Numbers7chapter 7

Numbers 7:10-11

Twelve identical offerings could have been brought in one morning, and God orders them spread over twelve days, each prince on his day. The pacing gives every tribe a day of its own for the same gift. What is being dedicated is one altar, and it takes twelve days to dedicate it.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown compare the Eastern custom of nobles bringing tribute to a king one by one, each gift displayed singly. The twelve days follow the course of the sun around the camp, east, south, west and north. John Wesley notes that rank in the camp set the order.

Numbers 7:12-17

The first day belongs to Judah, and the order of the twelve days is the order of the camp in Numbers 2 rather than the order of birth. Judah pitched on the east toward the rising of the sun, and Genesis 49:10 is where that precedence comes from. The offering is written out in full here, a silver charger, a silver bowl, a golden spoon of incense and the animals, and the same list is written out eleven more times.

Clarke takes the platter as a deep dish for kneading the dough and the bowl as a basin to receive the blood of the sacrifice. Both are weighed by the sanctuary shekel, the standard of twenty gerahs that Numbers 3:47 names. Both came full of the grain offering.

The gold dish is a hollow cup shaped like a hand, according to Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, used to lift incense from its box onto the altar fire or into the censers. Its gold marks it for the golden altar of incense inside the tent. Each dish weighed ten shekels.

Leviticus 1:3 required an unblemished male for a burnt offering, brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Gill reports the ages the Targums give, the bull three years old and the ram two, and he points the reader to that law. The lamb was a year old.

Gill observes that a sin offering stands in a day of thanksgiving, since sin attends the best and purest services of men. He points the reader to Christ, made an offering for sin to take away the sins of holy things. Joy and confession share one altar.

The peace offering was eaten, and John Wesley explains its size by the feast the leaders, priests and people held before the LORD. Matthew Henry notes the meat had to be eaten the day it was offered, as Leviticus 7:15 requires, and seventeen animals made one day's feast. Each leader brought twenty-one animals in all.

Numbers 7:18-29

Issachar and Zebulun follow, which completes the east standard of Numbers 2:3-9. Nothing changes between the days except the name of the prince and the name of the tribe. The writer could have said that the other eleven did likewise and he declines to.

Nethanel of Issachar brings the same platter and bowl that Nahshon brought the day before. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain that each tribe was under an equal obligation to God, so each paid an equal tribute. The silver given now reaches four hundred shekels.

Clarke renders the Hebrew kaph as a censer, a pan on which the incense was laid. John Wesley reads the altar of verse 10 as the altar of incense as well as the altar of burnt offering, and these dishes served the first. Issachar's dish brings the gold to twenty shekels.

Matthew Henry gives as one reason for the twelve separate days that the priests, offering the same sacrifices daily, grew practiced in the new laws of sacrifice. The burnt offering alone set a bull, a ram and a lamb on the altar each day. Twelve days made thirty-six.

Matthew Henry notes that a sin offering appears even in these days of joy. In his reading, the best services still carry a mixture of sin, so even a joyful service should carry a mixture of repentance. Issachar's goat is the second of twelve.

Matthew Henry gives Nethanel's name as the gift of God. Most of the twelve leaders bear El, God, in their names, which Henry reads as the memory of God kept alive by Israel through the years in Egypt. Nethanel's division numbered 54,400 men at Numbers 2:6.

Eliab leads Zebulun, the third tribe of Judah's camp on the east. Gill notes that Issachar and Zebulun were the youngest sons of Leah and so would camp gladly under the standard of their elder brother Judah. Three of the twelve days belong to that camp.

John Wesley places the silver platter at the altar of burnt offering and in the courtyard, since every vessel inside the holy place was gold. The metal tells where each gift served. Zebulun's silver brings the total to six hundred shekels.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown add that on the Day of Atonement the high priest used his own hands for the incense, and Leviticus 16:12 has him take two handfuls inside the veil. On ordinary days a cup like this one did the work. The gold now stands at thirty shekels.

Matthew Henry reads the daily sacrifices as the leaders' thankful acceptance of the laws of offering that God had just given through Moses. Each tribe took up those laws in its own name. Zebulun's bull, ram and lamb make nine burnt animals in three days.

Leviticus 4:22-23 names an unblemished male goat as the sin offering of a leader who becomes aware of his sin. Gill, sending the reader back to verse 16, reads the goat as confession offered within thanksgiving. Eliab's goat is the third.

Matthew Henry reads Eliab's name as calling God a Father. Eliab led the 57,400 men of Zebulun, and at Numbers 10:16 he marches in the place he offers here, third in line. His seventeen peace animals made the day's feast, as Wesley explains it.

Numbers 7:30-47

On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur: Days four to six are Reuben, Simeon and Gad, the south standard of Numbers 2:10-16. Reuben was the firstborn and comes fourth, which Numbers 2 had already settled and Genesis 49:3-4 had explained. The offering does not vary by the size of a tribe or the standing of a man.

Reuben was Jacob's firstborn, and his leader brings the same silver as the three before him. Matthew Henry weighs each platter at about sixty ounces and each bowl at about thirty-five. Eight hundred shekels of silver are now given.

Aaron burned fragrant incense on the golden altar every morning and at twilight, as Exodus 30:7-8 commands. Matthew Henry assigns these gold dishes to the service of that altar, since both altars had been anointed at the same time. Reuben's dish brings the gold to forty shekels.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that every animal brought was clean and fit for sacrifice. In their reading, the offerings declared Israel a holy people giving themselves to the God who dwelt among them as King. Reuben's three animals raise the burnt offerings to twelve.

The blood of a leader's sin offering went on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, as Leviticus 4:25 directs. So the altar being dedicated took the blood of Reuben's goat on its horns. Gill ties it to sins clinging to holy things.

Matthew Henry reads Elizur's name as calling God a rock. Elizur led the 46,500 men of Reuben and headed the camp on the south side, which set out second at Numbers 10:18. The firstborn's tribe offers fourth.

Shelumiel leads Simeon, the second tribe of the southern camp under Reuben's standard. Gill notes that Reuben and Simeon were sons of the same mother, so Simeon would take his eldest brother's lead without complaint. Simeon numbered 59,300 at Numbers 2:13.

Calvin holds that each leader brought what his whole tribe had contributed, since no private man then had so much gold and silver of his own. Clarke says each tribe bore the cost of its leader's gift. Simeon's gift brings the silver to one thousand shekels.

Matthew Henry reckons that Israel could spare gold and silver in such amounts because God fed them daily with bread from heaven. Their land would come to them in Canaan by promise. Simeon's dish brings the gold to fifty shekels.

Leviticus 1:4 has the offerer lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, so it is accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. Gill sends the reader to that chapter of the law for every burnt offering in this list. Fifteen burnt animals have now been offered.

Matthew Henry urges that in every approach to God faith looks to Christ as the great sin offering. Shelumiel's goat is the fifth, and each came on its leader's own day. The count ends at twelve in verse 87.

Matthew Henry reads Shelumiel's name as saying that God is his peace, and his record closes with a peace offering. John Wesley calls the peace offerings the meat of the feast held before the LORD. At Numbers 10:19 Shelumiel marches second in the southern camp.

Eliasaph leads Gad, the third tribe of Reuben's camp on the south. Gill notes that Gad was the eldest son of Zilpah, Leah's servant, and so fitly placed under Leah's firstborn. The sixth day ends the first half of the offerings.

Half the twelve have now given, and the silver stands at twelve hundred shekels, half the 2,400 of verse 85. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that these vessels were made for lasting use in the sanctuary. The animals served the day itself.

Matthew Henry draws from these costly gifts that the best Lord should be served with the best a giver has. Gad's dish is the sixth of ten shekels, so the gold reaches sixty shekels. That is half the total of verse 86.

Matthew Henry's first reason for spreading the offerings over twelve days is that the solemnity lasted longer, so all Israel took notice of it and remembered it. Gad's burnt offering brings the burnt animals to eighteen. Six days of twelve are done.

Ezra 6:17 records twelve male goats, one for each tribe of Israel, as the sin offering at the dedication of the second temple. Matthew Henry reads the identical gifts here as a sign that every tribe had an equal share in the altar. Gad's goat is the sixth.

Matthew Henry gives Eliasaph's name as God has added. The King James at Numbers 2:14 calls his father Reuel, which Barnes takes for a copyist's slip for Deuel, the name at Numbers 1:14 and here. Gad numbered 45,650 men.

Numbers 7:48-65

On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud: Days seven to nine are Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin, the west standard of Numbers 2:18-24, and all three descend from Rachel. Ephraim goes before Manasseh here, as Jacob set it with crossed hands at Genesis 48:14-20. Same charger, same bowl, same spoon.

The seventh day raises the question of the Sabbath, and Matthew Henry holds that at least one Sabbath fell within the twelve days. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown answer that presenting gifts to God suits the sacred day. The silver reaches fourteen hundred shekels.

Ephraim's dish brings the gold to seventy shekels. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown date these twelve days about a month after the tabernacle was raised, once the Levites were set apart and the tribes placed around it. Incense had burned on the golden altar since Exodus 40:27.

The regular burnt offering of two lambs a day, set at Exodus 29:38-39, went on beside these gifts. Matthew Henry puts it as a rule that necessary observances come before free-will offerings. The leaders' gifts came on top of the daily duty.

Elishama's goat is the seventh sin offering, and the text repeats the line in full for Ephraim. Matthew Henry reads the repetition as God's record honoring every tribe's gift, since rich and poor meet together before Him. Every tribe's name stands with its gift.

Matthew Henry reads Elishama's name as God has heard. 1 Chronicles 7:26-27 lists Ammihud, Elishama, Nun and Joshua in one line of Ephraim, and in that list Elishama son of Ammihud is Joshua's grandfather. Ephraim numbered 40,500 men.

Gamaliel leads Manasseh, Joseph's firstborn, who offers on the day after his younger brother Ephraim. Gill counts Manasseh the smallest of all the tribes, at 32,200 men. Numbers 10:23 puts Gamaliel second in the western camp's march.

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the sacred books were read aloud in public. Each tribe in later ages would hear its own ancestors' gift named in full and feel a livelier share in the nation's worship. The silver now reaches sixteen hundred shekels.

Clarke observes that the tribes bring their gifts in the very order in which they camped around the tabernacle, and he sets the twelve out in a table. Manasseh camped on the west beside Ephraim and offers there in turn. The gold reaches eighty shekels.

Matthew Henry reads the long run of identical sacrifices as a lesson that devotion repeated should be a pleasure, and he warns against calling holy work a burden. Manasseh's burnt offering is the eighth. Twenty-four burnt animals have now been offered.

Barnes holds that the tribes themselves presented these gifts through their leaders. On that reading Gamaliel brings Manasseh's sin offering on behalf of the whole tribe. Eight goats have now been offered.

Matthew Henry reads Gamaliel's name as God is the reward. The name returns at Acts 5:34, where a Pharisee called Gamaliel, a teacher of the law honored by all the people, speaks in the Sanhedrin. Here it belongs to Manasseh's leader.

Abidan leads Benjamin, the youngest son of Jacob and the last tribe of the western camp. Matthew Henry notes that Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin, the three tribes of that camp, were all descended from Rachel. Benjamin numbered 35,400.

Matthew Henry assigns the platters to the grain offerings and the bowls to the drink offerings. Here both came filled with fine flour and oil, the grain offering of Leviticus 2:1-2, from which the priest burned a handful as a memorial portion. The silver reaches eighteen hundred shekels.

Abidan's dish brings the gold to ninety shekels, a small sum beside the silver. Gill reckons all twelve dishes together at about forty-nine ounces of gold. He values them at about seventy-five pounds of his day.

Leviticus 1:9 has the priest burn all of the burnt offering on the altar, an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. Abidan's bull, ram and lamb went up whole, as Gill's pointer to that law requires. Twenty-seven burnt animals have now been offered.

Nine goats have now been offered for sin on nine days. Matthew Henry counts among the reasons for spacing the days that God's work be done decently and in order, and done the better for taking time. The dedication kept one pace throughout.

Abidan's tribe of Benjamin belonged to the western camp, which Gill reckons the smallest of the four at 108,100 men. Gill notes it was nearly eighty thousand fewer than the camp of Judah. Its gifts matched Judah's exactly.

Numbers 7:66-83

On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai: Days ten to twelve are Dan, Asher and Naphtali, the north standard of Numbers 2:25-31. The twelfth day closes a sequence that has not varied in a single item since the first. A reader who finds these verses long is reading what the chapter is doing, since the length is the record that every tribe gave the same and none gave less.

Matthew Henry notes that Dan, the eldest son of Rachel's servant Bilhah, was made head of a camp, so that more honour went to the part that lacked it. Dan's leader brings the tenth platter and bowl. The silver reaches two thousand shekels.

Barnes reports a tradition that gave the four camps the four faces of the cherubim, with the eagle for Dan's camp on the north. Dan's dish brings the gold to a hundred shekels. Two dishes remain.

Dan's burnt offering is the tenth, and the burnt animals now number thirty. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown compare the whole ceremony to subjects bringing tribute to their king. The tabernacle was His palace as well as His sanctuary.

Ahiezer's goat is the tenth sin offering, and the chapter writes it out as fully as the first. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain that each gift receives its own notice so that every tribe had equal honor in the record. Two goats remain.

Ahiezer led Dan, 62,700 men, the largest tribe after Judah. Matthew Henry notes that Dan's camp was the most numerous after Judah's and so was posted at the rear, the place that needed the most strength. At Numbers 10:25 it guards the march.

Clarke notes that the Hebrew says in the day, the first and tenth day, where English says eleventh. He calls this the plain idiom of the language. Pagiel leads Asher, the second tribe of the northern camp under Dan.

Matthew Henry compares the twelve days to the twelve stones on Aaron's breastpiece, where each tribe had its own stone and here each had its own day. Asher's day is the eleventh. The silver reaches twenty-two hundred shekels.

Asher's dish brings the gold to a hundred and ten shekels. Exodus 30:6 sets the golden altar in front of the veil, before the mercy seat over the ark. John Wesley places Moses outside that veil in verse 89, hearing the voice from the mercy seat.

Pagiel's burnt offering brings the burnt animals to thirty-three. Matthew Henry reads the long record as God's pledge to remember every gift, and he cites Hebrews 6:10, where God will not forget the work and love of His people. Asher's gift stands written in full.

Leviticus 4 scales the sin offering to the sinner's office, a young bull for the anointed priest at verse 3 and a male goat for a leader at verse 23. Pagiel brings the goat of a leader, as Gill's note on verse 16 applies to all twelve. Eleven have now been offered.

Matthew Henry reads Pagiel's name as an encounter with God. Pagiel led the 41,500 men of Asher and marches second in Dan's camp at Numbers 10:26. His peace offering made the eleventh day's feast.

Ahira of Naphtali brings the last of the twelve offerings. Naphtali completes the northern camp under Dan's standard, which John Wesley reckons the strongest after Judah's and so placed in the rear. The same twelve men lead the march in Numbers 10:14-27.

The twelfth platter and bowl bring the silver to twenty-four hundred shekels, the sum verse 85 gives. Matthew Henry recalls Christ watching what was put into the treasury at Mark 12:41, and he says God records each gift with the giver's name. Every gift keeps its giver's name.

Ahira's dish completes the twelve, and the gold reaches the hundred and twenty shekels of verse 86. Barnes reads the voice from the mercy seat in verse 89 as God's answer to the readiness with which the tribes supplied the Holy Place. Speech follows the last gift.

Ahira's burnt offering is the last, and the altar has now received the thirty-six burnt animals that verse 87 counts. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take so large a number of cattle as evidence of Israel's flocks and of the pasture in the valleys of Sinai. They cite the Amalekites' flocks.

Ahira's goat completes the twelve sin offerings counted at verse 87, one for each tribe. John Wesley calls these the first offerings brought to the altar for particular persons or tribes. Naphtali's was the last.

Ahira led the 53,400 men of Naphtali, and his offering closes the twelve days. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the feast of dedication later became a yearly festival. The peace offerings of the twelve leaders came to 204 animals.

Numbers 7:84-88

Having written each of the twelve out in full, the chapter adds the totals anyway. Twelve chargers, twelve bowls, twelve golden spoons, and the silver weighed at two thousand four hundred shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary. The sums show that nothing in the twelve recitals was rounded or assumed.

Twelve platters of 130 shekels and twelve bowls of 70 give 1,560 and 840, which make the 2,400 shekels of this verse. Gill turns the sum into 1,139 ounces of silver, worth about three hundred pounds in his money. The figures agree.

Twelve dishes of ten shekels make the hundred and twenty of this verse. Gill takes full of incense as naming the dishes' use, and he likens them to the cups used for incense on the Day of Atonement, citing the Mishnah tractate Yoma. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say the high priest used his hands.

John Wesley notes that the grain offerings appear only here, as the law already required them with every burnt offering. Numbers 15:4 later fixes a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for each such animal. Twelve goats stood beside them for sin.

John Wesley reads after it was anointed as the key to the chapter's repeated in the day, a period that began soon after the anointing. The peace offerings come to 204 animals, the largest share, since they were eaten at the feasts. Clarke says the dedication set the altar apart for its service.