John Calvin Commentary Numbers 7

And they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered wagons. These wagons were dedicated for the transport of the tabernacle, for its pillars and many other parts of it could not be carried on men’s shoulders. Therefore, they are said to have been covered, so that the things placed in them would not be exposed to the rain. For it is by no means suitable to suppose that they were litters;⁴⁰⁰ and, in fact, a pair of oxen was assigned to every wagon. It is quite clear, then, that the materials of the tabernacle were placed in them when they were traveling from one place to another.

This offering is stated to have been made before the Lord, and then before the tabernacle, but the meaning is precisely the same, for God had, as it were, put on that face in which he might be seen by believers.

Regarding what follows, But the Lord had spoken to Moses, etc., I interpret it in this way: that God had required this tribute from the people. I have therefore considered it right to translate it in the pluperfect tense, whereas others translate it, The Lord said to Moses, as if Moses had not been ordered to receive it before it was actually presented by the princes and the people.

Indeed, it is probable that the number of the wagons was not accidentally determined, but by a precise calculation of the things they were to carry.

And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar. Here is another kind of offering: namely, a silver dish and bowl from every tribe, besides a golden spoon,⁴⁰¹ which properly means a censer. Their use was as follows: the sacred cakes were to be received in the dishes, the wine of libation in the bowls, and the frankincense in the censers. But God would have each tribe contribute its respective vessels, so that the common interest of the whole people in the sacrifices might be better testified.

Although the word shekel⁴⁰² is derived from its being weighed, it is still almost everywhere used for a coined piece of money, which, as we have seen in Exodus 30, was of the value of twenty oboli. Josephus estimates it at an Attic tetradrachm. But Ezekiel, when he is inveighing against their fraud in having diminished its weight, establishes its value at twenty oboli, and adds that it is the third part of a pound or mina (Ezekiel 45:12).

But it must be remembered, as we have also seen elsewhere, that the shekel of the sanctuary was double the ordinary one, for it was worth four drachmas, whereas the common shekel was only worth two drachmas, or a stater. Now, if we calculate, we will find that the value of each dish amounted to nearly one hundred French livres, and that of each bowl to forty-four.

If we take the shekel in the same sense with reference to the censers, or spoons, they must have been very small, being only about seven livres in value; whereas a gold vessel of this size would scarcely hold three grains of frankincense. Therefore, I am inclined to think they also had gold shekels, but I leave it undecided as a point on which we have no knowledge.

Lastly, there were the animals offered as victims: a young bullock, a ram, and a lamb for a burnt offering; a kid for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, and five lambs for a sacrifice of thanksgiving. It would, however, have been difficult for each prince to present so many from his own folds or stalls; from this, it is probable that they were aided by a general contribution. God chose that each tribe should have its own particular day appointed for it, not only so that there might be no confusion or disturbance, but also so that by this extended exercise the hearts even of the careless might be stirred up to zealous devotion.

And he that offered his offering the first day The oracular declaration which God made by the mouth of Jacob is well known: The scepter shall not depart from Judah, etc. (Genesis 49:10). Now, although the time had not yet arrived when the truth of this prophecy should be manifested by its fulfillment, it was nevertheless brought to pass by the admirable counsel of God that certain marks of supremacy should exist in the tribe of Judah; and, by general consent, if not dominion, at least the chief dignity was always lodged in it.

The assignment of the first day to Nahshon was, therefore, a presage of that future kingdom which was eventually set up in the person of David.

If anyone should allege the absurdity that the tribe of Reuben, the first-born, should be kept back until the fourth day, I reply that the tribes of Zebulun and Issachar were ranked under the banner of Judah, since it will appear in chapter 10⁴⁰³ that the twelve tribes were divided into four divisions of three.

Thus, it was more honorable for the tribe of Reuben to have the fourth day, so as to have the two tribes over which it presided attached to it. But the fathers of the two tribes which God placed under the banner of Judah were the two youngest sons of Leah, who followed next after Judah, her fourth son.

We see, therefore, that the kingdom from which salvation was to be hoped for by the whole people was thus obscurely shadowed forth: in order that they might be more attentive to the promise given them; although this indication of it had little effect on their sluggish minds.

And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle, there seems at first sight to be a kind of contradiction between this passage and the other, in which we saw that a thick cloud stood in the door of the tabernacle, so that Moses could not enter it.

It might, indeed, be answered that this only occurred once; but to me it appears more probable that Moses sought the replies of God at the mercy-seat until Aaron began to exercise the priesthood, and then abandoned his dignity, which was only temporary, regarding his entering the sanctuary. For we know that by the established Law of God the priesthood was distinct from the civil government; and therefore that he could not, except by special privilege, be at the same time the leader and the priest.⁴⁰⁴

If this exposition be accepted, he does not here record in its proper place that answers were given to him by God from the mercy-seat, since it is by no means unusual that what has preceded in order of time should be annexed at the end of a narrative. His intention, indeed, was to declare to posterity that God had not promised in vain that the Israelites should experience the presence of His favor; because He had chosen His dwelling-place in the sanctuary, to sit between the cherubim.

By this testimony, therefore, of God’s grace, the external anointing was ratified and confirmed, inasmuch as God appeared to Moses upon the Ark of the Covenant.