The Tribes Bring Gifts for the Tabernacle

When Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and set it apart as holy, along with its furniture and the altar with its utensils. Then the leaders of Israel, the heads of the tribes, brought gifts before the Lord: six covered wagons and twelve oxen.

The Lord told Moses to accept these gifts and give them to the Levites according to their work. So Moses gave two wagons and four oxen to the sons of Gershon, and four wagons and eight oxen to the sons of Merari under Ithamar. He gave none to the sons of Kohath, because they carried the sanctuary on their shoulders.

The leaders also brought offerings for the dedication of the altar. The Lord said each leader should bring his offering on his own day. For twelve days, one leader came each day, and each one brought the same pattern of gifts for the altar’s dedication.

Each offering included one silver platter and one silver bowl filled with fine flour mixed with oil, and one golden ladle full of incense. Each leader also brought one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering, one male goat for a sin offering, and for peace offerings two cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs.

At the end, the gifts were counted together: twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, and twelve golden ladles, along with all the animals for the offerings. Then Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, and he heard the Lord’s voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat on the ark, from between the cherubim. What does this careful, shared giving show about honouring God together?