41 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, and unto Aaron, saying, 2 'Take up the sum of the sons of Kohath from the midst of the sons of Levi, by their families, by the house of their fathers; 3 from a son of thirty years and upward, even till a son of fifty years, every one going in to the host, to do work in the tent of meeting. 4 'This 'is' the service of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting, the holy of holies: 5 that Aaron and his sons have come in, in the journeying of the camp, and have taken down the vail of the hanging, and have covered with it the ark of the testimony; 6 and have put on it a covering of badger skin, and have spread a garment completely of blue above, and have placed its staves. 7 'And on the table of the presence they spread a garment of blue, and have put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups of the libation, and the bread of continuity is on it, 8 and they have spread over them a garment of scarlet, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves, 9 and have taken a garment of blue, and have covered the candlestick of the lamp, and its lights, and its snuffers, and its snuff-dishes, and all its oil vessels wherewith they minister to it; 10 and they have put it and all its vessels unto a covering of badger skin, and have put 'it' on the bar. 11 'And on the golden altar they spread a garment of blue, and have covered it with a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves; 12 and have taken all the vessels of ministry wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and have put 'them' unto a garment of blue, and have covered them with a covering of badger skin, and have put 'them' on the bar, 13 and have removed the ashes of the altar, and have spread over it a garment of purple; 14 and have put on it all its vessels wherewith they minister about it, the censers, the hooks, and the shovels, and the bowls, all the vessels of the altar, and have spread on it a covering of badger skin, and have placed its staves: 15 'And Aaron hath finished—his sons also—covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, in the journeying of the camp, and afterwards do the sons of Kohath come in to bear 'it', and they do not come unto the holy thing, that they have died; these 'things are' the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tent of meeting.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Numbers 4:1-15
Commentary on Numbers 4:1-3
(Read Numbers 4:1-3)
The middle-aged men of the tribe of Levi, all from thirty years old to fifty, were to be employed in the service of the tabernacle. The service of God requires the best of our strength, and the prime portion of our time, which cannot be better spent than to the honour of Him who is the First and Best. And the service of God should be done when we are most lively and active. Those do not consider this who put off repentance to old age, and so leave the best work to be done in the worst time.
Commentary on Numbers 4:4-20
(Read Numbers 4:4-20)
The Kohathites were to carry the holy things of the tabernacle. All the holy things were to be covered; not only for security and respect, but to keep them from being seen. This not only marked the reverence due to holy things, but the mystery of the things signified by those types, and the darkness of the dispensation. But now, through Christ, the case is altered, and we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace.