_The offerings of the princes_ This chapter affords the most striking instance in the Pentateuch of the Priestly style. The mechanical formulas and verbal repetitions are, to modern ears, monotonous and tautological; but for the writer it was evidently a delight to emphasize by this means the liber... [ Continue Reading ]
_on the day that_ If this is understood strictly, it is the date given in Exodus 40:17, and is one month _earlier_than the date of Numbers 1:1. But the following verse (-them that were numbered") presupposes the census and the appointment of the tribal chiefs which occurred _after_the erection of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_offered_ The verb cannot, as in English, stand alone with an absolute force. It is intended to govern -their oblation" in Numbers 7:3; but the remainder of the verse is a parenthesis, and the sentence is then resumed with another verb, -and they brought." _covered wagons_ The word _zâbh_, rendered... [ Continue Reading ]
The transport duties of each of the Levitical families are laid down in ch. 4.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the sanctuary the_ HOLY THINGS. See on Numbers 4:15. _upon their shoulders_ In early days this form of honour was not always paid to the ark; see 2 Samuel 6:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
The gifts which they brought after the wagons and oxen were such as to provide the first complete set of offerings upon the altar for all the different forms of sacrifice. _offered for the dedication offered_ THE DEDICATION-GIFT (as R.V. marg.). The abstract word -dedication" or -inauguration" is e... [ Continue Reading ]
_charger_ a dish. Cf. Exodus 25:29; Exodus 37:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
An isolated and mutilated fragment describing the intercourse of God with Moses in the sanctuary, and relating the fulfilment of Exodus 25:22. The words -with him" imply that Jehovah has been mentioned previously in the original context of the passage. The verbs -went," -heard" and -spake" are not f... [ Continue Reading ]