Numbers 7:18 - Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Bible Comments

On the second day Nethaneel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer:

On the second day Nethaneel ... prince of Issachar. This tribe being stationed on the right side of Judah, offered next through its representative; then Zebulun, which was on the left side; and so on in orderly succession, every tribe making the same kind of offering, and to the same amount, to show that, as each was under equal obligation, each rendered an equal tribute. Although each offering made was the same in quantity as well as quality, a separate notice is given of each, as a separate day was appointed for the presentation, that equal honour might be conferred upon each, and none appear to be overlooked or slighted. And since the sacred books were frequently read in public, posterity, in each successive age, would feel a livelier interest in the national worship, from the permanent recognition of the offerings made by the ancestors of the respective tribes. But while this was done in one respect as subjects offering tribute to their king, it was in another respect a purely religious act. The vessels offered were for a sacrificial use-the animals brought were clean and fit for sacrifice, both symbolically denoting that, while God was to dwell among them as their Sovereign, they were a holy people, who by this offering dedicated themselves to God.

Numbers 7:18

18 On the second day Nethaneel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer: