Numbers 7

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:37utc

Sanctification through Worship 7:1-9:14

This section can be divided into five sections according to he following topics:

The offerings of the tribal leaders for the dedication of the tabernacle. ch. 7:1-89

Regulations regarding the care of the candlestick. ch. 8:1-4

Regulations regarding the sanctification of the Levites. ch. 8:5-26

Regulations regarding the observance of the Passover. ch. 9:1-14

Description of the cloud and the pillar of fire. ch. 9:15-23

The offerings of the tribal leaders for the dedication of the tabernacle. ch. 7:1-89

Adam Clarke's Commentary remarks on the opening verse of the chapter: "[On the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle] The transactions mentioned in this chapter took place on the second day of the second month of the second year after their departure from Egypt, and the proper place of this account is immediately after the tenth chapter of Leviticus."

From The Pulpit Commentary we copy the following: "On the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle. This expression, "on the day" …. has given rise to considerable difficulty. Strictly speaking it should mean the first day of the first month of the second year (Exod. xl. 17); and so the Targum of Palestine, ' 'It was on the day which begins the month Nisan.' ' It is, however, quite clear from the narrative itself, as well as from its position, that the offerings were not actually made until after the taking of the census and the distribution of their respective duties to the Levitical families, i. c. until the eve of the departure from Sinai. …. Either the date here given is a mistake (which, on any supposition, is most improbably), or it must be referred to the intention and inception of the princely offerings, the actual presentation being made at the time indicated in the narrative, i. c. in the first half of the second month."

The point, of course, is that the leaders of the tribes, or the princes, as the KJV calls them, brought their offerings after the tabernacle had been assembled and inaugurated. There is a collective offering, consisting of "six covered carts and twelve oxen," and an offering brought by each of the leaders individually on separate days, consisting of "one silver plate weighing a hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver sprinkling bowl weighing seventy shekels, both according to the sanctuary shekel, each filled with fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; one gold dish weighing ten shekels, filled with incense; one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male goat for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering."

These carts were meant to be the vehicles for the transportation of the tabernacle when it was moved from place to place during the desert crossing. Matthew Henry's Commentary remarks here: "Observe, No sooner is the tabernacle fully set up than this provision is made for the removal of it." And he draws the spiritual lesson from this fact that our life in this world is transient.

Adam Clarke's Commentary says about these carts: "[Six covered wagons] sheesh eglot tsaab, "six tilted wagons," the Septuagint translates ek hamaxas lampenikas, with which the Coptic agrees; but what lampenic chariots were, no person pretends to know. Covered or tilted is probably the meaning of the original. The wagons were given for the more convenient exporting of the heavier parts of the tabernacle, which could not be conveniently carried on men's shoulders."

There is no mention about who took the initiative for this offering. We do not read that the Lord required the leaders of the tribes to bring this, so we may assume that there had been a gathering of leaders at which the problem of the transportation of the tabernacle was discussed and it was decided that the carts would be a convenient way of lightening the burden of the Levites. According to the logistical report given in Ex. 38:24 ff., 29 talents and 730 shekels was used in the making of the tabernacle, more than 100 talents and 1,775 shekels of silver, and 70 talents and 2,400 shekels of bronze. TLB translates this in 3,140 pounds of gold and 9,575 pounds of silver, and 7540 pounds of bronze. This adds up to 18,455 pounds of metal alone. The fact that men got together to discuss the logistics of a project that God had presented to them gives us an interesting pattern as to how to go about the work of the Lord. We have the Great Commission to "make disciples of all nations." God entrusts men with His projects and He leaves it to them as to how to go about the implementation. The tribal leaders came up with some excellent solutions, and they paid for it themselves. Part of the cost was too great to be born individually, so it was shared: two leaders combined their resources to provide for one cart, but each one contributed one ox. The idea that this arrangement was the result of human initiative and not a direct command of the Lord is reinforced by what we read in vs. 4 and 5: "The LORD said to Moses, 'Accept these from them, that they may be used in the work at the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites as each man's work requires.' " It seems that Moses may have objected to the plan, since there had been no divine directive and that God overrules him.

The fact that the tribal leaders are identified as those in charge of the census suggests that the project of the carts and the oxen, as well as the following sacrifices, were more than the plan of a group of twelve men, but that the whole population was involved.

Moses assigns two carts and four oxen to the Gershonites and four carts and eight oxen to the Merarites, but "the Kohathites, because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible." The Merarites received the greater number of carts and oxen, since they were responsible for the heaviest load in the transportation of the tabernacle: the boards, pillars, foundations, pins, and cords.[ 1 ] The Gershonites were responsible for the tapestries.[ 2 ]

The dedication of the altar is celebrated for a period of twelve days, during each of which one of the tribal leaders comes to present his gifts and those of the tribe he represents before the Lord. The altar is the bronze altar on which the bloody sacrifices were made, picturing the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The bronze altar is anointed; that it the Holy Spirit takes possession of it and transforms it from a wooden structure on which death reigned supremely into a place where love was expressed in its highest form and where death was, ultimately conquered. For this celebration each leader brought one silver plate, one silver sprinkling bowl, and one gold dish. The silver plate and bowl were filled with flour and oil, and the gold dish with incense. Added to this each one brought "one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering; one male goat for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old, to be sacrificed as a fellowship offering."

To our modern mind the verses 13 through 83 make for the dullest reading one can imagine. For twelve long days we are dragged from one verse to another, in which the only difference is the name of the tribal leader; the inventory of his gifts is repeated meticulously. TLB senses that the readers would get bored with this repetition and therefore shortens its paraphrase. After 18 giving the details of Nahshon's offering on the first day, we are told: "The next day Nethanel, the son of Zuar, chief of the tribe of Issachar, brought his gifts and offerings. They were exactly the same as Nahshon had presented on the previous day." Thus this version skips all the verses in which the inventory of the gifts are repeated.

The only minute exception is found in vs. 23, where we read: "This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar," instead of "his offering was …." The Pulpit Commentary says about this: "His offering, and that of all the rest, is described in exactly the same words and phrases, with the single minute exception, that in ver. 19 we have, 'he offered for his offering,' instead of 'his offering was.' Even the small peculiarity of omitting the word shekels from the statement of the weight of the silver chargers and the golden spoons appears throughout (cf. Gen. xx. 16). No doubt the record was copied or enlarged from some document written at the time, and its studied sameness reflects the careful and equal solemnity with which the offerings of the several princes were received."

When Matthew Henry wrote his commentary a few centuries ago, people were less in a hurry than we are now, but yet he must have met with impatient people also, because he remarks: "Though the offerings were all the same, yet the account of them is repeated at large for each tribe, in the same words. We are sure there are no vain repetitions in scripture; what then shall we make of these repetitions? Might it not have served to say of this noble jury that the same offering which their foreman brought each on his day brought likewise? No, God would have it specified for each tribe: and why so?" He answers his question by saying: "(1.) it was for the encouragement of these princes, and of their respective tribes, that each of their offerings being recorded at large no slight might seem to be put upon them; for rich and poor meet together before God. (2.) it was for the encouragement of all generous acts of piety and charity, by letting us know that what is so given is lent to the Lord, and he carefully records it, with every one's name prefixed to his gift, because what is so given he will pay again, and even a cup of cold water shall have its reward. He is not unrighteous, to forget either the cost or the labour of love, <Heb. 6:10>. We find Christ taking particular notice of what was cast into the treasury, <Mk. 12:41>. Though what is offered be but little, though it be a contribution to the charity of others, yet if it be according to our ability it shall be recorded, that it may be recompensed in the resurrection of the just."

In a way TLB does not render us a service in leaving out the details. It seems that God has something special to say to us in these repetitions. He, first of all, wants to stop us in our track. If we are too much in a hurry to read this, we are going too fast. God wants us to know that He pays special attention to each of the offerings brought by the twelve tribal leaders. And if He takes them and their offerings so seriously, He will do the same with us and with what we bring before Him. What if God would be in the same hurry with us as we are with Him, and skip over our lives without paying attention?

The first one to bring his offering is Nahshon, son of Amminadab, or Naashon as the KJV calls him, the leader of the tribe of Judah. He was Aaron brother-in-law, according to the record of Exodus.[ 3 ] He is called the leader of Judah, every time the name of the tribe is mentioned. Both Matthew and Luke mention his name as one of the ancestors of Christ.[ 4 ] He plays a preeminent role in the early stages of the desert crossing. After the Levites, the tribe of Judah is first in relationship to the tabernacle as well as in marching order, and here, he opens the festivities of the inauguration. Yet, he is the only one of the tribal leaders, who is not addressed as "the leader."

TLB describes the gift he, and all the other leaders bring, as: "a silver platter weighing three pounds and a silver bowl of about two pounds, both filled with grain offerings of fine flour mixed with oil," and "a tiny gold box of incense which weighed only about four ounces." These gifts were meant for the dedication of both altars; the grain offering for the bronze altar and the incense for the golden altar. Besides these gifts a certain number of animals is brought for three different kinds of sacrifices: a burnt offering, consisting of one young bull, one ram and one male lamb a year old, a sin offering, made with one male goat and a fellowship offering, consisting of two oxen, five rams, five male goats and five male lambs a year old; a total of twenty-one animals. The emphasis was, obviously, on the fellowship offering, as an expression of gratitude. The sin offering is the smallest one, as if a reference to sin is only made in passing. During the twelve day period of dedication a total of two hundred fifty-two animals was sacrificed.

The leader of the tribe, in behalf of which the sacrifices were brought, would have to lay his hands of the sacrificial animal to indicate that he and his tribe identified themselves with the animal and that what happened to the animal, actually, should happen to them, actually, did happen to them: they poured their souls out into death before the Lord. That is why God takes these sacrifices so seriously and He lets Moses give a detailed account of the sacrifices that were brought each day. "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints!"[ 5 ]

At the end of this account we find a summery of all the gifts and sacrifices, with weights and numbers totaled up. It is as if the Lord wanted to indicate that He accepts these gifts and sacrifices, not only as acts of personal dedication, but as a whole, coming from the people. The body of Christ is typified by this. Surrender, sacrifice and fellowship are acts made on a personal basis, but they have a uniting affect upon the individual. In Christ, we become not only individual priests, but a kingdom of priest, members of His body.

Vs. 89 seems to stand by itself without connection to the previous verses: "When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony. And he spoke with him." The fact that we find it immediately after the account of the gifts and sacrifices for the dedication of the altar suggests that there is a connection. Moses had heard the voice of God, speaking to him personally, before this time. But it was after the dedication of the altar that God's voice appeared to come "from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony." God Himself testifies to the uniqueness of this when He says to Aaron and Myriam: "When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD."[ 6 ]

The Pulpit Commentary remarks here: "It is quite obvious that this statement more properly belongs to an earlier period, viz., to that immediately succeeding the consecration of the tabernacle. On the day it was set up Moses was not able to enter it (Exod. xl. 35), but no doubt he did so very soon afterwards, and received from the mouth of the Lord, speaking in the holiest, all the commandments and ordinances recorded in Leviticus and in the beginning of this book. Perhaps the first communication made to him in this way concerned the offerings of the princes when first brought near (vers. 4, 11), and for that reason the statement may have been appended to the record of those offerings."

Nobody in the whole of the Old Testament knew this kind of fellowship with God. Whether this meant that Moses could, actually, enter into the Holy of Holiest, behind the veil, we do not know, but the verse seems to suggest this. How else would Moses know the exact place from which the voice came? God's revelation of Himself to other prophets came in a supernatural way; in His speaking to Moses the supernatural became natural; Moses did not dream or have vision he heard the voice of God coming directly to him from a place in space and time. As far as Moses was concerned the Word had become flesh. That is the essence of the Incarnation, that the supernatural has become natural. "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."[ 7 ]

According to what God said to Aaron and Myriam, Moses saw the form of the Lord. We are not told what this form was. It must have been more than the cloud and the pillar of fire, since that could be seen by any Israelite. It was not the full glory of God either, because there would have been no reason for Moses to ask to see God's glory.[ 8 ]

It is hard for us to grasp that anyone could advance any further in the realm of spiritual reality than Moses did; and yet the apostle Paul indicates that God's revelation to us, in Christ, surpasses the one given to Moses. He writes to the Christians in Corinth: "We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."[ 9 ]

[ 1 ] See Num. 3:36,37

[ 2 ] See Num. 3:25,26

[ 3 ] Ex. 6:23

[ 4 ] Matt. 1:4; Luke 3:32,33

[ 5 ] Ps. 116:15

[ 6 ] Num. 12:6-8

[ 7 ] John 1:14

[ 8 ] See Ex. 33:18

[ 9 ] II Cor 3:13,17,18