Numbers: Faith, Law, and History

Offering of the Princess

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Pentateuch

Lesson: Offering of the Princes

Genre:

Track: 11

Dictation Name: RR181F11

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Serve the Lord with gladness, come before His presence with singing. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name, for the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth to all generations. Let us pray.

O Lord, our God, we give thanks unto thee that in thy grace and mercy, thou hast called us to be thy people. Thou has called us thy children, and hast showered thy mercies and grace upon us. Teach us to walk in faithfulness, to rejoice in thy mercies, to know that thou art ever on the throne, and it is thy will that shall be done. Make us grateful for all thy blessings, and for thy government. In Christ’s name. Amen.

Our scripture this morning is Numbers 7:1-88, and our subject: The Offering of the Princes. Numbers 7:1-88. “And it came to pass on the day that Moses had fully set up the tabernacle, and had anointed it, and sanctified it, and all the instruments thereof, both the altar and all the vessels thereof, and had anointed them, and sanctified them; that the princes of Israel, heads of the house of their fathers, who were the princes of the tribes, and were over them that were numbered, offered: and they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered wagons, and twelve oxen; a wagon for two of the princes, and for each one an ox: and they brought them before the tabernacle. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take it of them, that they may be to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt give them unto the Levites, to every man according to his service. And Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them unto the Levites. Two wagons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon, according to their service: and four wagons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari, according unto their service, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest. But unto the sons of Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them was that they should bear upon their shoulders. And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that it was anointed, even the princes offered their offering before the altar. And the Lord said unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar. And he that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah: and his offering was one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them were full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering: one spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense: one young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering: one kid of the goats for a sin offering: and for a sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he goats, five lambs of the first year: this was the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab. On the second day Nethaneel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer.”

Verse 24, “On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, prince of the children of Zebulun, did offer.”

Verse 30, “On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, prince of the children of Reuben, did offer.”

Verse 36, “On the fifth day Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai, prince of the children of Simeon, did offer.”

Verse 42, “On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel, prince of the children of Gad, offered.”

All the offerings, let me add, parenthetically, were identical.

Verse 48, “On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim, offered.”

Then, verse 54, “On the eighth day offered Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children of Manasseh.”

Verse 60, “On the ninth day Abidan the son of Gideoni, prince of the children of Benjamin, offered.”

Verse 66, “On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, prince of the children of Dan, offered.”

Verse 72, “On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ocran, prince of the children of Asher, offered.”

Verse 78, “On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the children of Naphtali, offered.”

And then, verse 88, “And all the oxen for the sacrifice of the peace offerings were twenty and four bullocks, the rams sixty, the he goats sixty, the lambs of the first year sixty. This was the dedication of the altar, after that it was anointed.”

Like so much else in the Bible, this is a neglected text. It is concerned very specifically and in detail, with the gifts brought by the clan heads, or the princes of all the twelve tribes. The Levites had the responsibility to transport the sanctuary and its furnishings from place to place as they journeyed in the wilderness. The gifts, or their offering, or oblation before the Lord were six covered wagons and twelve oxen. Because there was a difference is what was to be transported by the Gershonites and the Merarites, the Gershonites received two wagons and four oxen, and the Merarites received four wagons and eight oxen. The Kohathites needed no wagons and they received none.

These were gifts to God, and they were presented before the sanctuary and they were dedicated there. Their use was assigned by God. Gifts and sacrifices were also brought. It was their duty to give but also their privilege. As a result, given this premise, all giving to God is not only a requirement, but a blessed privilege. As Erving L. Jenson observed so very tellingly, “In the text, the listing of the gifts, though identical for each tribe, are recorded at length in what appears at first glance to be needless duplication. The intention, apparently, being to remind the reader that no gift goes unrecorded in God’s book. The total sum of the gifts is given in verses 84 through 88.” Each two princes or elders brought one wagon. All the gifts were the same. The plain fact of this text was once very important to Christians. Namely, that no gift goes unrecorded in God’s records.

Now, this chapter militates against our culture. But there are no brute facts, no meaningless facts in all of God’s creation. All factuality is God-created, and all facts have an eternal purpose. It is this premise that makes possible St. Paul’s magnificent declaration in 1 Corinthians 15:58. “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Man’s writing of history reflects man’s limitations. Men barely skim the surface of events. More than that, it is impossible for man to record. Ancient chronicles sought to record the most important event, and we know that they barely scratched the surface. Moreover, their evaluation of what was significant was very frequently flawed. God alone possesses total knowledge and hence, a total record of all things is only possible with God. We are told both that He holds man accountable for the very last mite, and yet that His mercy is a lasting one.

Now, the dedication of the gifts made by the clan leaders lasted twelve days, one day’s ceremony for each tribal leader. The gifts were identical, so were the rites of dedication, yet they were not lumped into one total. We are again given here a stress on God’s particularity. We are never faceless members of a crowd in His presence. The holy objects assigned to the Kohathites to move were things to be carried on their shoulders. Therefore, no oxen or wagons were assigned to them.

Besides the oxen and the wagons, these princes brought also the following gifts, as summarized in verses 84 to 88: Twelve silver platters, twelve silver sprinkling bowls, and twelve gold dishes. The weight of each silver platter was 130 shekels, and of the sprinkling bowls, 70 shekels each, for a total weight of 2,400 shekels in the sanctuary’s standard. The twelve gold dishes for incense weighed ten shekels each, for a total of 120 shekels. The animals given for sacrifice were twelve young bulls, twelve mature rams, twelve yearling rams, a grain offering, and twelve male goats for the sin offering. The peace offerings were twenty-four bulls, sixty male goats, and sixty yearling rams. This was for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed. These were, of course, obviously very costly gifts. These gifts were also royal gifts. They stressed the evident fact that God is the king over all creation, and therefore, He must be honored as sovereign or Lord by His covenant people.

Now chronologically, this chapter follows Leviticus 8. It comes after the consecration of Aaron and his sons. The placement of this chapter here is to prepare us, by way of contrast, to the cowardice and apostasy which soon took place. As against their generous gifts, the princes and their followers soon manifested a distrust of God’s promises.

Apart from Psalm 119, this is the longest chapter in the Bible. Lang’s comment on this is similar to Jensen’s. He said, “We have here a sample of sacred, divine bookkeeping whose separate lesson is that God is careful is all dealings with His people, down to details and minutia, and this revelation is so comforting that we must not grudge the large space allowed to these entries, and wish that they were replaced by records that would clear up many things in this part of scripture that are now very obscure. Moreover, this chapter may be appealed to in proof of the genuineness of this book. A later author would never have dreamed of composing such a record as this.”

Numbers 7, 8, and 9 give us the final events at Mt. Sinai, because after these episodes, Israel moved to Paraná. These gifts of wagons were therefore, preparatory to the move of Israel, to the move of the encampment. It is of interest that these were covered wagons, made to protect what was transported. Each prince’s gift was dedicated on one day, making as we saw before, twelve days of rites. The first day’s gifts came from Nahshon, from the tribe of Judah. The succession then followed the order of the encampment around the sanctuary.

The repeated exactness of the account gives us a revelation to God alien to the modern man. The popular view of God now is that He is a great mass of feeling, of love, not an accountant. In the view of many, such chapters as this are to be discounted because they seem to reveal God as an accountant rather than a benevolent grandfather, and yet it is precisely because of chapters like this, that men, over the centuries, have been ready to put their head on the chopping block, or to die for the faith in one way or another, because they know that God is mindful of His own, and there is not a hair of our head that is not numbered, there is not an incident in all creation that is not taken into account and remembered by Almighty God. With a modern romantic view of God, it is no wonder that we have people who are incapable of any sacrifice. For an accurate doctrine of God, we need the whole revelation of God as given in all the Bible. The antipathy to this aspect of revelation, God’s precision, God’s preciseness, is part of the modern scene. Because man is in revolt against the God of order, he resents order in the world at large. Technology today is definitely an order requiring precision. We cannot be imprecise in dealing with machinery without trouble. Yet, modern man rails against precision and treats the clock as a tyrant. This, in spite of the fact that the careful clocking of time has given man more freedom and societal advancement than man today can begin to imagine. The romantic movement’s conception of God has led to romanticism and disorder in all spheres, to a rebellion against clarity and precision.

According to Exodus 40:17, the tabernacle was completed and erected on the first day of the first month of the second year of the Exodus. On that day, the second anniversary of the Exodus, Numbers 7:1 tells us the events of this chapter began. Everything that follows is an aspect of this great thanksgiving to God for their deliverance.

Well, this is again a very important fact. There is today, no small hostility in many churches to observances of the Christian calendar, and I know of churches that pride themselves that they don’t observe Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving Day, or anything else. The reason they give is Colossians 2:16-19. This what that text says in the Berkeley version: “Allow no one therefore, to be your judge in regard to eating and drinking, or the observance of a festival, or a new moon, or a Sabbath. These are shadows of things to follow, but the body is Christ. Let no one defraud you of salvation’s victory prize. No one who indulges in assumed humility in the cult of angel worship, who brags of visions, and though empty is inflated by his worldly mind. Instead of keeping hold on that head from which the whole body, gathering vigor and held together by ligaments and sinews, grows with God’s increase.” Now this is a much misunderstood text. Paul lists a number of things by which men in the church are judging one another, some good, some bad. Paul, for example, was not saying that Sabbath observances are bad. Neither was he saying that the cult of angel worship was good. What he does say is that we are not to allow anyone to be our judge in these matters. The observance of one festival may be good, and another may not be. What Paul says is that they are not the criterion for judgment. The body is Christ. The basis of judgment must be in terms of faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

Every age has set up its standards and imposed them on Christians. Many churches in our time, for example, judge people in terms of the use of tobacco or alcoholic beverages. Paul tells us that, good or bad, all such things are trifles. Our salvation in Jesus Christ is the heart of the matter. This text, thus, cannot be used against trifles, nor against anniversaries or holy days. These are not matters for judgment.

Here in Numbers 7, the anniversary of the Exodus is observed and it is blessed by God. Time is God’s creation, and its celebration in various ways is clearly recognized by scripture. Let us pray.

Our Father, we thank thee that thou art God, that it is thy will, thy word, thy nature that governs reality, and not that of men, that it is not our expectations nor our ideas of thee that prevail, but thou alone. Teach us to submit ourselves to thy word. Teach us to know that thou art God, and that thy will shall be done. Our God, we thank thee. In Christ’s name. Amen. Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience] What’s the basis for these churches to ignore the Christian calendar. What is their rationale?

[Rushdoony] Well, that verse in Colossians, it’s supposedly now all these things have been abolished, and even in the churches that do observe them, we see the general depreciation of them. In our lifetime, we’ve seen how holy days are no longer as dominant in the society at large, or in the church. This is all an out-working of a romantic temper which depreciates order, and precision, and the clock, and the idea of a God who keeps records. It used to be that we would hear a great deal about the Book of Life, or the Books of God. It’s been a long time since you hear any talk about that, because the idea of a bookkeeper, God is now treated with contempt, so it’s no wonder people are not ready to die for their faith. It’s all a vague mass of feelings, so if you have a lot of pious gush, you’re alright with God, and this temper now governs all the churches. It governs Protestants and Catholics. It also governs other faiths, so that in other religions, the substance has also been destroyed. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] What if someone says to you that the ten percent tithe is not important. That that’s just nit-picking and that they give service instead of the tithe?

[Rushdoony] Yes. What they are saying is, “What my idea of what constitutes the proper way to approach God governs rather than the word of God.” God requires service of us, of course, but He also requires the tithe. So, in any argument with God we’re going to lose, and I had one man, some years ago, not long after we moved to Vallecito, tell me, he visited me from Sacramento, to start an argument, cuz he felt I was some kind of problem to the churches, and he took up the subject of tithing, and he was sure that that was a rather mundane way, and it was treating God as a bookkeeper, and it was important to have a spiritual temperament, and to give you all to God, and I kept asking him, “Do you tithe?” and he wasn’t giving me a specific answer. “How much to you give?” “Well, I give a great deal. I don’t bother to keep track of it.” At that point, his wife began to laugh, and made it clear to me that he did not tithe and he was not generous, but he was full of gush, and somehow God was supposed to be impressed with his gush. Any other questions or comments? Yes?

[Audience] It seems to me {?} in the technological era that’s against technology?

[Rushdoony] Yes. We have our intellectuals and our religious leaders, and every segment of society infected by a new Luddite movement. The Luddites were people who threw their wooden shoes into the machinery to destroy them because they hated technology, and we have Luddites all around us now. Well, if there are no further questions or comments, let us bow our heads in prayer.

Our Father, we thank thee that thou art God. We thank thee that our times are in thy hands who doest all things well. Give us grace to take hands off our lives, to commit them into thy keeping, to obey thee in all things, and to be submissive to thy word. And now go in peace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost bless you and keep you, guide and protect you this day and always. Amen.

End of tape.