The Kohathites are not to go in and look at the holy objects, even for a moment, or they will die."

21 The Lord spoke to Moses:

22 "Take a census of the Gershonites also, by their ancestral houses and their clans.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or at the covering of the holy objects