Numbers 18:3

And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:1-7 The people complained of their difficulty and peril in drawing near to God. God here gives them to understand, that the priests should come near for them. Aaron would see reason not to be proud of his preferment, when he considered the great care and charge upon him. Be not high-minded, but fear. The greater the trust of work and power that is committed to us, the greater danger there is of betraying that trust. This is a good reason why we should neither envy others' honours, nor desire high places.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The iniquity of the sanctuary - i. e. the guilt of the offences which an erring people would be continually committing against the majesty of God, when brought into contact, through the ordinances, with the manifestations of His presence. Compare the marginal reference.

The iniquity of your priesthood - As the priests themselves were but men, they were strengthened to bear the iniquity of their own unintentional offences, by being entrusted with the ceremonial means of taking it away (compare Leviticus 16). The word "bear" has, in the Old Testament, this double sense of "enduring" and "removing;" but in the person of Christ, who atoned by His own endurance, the two axe in effect one.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2-7. thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi—The departments of the sacred office, to be filled respectively by the priests and Levites, are here assigned to each. To the priests was committed the charge of the sanctuary and the altar, while the Levites were to take care of everything else about the tabernacle. The Levites were to attend the priests as servants—bestowed on them as "gifts" to aid in the service of the tabernacle—while the high and dignified office of the priesthood was a "service of gift." "A stranger," that is, one, neither a priest nor a Levite, who should intrude into any departments of the sacred office, should incur the penalty of death.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy charge, i.e. that which thou shalt command them and commit unto them.

Of all the tabernacle, i.e. of the boards and hangings and utensils of the tabernacle, to take them down, and carry them, and set them up again.

The vessels, which therefore were to be covered by the priests before the Levites might meddle with them.

They, nor ye, they for presuming to touch them, and you for your negligence in not covering them well, or not looking to them.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle,.... That is, the Levites, whatever Aaron and his sons, the priests, should charge them to do, or commit to their care and charge, that they should observe; as to watch and keep out all unfit persons, to take down and set up the tabernacle when needful, &c.

only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary; as the ark and mercy seat in the holy of holies, the shewbread table, and candlestick in the holy place; wherefore when these were removed from place to place in journeying, they were covered, that they might not touch them as they carried them:

and the altar; both of incense and burnt offering, on neither of which might they offer:

that neither they nor you also die: the priests for suffering them to meddle with things that did not belong to them, and the Levites for intruding themselves.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall {b} keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

(b) That is, the things which are committed to you, or, which you command them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. keep thy charge, &c.] see on Numbers 3:7.

the vessels] The Heb. word is capable of wider use than the Engl. ‘vessel’; it includes all the sacred utensils and furniture.

For the prohibition to come into contact with the sacred things cf. Numbers 4:15.

neither they, nor ye] they, for breaking the law, and ye for permitting it.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - They shall keep thy charge, &c. See on Numbers 3:7, 8. That neither they, nor ye also, die. This warning does not seem to refer to the danger of the Kohathites seeing the sacred things (Numbers 4:15), but of the other Levites coming near them; the further warning, "nor ye also," is added because if the carelessness or profanity of the priest led to sacrilege and death in the case of the Levite, it would be laid to his charge (cf. Numbers 4:18). Numbers 18:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Aaron was also to bring his (other) brethren (sc., to the sanctuary), viz., the tribe of Levi, that is to say, the Gershonites and Merarites, that they might attach themselves to him and serve him, both him (ואתּה) and his sons, before the tent of testimony, and discharge the duties that were binding upon them, according to Numbers 4:24., Numbers 4:31. (cf. Numbers 3:6-7; Numbers 8:26). Only they were not to come near to the holy vessels and the altar, for that would bring death both upon them and the priests (see at Numbers 4:15). On Numbers 18:4, cf. Numbers 1:53 and Numbers 3:7.