Holly Bible - KJV with Concise Commentaries by Z Selam - HTML preview
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5 And when the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons,
and they shall take down the covering veil, and cover the ark of testimony with it:
6 and shall put thereon the covering of badgers’ skins, and shall
spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staves thereof.
How their work is described. They are said to enter into the host, or warfare, to do the work in the tabernacle. The ministry is a good work (1Ti 3:1): ministers are not ordained to the honour only, but to the labour, not only to have the wages, but to do the work. It is also a good warfare, 1Ti 1:18. Those that enter into the ministry must look upon themselves as entered into the host, and approve themselves good soldiers, 2Ti 2:3. Now, as to the sons of Kohath in particular, here is,
1. Their service appointed them, in the removes of the tabernacle. Afterwards, when the tabernacle was fixed, they had other work assigned them; but this was the work of the day, which was to be done in its day. Observe, Wherever the camp of Israel went, the tabernacle of the Lord went with them, and care must be taken for the carriage of it. Note, Wherever we go, we must see to it that we take our religion along with us, and not forget that or any part of it. Now the Kohathites were to carry all the holy things of the tabernacle. They were charged with those things before (Nu 3:31), but here they have more particular instructions given them.
(1.) Aaron, and his sons the priests, must pack up the things which the Kohathites were to carry, as here directed, Nu 4:5, &c. God had before appointed that none should come into the most holy place, but only Aaron once a year with a cloud of incense (Le 16:2); and yet, the necessity of their unsettled state requiring it, that law is here dispensed with; for every time they removed Aaron and his sons went in to take down the ark, and make it up for carriage; for (as the learned bishop Patrick suggests) the shechinah, or display of the divine majesty, which was over the mercy-seat, removed for the present in the