Numbers 4:20

Num 4:20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

Ver. 20. But they shall not go in to see.] The men of Bethshemesh paid for their peeping. {1Sa 6:9} Search not into God’s secrets: hic oportet mirari, non rimari {Deu 29:29} Remember that saying of Xenocrates the philosopher: Nihil interesse, pedesne quisquam, an oculos in aliena domo ponat, {a} It is as great unmannerliness to pry into another man’s house as to press into it.

{a} Plutarch, De Curiosit.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 30:21, nor the Hiphil הכרית, can be regarded as criteria of a Jehovistic usage. And the assertion, that the Elohist lays the emphasis upon approaching and touching the holy things (Num 4:15; Num 8:19; Num 18:3, Num 18:22), and not upon seeing or looking at them, rests upon an antithesis which is arbitrarily forced upon the text, since not only seeing (Num 4:20), but touching also (Num 4:19), is described as causing death; so that seeing and touching form no antithesis at all.)

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Verse 20. When the holy things are covered] Literally, כבלע keballa, when they are swallowed down; which shows the promptitude with which every thing belonging to the holy of holies was put out of sight, for these mysteries must ever be treated with the deepest reverence; and indeed without this they could not have been to them the representatives of heavenly realities. See the concluding note.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(20) But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered.—Better, But they shall not go in to see the holy things (or, the sanctuary) for a moment. The Levites were not per-mitted to enter the holy place in which the priests ministered, much less the Holy of Holies. Whether this rule was or was not relaxed at the time of the removal of the Tabernacle, as the prohibition against entrance into the Holy of Holies must have been in regard to the priests, the Levites were not permitted in any case to look upon the Ark and the other holy things until they were covered.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon,.... As well as of the sons of Kohath; for though Gershon was Levi's eldest son, yet his posterity were not excused from the service of the tabernacle, and bearing things of it in journeying:

throughout the houses of their fathers, by their families; all in their several houses, and in the several families in those houses, that were of the age next mentioned, were to be numbered.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Curiosity. Septuagint, "suddenly." Let them not rush in before all the vessels be properly covered. The priests folded them up with all haste, that they might see them as little as possible themselves. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

20. They shall not… see… lest they die — There is here a very expressive Hebrew word, כבלע, as a gulp, a swallowing. “They shall not see for a single instant the holy things.” Dr. A. Clarke’s reference of this word to the enveloping of the holy things is hardly admissible. The Authorized Version makes the same mistake by rendering it, when they are covered. While we shrink from announcing all the reasons for hanging so many terrors about the abode of Jehovah on the earth, we may say that nothing could more deeply impress upon all the Hebrew people the majesty, power, and holiness of their God in contrast with the divinities of all the surrounding nations. It is in mercy that God withholds from our eager eyes those revelations of his glory which our spiritual stupidity and littleness of faith so often crave. It was after the awful manifestation of Jehovah on the summit of Horeb that the people said to Moses, “Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak, lest we die.” Exo_20:19.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered. This translation is disputed. The word rendered "are covered" is the Piel infinitive from bala, to swallow, and so to destroy. It may signify the extreme rapidity with which the most holy things were hidden from sight and removed from touch, so as to become, as it were, non-existent for the time. So the Syriac, Arabic, Samaritan, and the Targums of Onkelos and Palestine. On the other hand, it may be a proverbial expression, "in a swallow, at a gulp," i.e., " for an instant," as in Job_7:19. And so the Septuagint, exapina , and most modern scholars. Whichever way, however, we take it, the phrase, "they shall not go in to see," seems to limit the prohibition under pain of death to the deliberate act of entering the tabernacle out of curiosity during the process of packing up the holy things. The case of the men of Bethshemesh, therefore, (1Sa_6:19) does not fall within the letter of this law, although it does within its spirit. The command, thus limited, is no doubt an addition to the previous command not to touch, but it is altogether in keeping with it. If it was the will of God to hedge about these sacred symbols of his presence and his worship with an awful sanctity, it is obvious that he was as much bound to defend them against the irreverent prying of the eye as against the irreverent touch of the hand; and the prying here prohibited would have been distinctly willful and inexcusable.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ולא יבאו לראות כבלע את הקדש BUT THEY SHALL NOT COME IN TO SEE WHEN THE HOLY THINGS ARE WRAPPED IN, each into its wrapping, as I have explained above in this section (v. 5 ff.): ‘‘and they shall spread upon it such-and-such a garment”, “and they shall cover it over with such-and-such a cover”, — for the “wrapping-up’ of it mentioned here is identical with the “covering up” of it mentioned in those passages.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THEY [i.e., the Kohathites] SHALL NOT GO IN TO SEE THE HOLY THING ‘K’VALA’ (AS THEY ARE BEING COVERED) — “as they [the priests] put each vessel into its wrapping, as I have explained above in this section: ‘and they shall spread upon it such-and-such a garment, and they shall cover it with such-and-such a cover,’ the [term] ‘k’vala’ referring to its ‘covering.’” This is Rashi’s language. It is also Onkelos’ opinion [who translated the verse as quoted above]. But our Rabbis have said in Tractate Sanhedrin that this verse constitutes a prohibition against stealing a sacred vessel, for which one suffers death [by the hand of Heaven], and zealous people have the right to strike such a thief, for stealing and robbing are referred to as b’liah (swallowing, devouring), as in the expressions: ‘bala’ (he hath swallowed down) riches, and he shall vomit them up again; and I will bring forth out of his mouth ‘eth bil’o’ (that which he hath swallowed up). But Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained [the verse] in its plain sense: that [the Kohathites] should not come in to see when the screening Veil is removed and the ark becomes exposed; only afterwards when it is covered are they to come in to carry it. Accordingly, the expression k’vala eth hakodesh means [they shall not come in to see] “when the structure [i.e., the screening Veil] is being removed from the ark, which is hakodesh (the holiness),” [the word ‘k’vala’] being related to the expressions: ‘bila Hashem’ (the Eternal hath swallowed up) unsparingly [which means that He “destroyed the structure” of the habitations of Jacob mentioned further on in the verse]; Thy hands have framed me … together round about; yet ‘va’tval’eini’ (Thou dost destroy me). Thus the Levites are warned not to touch the holy ark lest they die, and only by means of its staves are they to carry it. He furthermore warned them against coming in at all to see the dismantling of the structure, while Aaron is taking down the screening Veil, in a similar way to that which is said [of the people of Beth-shemesh that they were punished] because they had gazed upon the ark of the Eternal. He [i.e., Ibn Ezra] has explained it well [i.e., the simple meaning of the verse]. But the [true] intention of the verse is that since the Glory that resides upon the cherubim [on the cover of the ark] is there, the Levites were warned not to break through “to see the Eternal” until the priests take down the Veil, for then the Glory is seen in the hiding of His power, and it returns to its former place in “the Holy of Holies.” In this way the expression k’vala eth hakodesh is to be understood in its literal sense. The student learned in the mysteries of the Cabala will understand.Naso

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.