Numbers 7:1

This remarkable chapter is not "the longest chapter in the Bible,"[1] because it is far exceeded in length by Psalms 119. However, it is the longest in the Pentateuch, having 89 verses.

Critical comments focus upon the first verse which has, "It came to pass on the day that Moses made an end of setting up the tabernacle ... etc." The problem with this is alleged to be the "inaccuracy" of that date, but the critics have simply misunderstood the meaning of "on that day," which has simply the meaning of "in that period of time." Exactly the same thing is observable in Genesis 2:4. "In the day that God made earth and heaven." "Day" in that passage, as also in this one, refers merely to a connection with that period of history and should not be understood as a "day" chronologically pinpointed. There was not "one day" in creation; there were six! Many discerning scholars have commented on this.

This is not a specific day. The meaning is simply that after Moses had completed the setting up, and anointing, etc., then the princes offered their offerings (Numbers 7:88).[2] "Day," here, must be taken in a general sense, meaning "about that time."[3] The majority of commentators today read "day" here as in Genesis 2:4, as meaning "at that time."[4]

Only those commentators trying to find a "contradiction" in the sacred text have trouble understanding what is meant here. The Mosaic authorship is NOT here compromised in any manner. Not only certain words (as in Numbers 7:10), but the exceedingly tedious repetition are all marks of the period about 1460 B.C., being altogether atypical of anything that could have been produced by a post-exilic priesthood.

The master theme of this chapter is that of the gifts of the princes of Israel for the dedication of the holy altar. They also provided the covered wagons that would be needed momentarily in the departure of Israel from Sinai. In fact, it appears that that impending departure might have been the very occasion, as well as the motivation, for the contribution of the wagons that would be needed in moving the heavier elements of the tabernacle.

"And it came to pass on the day that Moses had made an end of setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed it and sanctified it, and all the furniture thereof, and the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them and sanctified them; that the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers' houses, offered. These were the princes of the tribes, these are they that were over them that were numbered: and they brought their oblation before Jehovah, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for every two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they presented them before the tabernacle."

The notion that all that Moses is said to have done in Numbers 7:1 took place on a single day is an error. "Day" here does not mean to imply that all of that procedure was a one-day affair. (See the chapter introduction.)

That the exact time of the events of this chapter was a few days later, even than the numbering (Numbers 1), is proved by these princes being mentioned in Numbers 7:2 as precisely the ones who had participated in the numbering. Likewise, in the later Numbers 7:12-82, the princes appeared with their gifts in the exact order of their marching formation given in Numbers 2. Despite all this, the total time elapsed between the events of Sinai and the departure of Israel was only a matter of about six weeks, and there is nothing very remarkable in the speaking of that whole period as "the day."

"And they brought their oblation before Jehovah ..." This was a free-will thing on their part, no commandment to this effect having been given. It appears likely that these leaders of Israel, anticipating the march into the land of Canaan, expected to be beginning soon, decided to expedite the transfer of the tabernacle by these contributions of wagons and oxen.

"Covered wagons ..." Some recent translations reject this rendition, but the rendition here still is preferable. "Gesenius and DeWette translate `litter wagons,' but this cannot be defended etymologically, nor based on Isaiah 66:20."[5]

"`Covered wagons' has good authority. R. K. Harrison noted that ox-drawn wagons were used regularly in Syria by the Pharaohs from the times of Tuthmosis III (1470 B.C.) onwards for several centuries. (See R. K. Harrison's Introduction to the O.T., p. 263)."[6]