Numbers 4:9

And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:

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

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 take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps,.... Which had lamps in it, and were continually lighted, and gave light in the holy place:

and his tongs, and his snuff dishes, and all the oil vessels thereof,

wherewith they minister unto it; by supplying the lamps with oil, and snuffing and trimming them.

Geneva Study Bible

And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and his lamps, and his tongs, and his snuffdishes, and all the oil vessels thereof, wherewith they minister unto it:

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 9. - Snuff-dishes. Some render this word "extinguishers," but it could hardly bear that meaning, since it also signifies censers in chapter Numbers 16:6, and fire-pans in Exodus 27:3. They were evidently shallow metal pans available for many different purposes. Numbers 4:9

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The candlestick, with its lamps, snuffers, extinguishers (Exodus 25:31-37), and all its oil-vessels (oil-cans), "wherewith they serve it," i.e., prepare it for the holy service, were to be covered with a hyacinth cloth, and then with a wrapper of sea-cow skin, and laid upon the carriage. מות (Numbers 4:10 and Numbers 4:12), bearing frame, in Numbers 13:23 bearing poles.