Tag Archives: Numbers 7:10-88

Numbers 7:1–89

Original Meaning. The chieftains, representing their tribes (not including Levi), brought their gifts to the sanctuary when Moses anointed and thereby consecrated it (7:1–2). The chiefs give six wagons and twelve oxen, two for each wagon, which logically go to the Gershonite and Merarite Levites for transporting the sanctuary (7:3–8). This helps to explain why the present archival account is placed here in the book of Numbers. The gifts meet needs created by the Levite job descriptions (ch. 4).

Baroque painting of the death of Uzzah by Giulio Quaglio the Younger in a medallion in Ljubljana Cathedral (1704)

The Kohathites do not need wagons because they transport the sacred furniture on their shoulders by poles (7:9). This requires manpower, but it protects the precious items from the kind of jolting that later cost Uzzah his life when he reached out to steady the ark of the covenant on its cart (2 Sam 6:3–7).

Having introduced the twelve tribal chieftains in Numbers 7, the rest of the chapter (except for 7:89) continues with an inventory of the chieftains’ other offerings, even though they brought them earlier for the service of the outer altar when it was initiated/inaugurated shortly after it was anointed (7:10–88; cf. 7:1). Although this inventory belongs between Leviticus 8 and 9 from a chronological perspective, its present location maintains thematic cohesion by avoiding interruption of the grand consecration-inauguration process in Leviticus and by keeping the chiefs’ presents to the sanctuary together.

The word for “initiation” (NIV “dedication”) of the altar is hanukkah (7:10, 11, 84, 88). This noun denotes the first use of a structure for the purpose for which it was intended. Thus, a house (Deut 20:5), city wall (Neh 12:27), or image (Dan 3:2–3) could be initiated, as was Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 8:63; 2 Chr 7:5) and its altar (2 Chr 7:9). The Jewish holiday of Hanukkah in December celebrates the initiation of a new altar when the Maccabees purified and reconsecrated the Second Temple (1 Macc 4:52–59).

At first glance, the last verse of Numbers 7 (7:89) looks isolated, but it harks back to the beginning of the chapter, which refers to Moses’s setting up and consecrating the sanctuary. As the Lord promised when he provided directions for constructing the ark of the covenant (Exod 25:22), Moses heard the Lord’s voice “speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law” (Num 7:89).

The initial occasion when Moses could enter the tabernacle after its consecration and encounter the divine glory like this was at the conclusion of the public inauguration service (Lev 9:23; cf. 9:6), for which sacrificial victims and other materials (9:1–5) undoubtedly had been provided by the chieftains. At that time Moses and Aaron blessed the people (9:22–23; cf. Num 6:22–27). So, Numbers 6:22–7:89 contains a cluster of connections to the founding events of Israelite worship on which any progress would be based.

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The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition; by by Christopher A. Beetham; Nancy L. Erickson

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the authors of ‘the NIV Application Commentary on the Bible’ and do not necessarily represent those of the Christadelphians