Philologos
Bible Prophecy Research
Title: Numbers Chapter 7
Submitted by: Susan Kanen (kanen@aptalaska.net)
Date: February 7, 2000
URL: http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Misc_Studies/ms057.htm
Numbers Chapter 7
Number patterns in Scripture unlock a deeper understanding of Numbers Chapter 7. This chapter is a real gem of God's number pattern worthy of the honor of the longest chapter of the Pentateuch or the Five Books of Moses. This chapter tells of a 12 day dedication of the Tabernacle. Each day the following was offered:
Numbers 7:12-17
And he that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of
Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah: [13] 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:[14] One spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense: [15] One young bullock,
one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering: [16] One kid of the goats for a
sin offering: [17] 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.
This paragraph is repeated 12x once for each day. It is our tendency to say what a waste of ink and paper. Our perception of what is important is often inversely proportional to what God thinks is important. Ultimately the total offerings are tallied:
Numbers 7:84-89
This was the dedication of the altar, in the day when it was anointed, by the
princes of Israel: twelve chargers of silver, twelve silver bowls, twelve spoons of gold:
[85] Each charger of silver weighing an hundred and thirty shekels, each bowl seventy: all
the silver vessels weighed two thousand and four hundred shekels, after the shekel of the
sanctuary: [86] The golden spoons were twelve, full of incense, weighing ten shekels
apiece, after the shekel of the sanctuary: all the gold of the spoons was an hundred and
twenty shekels. [87] All the oxen for the burnt offering were twelve bullocks, the rams
twelve, the lambs of the first year twelve, with their meat offering: and the kids of the
goats for sin offering twelve. [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.
[89] And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him,
then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the
ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.
At first reading, I didn't understand why the silver chargers weighed 130 shekels. Why not 120? We are the containers that the Lord has selected, but we are in rebellion and out of line with God's pattern--an unlucky, inappropriate 13X10 shekels weight. After the full 12 days are accomplished, the weight of silver vessels are totaled and brought into line with God's ways at 24 hundred shekels--a multiple of twelve. From the Number Patterns in Scripture study (http://philologos.org/bpr/files/Misc_Studies/ms028.htm), a meaning to these numbers in Numbers Ch 7 can be proposed:
Seven is the number of the Bridegroom.
He is perfectly present as the one silver bowl of seventy shekels in verse 13. The Bridegroom (the bowl) and His Bride (one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels) are both alive and full of flour and oil mingled. (Flour often associated with female, oil with male). They are made of the same silver, the same substance. Christ is God's perfect spiritual gold, but He has put on silver in perfect seven proportions. This is the bowl that He put on for us. This bowl is perhaps the 'cup' in the garden or the cup that held his blood at the Last Supper. This Hebrew word for bowl first appears in Numbers Chapter 7, but also appears:
Judges 6:38
And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece
together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water.
Eccles. 12:1-7
Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come
not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; [2] While
the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return
after the rain: [3] In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong
men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look
out of the windows be darkened, [4] And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the
sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the
daughters of musick shall be brought low; [5] Also when they shall be afraid of that which
is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the
grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home,
and the mourners go about the streets: [6] Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the
golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at
the cistern. [7] Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall
return unto God who gave it.
Zech. 4:2-3
And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a
candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and
seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: [3] And two olive trees by
it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
Again the bowl, as in Numbers Chapter 7 weighing 70 shekels, is now associated with seven lamps and the seven pipes and the candlestick. This candlestick is representative of God's Word, His Testimony. The candlestick is the lamp of:
Psalm 119:105
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
The bowl is a vessel to hold the life giving message of dew received by Gideon as he set out a fleece. It holds the essence of life in Eccles 12:1-7. The bowl is associated with the Word of God that created as He spoke to the earth, resting on the Seventh day. At the end of this feast in Numbers Chapter 7 is heard: "voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat". Redemption occurs as the Word of God is spoken to us. Our wedding is consummated as we receive that Word.
Twelve is femaleness or the number of the Bride.
She is the one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, of verse 13. Over the twelve day feast she is changed by grace to her calling and conformed to her number twelve. She is a Bride whose blemishes disappear as she is joined to her Bridegroom (130 +70 = 200 shekel of silver each day, 12X200=2400). Only in union does she know God's rightful place for her. She is perfected and made ready for her Bridegroom-God. His presence at the Tabernacle was marked with a cloud or a pillar of fire. She (the tabernacle, the covering) is adorned with her number. It is glorious and proper, she is as beautiful as any Bride. What a glorious feast of redemption--a beautiful wedding where spots are washed away and a charger and a bowl stand together full of life to be joined forever. These Hebrew words for charger and bowl appear first here in Numbers Chapter 7. The word for charger doesn't appear anywhere else in the Old Testament. The words bowl and charger are mentioned 12x --once for each day-- and the thirteenth time as all the weights are added together.
Often God repeats what we need to hear two or three times, but Numbers 7:12-17 is repeated word for word twelve times. How can we sleep at night without crying to God-- why? What are You trying to say to us?
by Susan Kanen
kanen@aptalaska.net
Additional numerical studies by Susan:
Number Patterns in Scripture
The Lunar Eclipse and Number Patterns in Scripture
Declare God's Glory
Other studies of interest:
The "Millennium Bug"
Computer Problem in the Bible Codes
The Number Seven
The Numbers 10, 11, and 12