Numbers 7 Footnotes

7:12-89 On successive days a representative of one of the twelve tribes presented, in turn, the items required in the Israelite celebration, including covered oxcarts, sacrificial implements, and sacrificial elements for each of the three types of offering—whole burnt, sin, and fellowship/peace offerings. The tedious (to us) repetition of identical sets of gifts underscores the participation of each tribe in providing for the needs of the sanctuary with its various celebrations and commemorations. This was important to note as a statement of the tribes’ unity in the covenant with the Lord. The collective tribes contributed equally to the support of the priesthood, a pattern that is broken in the Korah rebellion of chaps. 16–17.