Numbers 4:14
And they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it, even the censers, the fleshhooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers’ skins, and put to the staves of it.
Numbers 4:14 belongs to the precise instructions for taking down, preparing, covering, and carrying the tabernacle and its sacred furnishings whenever Israel moved. It shows that the altar's vessels were to be gathered together, covered, and carried in the prescribed way as part of an orderly task assigned to appointed Levites. For the altar of burnt offering, all its ministering vessels and tools — the censers, fleshhooks, shovels, and basins — were to be put upon it, then a covering of badgers' skins was to be spread over them, and afterward its staves or carrying poles were to be put in place for transport.
The carrying was entrusted not to whichever tribe chose it but to appointed Levites, with designated Levitical families assigned to the work. The altar and its equipment with its covered vessels fell specifically under the care of the Kohathites, who bore the sacred vessels and altar furnishings when the tabernacle was taken down and moved. This was an ordered system in which each worker was to perform only the work appointed to him, with even the covering and carrying of the altar vessels specified down to detail.
The arrangement protected the holiness of the sanctuary, for the tabernacle and everything connected with it were holy and their handling was not left to personal choice. It teaches reverence and careful order, reflecting the careful order God established for Israel to learn from. This assigned Levitical service of carrying the altar and its utensils after covering was distinct from the priestly office sought by Korah and his followers.