3. And they brought their offering before the Lord, six covered waggons These waggons were dedicated for the conveyance of the tabernacle: for its pillars and many other parts of it could not be carried on men’s shoulders; and therefore they are said to have been covered, lest the things which were deposited in them should be exposed to the rain. For it is by no means suitable to suppose that they were litters; (400) and, in fact, a pair of oxen is assigned to every waggon. It is pretty clear, then, that the materials of the tabernacle were placed in them when they were travelling from one place to another.
This oblation is stated to have been made “before the Lord,” and then “before the tabernacle,” but the meaning is precisely the same; for God had, as it were, put on that face in which he might be beheld by believers. What follows, “But the Lord had spoken to Moses,” etc., I thus interpret, That God had required this tribute of the people: I have thought it well, therefore, to render it in the pluperfect tense, whereas others translate it, “The Lord said unto Moses,” as if Moses had not been ordered to receive it, before it was actually presented by the princes and the people. Indeed, it is probable that the number of the waggons was not accidentally determined, but by a just calculation of the things which they were to carry.
(400) So Vatablus, quoted in Poole. “In Leviticus 11:29, (says Ainsworth,) צב (tsab) is a tortoise, so called from the shell that covereth it: accordingly here they may be called עגלת צב, (gnegeloth tsab,) waggons of the tortoise, (or of covering,) because they were like to a tortoise, covered above.”