Numbers 7:3

3 offered gifts before the Lord, six wains covered, with twelve oxen; two dukes offered one wain, and each offered one ox. And they offered those wains before the tabernacle. (brought their offerings before the Lord, in six covered wagons, with twelve oxen; two leaders, or two chief men, offered one wagon, and each offered one ox. And they brought those wagons to the front of the Tabernacle.)

Numbers 7:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 7:3

And they brought their offering before the Lord
Before the tabernacle, as it is afterwards explained, where he had now taken up his habitation:

six covered wagons, and twelve oxen;
according to the number of the twelve tribes, of which they were princes, two oxen for each wagon, which were to carry the tabernacle, and its vessels, from place to place; and which wagons were covered, not only to hide the things to be put into them from the sight of the people, being sacred, but to preserve them from the rain and dust, and the like; and no doubt, but as they were made of the best materials, So they were covered with rich coverings for the honour of the vessels put into them, being the presents of princes, and in which they joined, and could not be ordinary carriages. The word is rendered "litters" in ( Isaiah 66:20 ) ; and by some, "coaches"; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``six wagons yoked,''

or drawn with a yoke of oxen; and Aben Ezra says, it signifies a kind of oxen which drew wagons; but the Targum of Jonathan, Jarchi, and Ben Gersom interpret it "covered", as we do:

a wagon for two of the princes, and for each one an ox;
two princes joined in the present of one wagon, which shows it could not be a common wagon, but rich carriage, and ornamented, as the Targum of Jonathan adds; and each prince presented an ox, so that there was a yoke of them for each wagon:

and they brought them before the tabernacle;
the Targum of Jonathan says, Moses would not receive them, and therefore they brought them before the tabernacle; and so, says Jarchi, Moses received them not at their hands, until it was declared to him by the mouth of the Lord what he should do, as follows.

Numbers 7:3 In-Context

1 And it was done in the day in which Moses fulfilled, or ended, the tabernacle, and areared it, and anointed it, and hallowed it with all the vessels, or instruments, thereof, and the altar he hallowed in like manner, and the vessels thereof. (And it was done on the day in which Moses finished the Tabernacle, and raised it up, that he anointed it, and consecrated it, or dedicated it, and all of its vessels, or its instruments, and the altar, and its vessels.)

2 And the princes of Israel, and the heads of families, that were, by all lineages, the sovereigns of them that were numbered, (And the leaders of Israel, that is, the heads of the families, who were, by all the tribes, the rulers of those who were listed, or were registered,)

3 offered gifts before the Lord, six wains covered, with twelve oxen; two dukes offered one wain, and each offered one ox. And they offered those wains before the tabernacle. (brought their offerings before the Lord, in six covered wagons, with twelve oxen; two leaders, or two chief men, offered one wagon, and each offered one ox. And they brought those wagons to the front of the Tabernacle.)

4 Soothly the Lord said to Moses,

5 Take thou of them, that they serve in the service of the tabernacle, and betake thou those things to the deacons, by the order of their service. (Receive thou these gifts from them, to use in service for the Tabernacle, and give thou them to the Levites, according to the order of their service.)