Numbers 4:20

“But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, etc.] 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 <490304> Ephesians 3:4,5); lest they die; by the immediate hand of God.”

“to see when the holy things are covered - Render: to see the holy things for an instant. The expression means Iiterally” as a gulp,” i. e. for the instant it takes to swallow. return to 'Top of Page'”

“they shall: Num 4:15, Num 4:19; Exo 19:21; Lev 10:2; Sa1 6:19; Heb 10:19, Heb 10:20; Rev 11:19 the holy things: Hakkodesh, "the holy," or "sanctuary," i.e., the ark, as the Jews generally understand it; and with good reason, as any one may be convinced, who compares Kg1 8:8 with Ch2 5:9, where that which is called the holy in the former, is called the ark in the latter. Numbers 4:22”

“כּבלּע, "like a swallow, a gulp," is probably a proverbial expression, according to the analogy of Job 7:19, for "a single instant," of which the Arabic also furnishes examples (see A. Schultens on Job 7:19). The Sept. rendering, ἐξάπινα, conveys the actual sense. A historical illustration of Num 4:20 is furnished by Sa1 6:19. (Note: According to Knobel, Num 4:17-20 have been interpolated by the Jehovist into the Elohistic text. But the reasons for this assumption are weak throughout. Neither the peculiar use of the word shebet, to which there is no corresponding parallel in the whole of the Old Testament, nor the construction of נגשׁ with את, which is only met with in Sa1 9:18 and Sa1…”