Numbers 7:2

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

Numbers 7:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 7:2

That the princes of Israel
The princes of the twelve tribes of Israel:

heads of the house of their fathers;
of the each of the houses and families the tribes were divided into, and took their name from each of their ancestors, as is next explained:

who were princes of the tribes;
the twelve tribes, as before observed, ( Numbers 1:4-16 ) ;

and were over them that were numbered;
over the children of Israel that were numbered, ( Numbers 1:19-46 ) ; by which it that these princes are the very same persons that are mentioned by name there, as they are here afterwards; and were with Moses and Aaron, and assisting to them when they took the number of them; but according to the Targum of Jonathan, and Jarchi, these were appointed over them in Egypt; but the former is right: these now

offered
not sacrifices but gifts; they brought their presents to the Lord for the service of his sanctuary, and set them before him, as follows.

Numbers 7:2 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 1:4-16