Dedication Offerings

(Book of Numbers 7:1- 7:89)
Moses had completed the erection of the Tabernacle and had anointed and consecrated it and all its furnishings, as well as the altar and all its utensils.  At that time, the leaders of Israel, the clan heads and tribal chiefs, who were in charge of those who had been enrolled in the census, came with donations.  These consisted of 6 large wagons pulled by 12 oxen.  (There was a wagon for every two tribal chiefs and an ox for each.)  These they presented at the Tabernacle.

Jehovah told Moses, "Accept the wagons and oxen from them so that they can be used in the transportation of the Tabernacle.  Distribute them among the Levites for their required work."

And so Moses accepted the wagons and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.  Two of the wagons and four of the oxen were given to the Gershonites for their use, while the other four wagons and eight oxen were given to the Merarites who were under the supervision of Ithamar, the son the Aaron, the high priest.  The Kohathites, however, were not given any, since the sacred objects they were in charge of transporting could be carried by hand.

When the altar was anointed, the leaders brought offerings to celebrate its dedication.  These they presented before the altar.  Jehovah instructed Moses, "Each day let one tribal chief present his offerings for the dedication of the altar."

The one who brought his offerings on the first day was Nahshon, the son of Amminabab, representing the Tribe of Judah.  These offerings consisted of a silver plate weighing 130 shekels, a silver basin weighing 70 shekels, (according to the weights employed by the priests), both of them filled with choice flour mixed with olive oil for a grain offering, one golden dish full of incense weighing 10 shekels, one young bull, one ram, and one yearling male lamb for a burnt offering, one male goat for a sin offering,  2 oxen, 5 rams, 5 male goats, and 5 yearling male lambs for a peace offering.  Such were the offerings of Nahshon, the son of Amminabab.

[Identical offerings were made by:]
Nethanel, the son of Zuar, chief of the Tribe of Issachar on the 2nd day
Eliab, the son of Helon, chief of the Tribe of Zebulun, on the 3rd day
Elizur, the son of Shedeur, chief of the Tribe of Reuben, on the 4th day
Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai, chief of the Tribe of Simeon, on the 5th day
Eliasaph, the son of Deuel, chief of the Tribe of Gad, on the 6th day
Elishama, the son Ammihud, chief of the Tribe of Ephraim, on the 7th day
Gamaliel, the son of Pedahzur, chief of the Tribe of Manasseh, on the 8th day
Abidan, the son of Gideoni, chief of the Tribe of Benjamin, on the 9th day
Ahiezer, the son of Ammishaddai, chief of the Tribe of Dan, on the 10th day
Pagiel, the son of Okran, chief of the Tribe of Asher, on the 11th day
Ahira, the son of Enan, chief of the Tribe of Naphtali, on the 12th day

In total, the offerings made by the Israelite tribal chiefs for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed were as follows: 12 silver plates, 12 silver basins, and 12 gold dishes.  Each silver plate weighed 130 shekels, each silver basin, 70 shekels.  Together, the silver weighed 2400 shekels (according to the weights used by the priests).  The 12 gold dishes containing incense weighed 10 shekels each (according to the weights used by the priests).  Together the gold weighed 120 shekels.  The total number of sacrificial animals for the burnt offering was 12 young bulls, 12 rams, 12 yearling male lambs, with the accompanying grain offerings.  For the sin offering, 12 goats were sacrificed.  For the peace offering the total number of animals sacrificed were 24 oxen, 60 rams, 60 male goats, and 60 yearling male lambs.  These were the offerings made for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.

When Moses entered the Sanctum to commune with Jehovah, he would hear his voice speaking from between the images of the Cherubim situated on the lid of the Chest of Sacred Records.  It was in this way that Jehovah communicated with him.

Notes
1.  The text is here condensed to eliminate redundancies.  One feels it is not necessary to bore the reader by listing the identical offerings made by each tribal chief.

2.  Judah's place of privilege among the sons of Israel allows his tribe to make the first offering.  Each tribe, regardless of its population and wealth, are required to make the same contribution and bear an equal burden.  It is similar to the United States in that each state is given equal power in the Senate with two Senators each.

3.  With more than 20 animals being slaughtered on the altar every day for 12 days, the Tabernacle dedication would have been a ceremony of butchery and overwhelming blood and stench.  But, to the ancient Israelites, such things would have been evocative of holiness.  Also, this prodigal animal slaughter illustrates how rich in livestock were the Israelites, who were previously depicted as wandering, starving in the desert.

4.  The biblical shekel, a measure of weight, is thought to be about .4 ounces.  Therefore, 10 shekels = 1/4 pound, 30 shekels = 3/4 pounds, 70 shekels = 1 3/4 pounds, 120 shekels = 3 pounds, 130 shekels = 3 1/4 pounds, 1300 shekels = 32 1/3 pounds, 2400 shekels = 60 1/3 pounds.  Silver (not actually in coinage) was used as a barter commodity in this part of the world, but probably beginning at a date later than the time of the Exodus.  The weights used by the Hebrew priests would have been somewhat different than those used by merchants, thus the repeated stipulations in the texts that the Tabernacle weights are to be employed.  In Egypt, silver, owing to its scarcity, once had a value greater than gold, but, by the 2nd millennium B.C., it was considered worth about half as much as gold.

5.  Jehovah communicates to Moses from the Inner Sanctum, his voice coming from the space between the golden images of the winged Cherubim on the lid (Judgment Seat) of the Chest of Sacred Records (often called the Ark of the Covenant).  There was, then, no telepathic rapport between Moses and Jehovah.  Moses could not call upon Jehovah wherever he happened to be, but had to visit him in the Inner Sanctum of the Tabernacle.  One assumes that Moses spoke with a disembodied, spirit voice.  Some, though, have intriguingly suggested that the Chest of Sacred Records contained a communication device, a receiver and a speaker by which a voice could have been transmitted and generated electronically.  If this is true, the memory of such a device was lost, or conveniently forgotten.  If it was a disembodied voice, why does it speak only at a certain location?  For those who have had commerce with spirits have found that being in a specific place is not necessary for communication with them.  Joan of Arc, for instance, heard her voices even in prison.  Others have had their prayers answered regardless of where they happened to be.  Spirit is not bound in the material world.  There is much similarity between the voice of the Judgment Seat and the voices that reportedly emanated from the statues of the pagan gods and goddesses in their temples.  There was always the idea that to speak to a god, you had to visit his temple and evoke him in spoken prayer and perhaps be responded to, audibly.  This was the original rational for building temples and statues of divinities.  But since the divinities were not always responsive to the lay individual, the concept of the priest as intermediary was born.