Numbers 4:8

And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) And cover the same.—Better, and cover it (the table).

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

7. continual showbread—Though the people were in the wilderness fed upon manna, the sacred loaves were constantly made of corn, which was probably raised in small quantities from the verdant patches of the desert.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet,.... Upon the dishes and other vessels belonging to the shewbread table, and on the shewbread itself:

and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins; this was clearly the outward covering, and seems to confirm the observation made in Numbers 4:6; that the same sort of covering was the outermost covering of the ark:

and shall put in the staves thereof; which belonged to the table, and were made to carry it with on occasion, from place to place; see Exodus 25:27; and the same phrase being used as here of the staves of the ark in Numbers 4:6; seems to confirm the sense of them there, that they were taken out and put in upon this occasion, though otherwise fixed.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staves thereof.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Shall put in the staves thereof. This formula is repeated alike with reference to the ark, the table, and the two altars. It would therefore be natural to suppose that the staves had all been taken out while the various coverings were put on. On the other hand, it is expressly directed in Exodus 25:15 that the staves of the ark shall "not be taken from it." Two explanations are possible. Either the former command does not contemplate the necessity of wrapping up the ark, and only applies to all times when it was at rest, or in movement; or else the latter direction only means, in the case of the ark, that the staves should be adjusted for the purpose of bearing. Numbers 4:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Over the table of shew-bread (Exodus 25:23) they were to spread a hyacinth cloth, to place the plates, bowls, wine-pitchers, and drink-offering bowls (Exodus 25:29) upon the top of this, and to lay shew-bread thereon; and then to spread a crimson cloth over these vessels and the shew-bread, and cover this with a sea-cow skin, and lastly to put the bearing poles in their places.