XVIII. THE TABERNACLE AND THE WAGGON OFFERINGS

The argument which I have next to produce has been urged by Dr. Graves [On the Pentateuch, Vol. i. p. 111.] , though others had noticed it before him [See Dr. Patrick on Num. 7:7, 8.] ; I shall not, however, scruple to introduce it here in its order, connected as it is with several more arguments, all relating to the economy of the camp. The incident on which it turns is trifling in itself, but nothing can be more characteristic of truth. On the day when Moses set up the Tabernacle and anointed and sanctified it, the princes of the tribes made an offering, consisting of six waggons and twelve oxen. These are accordingly assigned to the service of the Tabernacle: “And Moses gave them unto the Levites; Two waggons and four oxen he gave unto the sons of Gershon according to their service, and four waggons and eight oxen he gave unto the sons of Merari according to their service.” [Num. 7:7, 8.] Now whence this unequal division? Why twice as many waggons and oxen to Merari as to Gershon? No reason is expressly avowed. Yet if I turn to a former chapter, separated however from the one which has supplied this quotation, by sundry and divers details of other matters, I am able to make out a very good reason for myself. For there, amongst the instructions given to the families of the Levites, as to the shares they had severally to take in removing the Tabernacle from place to place, I find that the sons of Gershon had to bear “the curtains,” and the “Tabernacle” itself (i. e., the linen of which it was made), and “its covering, and the covering of badgers’ skins that was above upon it, and the hanging for the door,” and “the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court,” and “their cords, and all the instruments of their service;” [Num. 4:25.] in a word, all the lighter part of the furniture of the Tabernacle. But the sons of Merari had to bear “the boards of the Tabernacle, and the bars thereof, and the pillars thereof, and the sockets thereof, and the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments;” [Num. 4:32.] in short, all the cumbrous and heavy part of the materials of which the frame-work of the Tabernacle was constructed. And hence it is easy to see why more oxen and waggons were assigned to the one family than to the other. Is chance at the bottom of all this? or cunning contrivance? or truth and only truth?