Lest they bear sin and die. — i.e., lest they bring sin upon themselves, the penalty of which they would have to bear. This appears to be the primary meaning of the phrase, from which the secondary meaning, viz., that of bearing sin in the sense of atoning for it, is derived. (Comp. Leviticus 19:17; Leviticus 22:9.)
Related Commentaries of Numbers 18:22
Numbers 18:22
22 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.b