Kohathites Carry Holy Furnishings without Seeing Them

Kohath's adult service is carrying what priests have already covered

The LORD tells Moses and Aaron to take the sum of the sons of Kohath from thirty years old to fifty, all that enter into the host to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation. The month-old census of chapter 3 was about tribal belonging. This count is a workforce of men in a bounded adult window.

When the camp sets forward, Aaron and his sons take down the covering veil, cover the ark, put on badgers' skins and a blue cloth, and insert the staves. Table, vessels, candlestick, golden altar, ash vessels, and hanging each receive a specified wrapping. Only then do the sons of Kohath come to bear them. They must not touch any holy thing, lest they die. Eleazar has the oversight of oil, incense, daily meat offering, anointing oil, and the whole tabernacle.

Not seeing is a ritual boundary, not a test of curiosity

The LORD warns Moses and Aaron not to cut off the Kohathites from among the Levites. They are to be protected by assigning each man his burden after Aaron's house has covered the sanctuary. Kohathites must not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

Lethal access language in this wilderness sanctuary does not authorize unsafe work, hiding abuse behind restricted rooms, punishing questions, or measuring human worth by who may look at a sacred object.