Context No. 2349 of 4322 · Numbers
Context · Reflection
Numbers 7:11-15: in context
11The LORD said to Moses, “They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar.” 12He who offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, 13and his offering was: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering; 14one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense; 15one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
Numbers records the offerings brought for the dedication of the altar, one tribal leader each day. What follows is a list that repeats almost word for word: the same silver platter, the same bowl, the same golden ladle of incense, the same bull and ram and lamb, twelve times over. Here we read the first day, Nahshon of Judah.
A modern editor would collapse this into one entry and a note that the other eleven matched. Scripture refuses. Each leader's identical gift is written out in full, on his own day, under his own name. The repetition is the point: God does not average his people together or file the second giver under the first. The ordinary, unoriginal offering, indistinguishable from a neighbor's, is received and recorded as that person's own act.
Do I dismiss my small, unremarkable offering as already covered by someone else's, when it is mine to bring?
Sources
- Numbers 7:11: The LORD said to Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedication of the altar.
- Mark 12:43: this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury.
- 1 Corinthians 15:58: be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the Lord's work, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.