Numbers 7: Offerings at the Tabernacle’s Consecration --- 2019/06/13

Rev. Thomas Eckstein, pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Jamestown, North Dakota, joins host Rev. AJ Espinosa to study Numbers 7.

The first part of Numbers picks up where Leviticus left off, describing the roles of the Levites and the priests, concluding with the priestly blessing. Numbers chapter 7 goes back one month to where the book of Exodus left off, describing the big-picture experience of the Israelites as a whole.

This chapter is all about how every tribe gets to participate in the dedication of the Tabernacle. In the end, we have a massive feast and an impressive celebration, with more than $75,000 worth of gold and silver dedicated and over 250 animals sacrificed. The bigger and wealthier tribes however were featured no more prominently than the smaller tribes. The chapter is repetitive, but we should appreciate that scrolls were rare and expensive. It’s highly significant that every tribe’s contribution gets the same amount of space and recognition here: all of us have equal standing before God; all have fallen short, and all are beggars before Him. God needs nothing from us, and abundant grace is freely given through Jesus Christ our Lord.