Numbers 7:1

Offerings from the Leaders

1 On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle,^[a] he anointed and consecrated it and all its furnishings, along with the altar and all its utensils. After he anointed and consecrated these things,

Numbers 7:1 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 7:1

And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the
tabernacle
Not on the very exact day on which it was first reared up, for that was on the first day of the first month of the second year from the coming up of Israel out of Egypt, ( Exodus 40:17 ) ; whereas the following offerings of the princes were not offered, and many other things previous to them, recorded in the preceding chapters, were not done, until after the first day of the second month of that year, ( Numbers 1:1 ) ; though the Jews say ^F5 the first of Nisan, or of the first month, was the first for various things, and the first on which the princes offered; but no one particular day can be intended, because the princes were twelve days successively offering their offerings; wherefore "the day" here only denotes the time about which it was when this service was performed; when the tabernacle was not only set up, but "fully" set up, when everything relating to it was in its proper place and order; when not only it was put together, and all the vessels and instruments of it in their due place, but also when the people of Israel, for whose sake it was erected, that the Lord God might dwell among them, were numbered, and their camps formed and pitched around the tabernacle; and the Levites were taken and numbered also, who were to serve at it, and their place and service were appointed unto them about it; for then, and not till then, was the service of it completed, and its proper place and situation fixed and settled:

and had anointed it;
with the holy oil Moses was directed to make and anoint it with, ( Exodus 30:23-28 ) ( Leviticus 8:10 ) ;

and sanctified it:
set it apart for holy use and service, to be an habitation for God, and the place of his worship:

and all the instruments thereof;
the ark, table, candlestick

both the altars, and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them,
and sanctified them;
the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering, and all appertaining: thereunto; according to Ben Gersom, this finishing of the whole was at the end of the seven days of consecration of Aaron and his sons, ( Exodus 29:35 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Seder Olam Rabba, c. 7. p. 21. Baal Hatturim in loc.

Numbers 7:1 In-Context

1 On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed and consecrated it and all its furnishings, along with the altar and all its utensils. After he anointed and consecrated these things,

2 the leaders of Israel, the heads of their ancestral houses, presented [an offering]. They were the tribal leaders who supervised the registration.

3 They brought as their offering before the Lord six covered carts and 12 oxen, a cart from every two leaders and an ox from each one, and presented them in front of the tabernacle.

4 The Lord said to Moses,

5 "Accept [these] from them to be used in the work of the tent of meeting, and give this offering to the Levites, to each [division] according to their service."

Footnotes

• [a]. Nm 9:15; Ex 39:32; 40:17