I have an old Scofield Reference Bible. Whatever you may think of Rev. Scofield or dispensationalism (I certainly consider him to be only a man, capable of error as we all are; on the latter topic I’m not well-studied enough to say), I will say that the commentary in the 1917 version is, regardless, frequently very helpful.
A few days ago, as I was following my Bible reading plan, part of the Old Testament text included Numbers 7. Under the instruction of Moses, construction of the tabernacle has been completed in accordance with the pattern God showed him on Mount Sinai. It and all its instruments have been anointed and sanctified as the Lord instructed. Now, the princes (or heads) of each of the twelve tribes of Israel bring gifts to offer before the Lord in order to dedicate the new tabernacle.
Each of the twelve princes brought an identical gift, and the details of these gifts are repeated, identically verbatim, twelve times:
And he that offered his offering the first day was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah:
And his offering was one silver charger, the weight thereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, afer the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them were full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat-offering:
One spoon of ten shekels of gold, full of incense:
One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt-offering:
One kid of the goats for a sin-offering:
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 continues for 83 verses. I don’t think it’s sacreligious to point out that reading this passage is a drag! I found myself wondering, “What is the point of having this long record of offerings repeated verbatim for twelve times?”
Then I read this commentary footnote:
It is beautiful to observe that, though the offerings of the princes were identical, each is separately recorded by the pen of inspiration.
Beautiful, indeed.