Offerings of the Princes at the Dedication of the Altar, Part 2

Continuing a chronological Bible study, the seventh chapter of Numbers being continued from:

Offerings of the Princes at the Dedication of the Altar, Part 1

(48) On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim, offered.

In the last post, the first half of Numbers, chapter 7, the princes of each of the tribes of the children of Israel brought offerings, first wagons and oxen for the Levites in the service of the tabernacle, and then also brought offerings for what seems to be a formal dedication of the altar.  Each of the princes brought identical offerings, one on each day.  Now on the seventh day Elishama, the son of Ammihud, prince of the tribe of Ephraim, brought his offering, and we will see that it was the same offering that had been presented on each of the six previous days.

(49) His offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; (50) One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; (51) One young bullock, one ram, and one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering; (52) One kid of the goats for a sin offering; (53) And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.

Elishama brought the same offering that had been presented by six other princes on each of the six days prior to this:  a silver charger weighing 130 shekels, a silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, both full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering; a gold spoon weighing ten shekels that was full of incense; a young bull, a ram, and a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering; a goat kid for a sin offering; and two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year for peace offerings.

(54) On the eighth day offered Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children of Manasseh. (55) His offering was one silver charger of the weight of a hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; (56) One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; (57) One young bullock, one ram, and one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering; (58) One kid of the goats for a sin offering; (59) And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.

On the eighth day Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur, prince of the tribe of Manasseh, brought the same offering that had been presented seven days before by seven other of the princes of the children of Israel.

(60) On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, prince of the children of Benjamin, offered; (61) His offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; (62) One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; (63) One young bullock, one ram, and one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering; (64) One kid of the goats for a sin offering; (65) And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Abidan the son of Gideoni.

On the ninth day Abidan, the son of Gideoni, prince of the tribe of Benjamin, offered the same offering that had been offered by the eight other princes on the eight days prior to this one.

(66) On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, prince of the children of Dan, offered. (67) His offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; (68) One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; (69) One young bullock, one ram, and one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering; (70) One kid of the goats for a sin offering; (71) And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.

On the tenth day Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai, prince of the tribe of Dan, offered the same offering that had been offered on the nine days before.

(72) On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ocran, prince of the children of Asher, offered. (73) His offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; (74) One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; (75) One young bullock, one ram, and one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering; (76) One kid of the goats for a sin offering; (77) And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ocran.

On the eleventh day Pagiel, the son of Ocran, prince of the tribe of Asher, offered the same offering.

(78) On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the children of Naphtali, offered. (79) His offering was one silver charger, the weight of which was one hundred and thirty shekels, and one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering; (80) One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense; (81) One young bullock, one ram, and one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering; (82) One kid of the goats for a sin offering; (83) And for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs in their first year. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.

On the twelfth day Ahira, the son of Enan, prince of the tribe of Naphtali, offered the same offering.

(84) This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the princes of Israel: twelve chargers of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of gold, (85) Each charger of silver weighing one hundred and thirty shekels and each bowl seventy shekels; all the silver vessels weighed two thousand four hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.

The total weight of all the silver brought by the twelve princes in this dedication of the altar was 2400 shekels, according to the standard used in the sanctuary.  Once again, no one seems to know exactly what a silver shekel was worth.  Even among the older commentaries I study, their estimates varied from 300 to 400 British pounds.  I won't go to the trouble of trying to figure out what a British pound was worth in the 1800's since no one really knows how accurate that was anyway.  We do know that a shekel was twenty gerahs, and a gerah is defined as a "kernel" or a "grain", the smallest weight or coin among the Israelites, said to be perhaps about two and a half or three pennies of American money.  That would make it about $1400, but take that one with a gerah of salt, as no one really knows!  $1400 doesn't sound like that much; I'm not sure what 300-400 pounds in the 1700-1800's sounds like, but I am quite sure that with the rate of inflation, or with the value placed on it during Biblical times, that this was a substantial gift of silver given by the twelve princes.

(86) The golden spoons were twelve, full of incense, weighing ten shekels apiece, after the shekel of the sanctuary; all the gold of the spoons was a hundred and twenty shekels.

The total of the gold offered was 120 shekels of gold.  According to Dr. John Gill in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, written in the 1700's, this was about 75 British pounds of gold.  According to this article in Got Questions (gotquestions.org), "Scholars are uncertain what exactly a shekel was, but here is one calculation of its value: the sanctuary shekel was defined as 20 gerahs. A gerah has been traditionally measured as 1/50 of an ounce, or 0.6 grams. The sanctuary shekel would then equal 0.4 of an ounce of gold (20 times 1/50 of an ounce), or 12 grams. Based on a price of 46.43 USD per gram, the approximate value of a sanctuary shekel would be $557.16, in today’s market."  According to these calculations, the value of the gold would have been over $66,000!  However, as most everyone states in their opinions, we don't really know exactly what the value would be at this present time, but you can be sure its value in Biblical times was great when compared to prices of food and clothing and the like.

(87) All the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve young bulls, the rams twelve, the male lambs in their first year twelve, with their grain offering, and the kids of the goats as a sin offering twelve.

The total for the burnt offering from the twelve princes combined, was twelve young bulls, twelve rams, and twelve young lambs in their first year, with the grain offering that always went along with the burnt offering.  The total for the sin offering was twelve kid goats.

(88) And all the oxen for the sacrifice of peace offerings were twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, and the lambs in their first year sixty. This was the dedication for the altar after it was anointed.

The total number for the sacrifice of peace offerings that were offered by all twelve princes combined was 24 bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty lambs in their first year.  All these offerings were for the dedication of the altar after it had been anointed.

(89) And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with Him, he heard the voice of one speaking to him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims; and He spoke to him.

When Moses went into the tabernacle to speak with God, he heard God's voice coming from the mercy seat that was upon the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim.  We will learn what He said to him in the next chapter.

Isn't it interesting that although every prince's offering was exactly the same, each account of them was given the same detailed description?  I believe it was to show that each tribe was equally important to God.  What a beautiful illustration of how God views the gifts of each and every one of us!  Although we might feel inadequate when we consider how little our gifts are compared with the mighty works and gifts of others, God takes full notice of everything we do in His name, no matter how small.  Consider Matthew 10:42 where Jesus said that even a cup of cold water given to His disciple would have its reward.  Surely some of the tribes were not as rich as others of them, but each gave exactly the same offering, illustrating that they were all equally important to God.  Although some of the tribes' services may have seemed more important than others, all were important in the service of God, and they all had an equal share in the altar.