Numbers 4:20

20 But if the Kohathites enter the Tent and see the priests preparing the sacred objects for moving, ^[a] 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 let the clan of Kohath

19 be killed by coming near these most sacred objects. To prevent this from happening, Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each man his task and tell him what to carry.

20 But if the Kohathites enter the Tent and see the priests preparing the sacred objects for moving, they will die."

21 The Lord told Moses

22 to take a census of the Levite clan of Gershon by subclans and families,

Footnotes

• [a]. see . . . moving; [or] see the sacred objects even for a moment.