If you are reading through the Bible this year, you may get a little hung up on the minutia Moses records about the tribes of Israel in the book of Numbers.
The first thing you encounter is God’s command to Moses to number, that is, count, Israel’s potential army: All men twenty years old or older “who are able to go to war” (Numbers 1:3). Each tribe is carefully listed and its census noted.
Remember that the Promised Land has been given to Abraham, but he never really possessed it, being, at that time, a single family. Four hundred or so years later, Israel now has over 600,000 “fighting men” (v. 46), not counting the Levites, who were not to become soldiers, but who attended to the Tabernacle and its furnishings.
Then comes the arrangement of the camp, and how the tribes are to be positioned around the Tabernacle, and the duties of the Levites. Chapter seven is particularly challenging, containing the offerings that each tribe contributed for the dedication of the altar. It turns out that each tribal leader, as representative of the tribe, gave exactly the same things. Still Moses painstakingly details each contribution, rather than saying, “and each day all of the tribal leaders brought the same things.”
These details can be maddening for those of us in the West, who take pride in efficiency and getting to the point. Why the needless detail? Why copy the same words eleven more times? We don’t have categories in our minds for that kind of thing.
But if we can escape our cultural cocoon, perhaps Moses’ methods makes sense. Remember that in a nation of over a million people without mass media or even common literacy, individuality was not a high priority. You were a member of a tribe, and part of the nation. So, Moses’ recounting of each offering is an acknowledgment of the will of the individuals in that tribe.
Another thing we can learn from this is coordination and unity. The tribal leaders must have gotten together and decided what was needed, and therefore what each tribe could bring. That took some doing to be sure.
Then, notice that the tribes were not equal in size, which means that it was technically more of a sacrifice for the smaller tribes than the larger. So there is a nod to the equality of the tribes, regardless of their size, and the acknowledgment of their equal participation in worship and governance.
Also note that all of these gifts were voluntary and considered “freewill offerings,” which is the kind that the Lord honors.
Finally, remember that for most, these books were heard rather than read, so the repetition would have helped them recall and memorize.
All of this combines to remind thoughtful readers not to judge the Bible or its customs by our own cultural standards. Instead, we put aside our own expectations and enter its world and its assumptions.
This is a book written FOR us, but not directly TO us. Thus, to gain everything the Lord has to say to our generation, we must think first about how the words impacted those first readers and hearers. Be patient. This is good for you and so very worth the effort.
“The words of the Lord are pure words,
like silver refined in a furnace on the ground,
purified seven times.”
Proverbs 12:6