Numbers 4:12

And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar:

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

wholly of blue - Compare Exodus 25:4 note. The third and external covering of the ark only was to be of this color. The table of showbread had Numbers 4:8 an outer wrapping of scarlet; the altar Numbers 4:13 one of purple.

Put in the staves - Probably, "put the staves in order." These were never taken out of the golden rings by which the ark was to be borne (see Exodus 25:14-15), but would need adjustment.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. instruments of ministry—the official dress of the priests (Ex 31:10).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The instruments of ministry; the sacred garments used by the priests in their holy ministrations. See Exodus 31:10.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they shall take all the instruments of ministry,

wherewith they minister in the sanctuary,.... The garments in which the priests, ministered in the sanctuary, which were laid up in proper places, and which they only wore when in service:

and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins; all wrapped up in one bundle:

and shall put them on a bar; the same sort of carriage on which the candlestick and its vessels were borne; see Gill on Numbers 4:10.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, wherewith they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - All the instruments of ministry. These do not seem to be, at any rate exclusively, the vessels pertaining to the golden altar. They are not packed up with it, but separately, in a blue cloth and a skin covering of their own. Probably they include all the vessels and utensils used inside the tabernacle which have not been previously mentioned. Numbers 4:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

So again they were to wrap up the altar of incense (Exodus 30:1), to adjust its bearing poles; and having wrapped it up in such coverings, along with the vessels belonging to it, to lay it upon the frame.