Sacrifice

Numbers 7 would normally have “For God’s Eyes Only” stamped in red across it, for it records the offerings of 12 men. Yet God reveals to the world what these “leaders,” “heads of fathers’ households,” gave to the furnishing of the tabernacle.

68 times in this chapter, we read in our English Bibles “offering,” the translation of five different Hebrew words for the kinds of offerings made. 89 verses to record the specific offerings of 12 guys . . . and they all offered the same things! The Text could have saved time and space by noting that each man gave “one silver dish whose weight was 130 shekels, etc. . . .” all the way down to “five male lambs, one year old.” But each man’s sacrifices were recorded to show God’s delight in what they had done and His desire to use the generosity of those leaders as an example for others.

God sees every sacrifice His children make for Him. Whether the offering is in the form of a check in the offering plate or time in the church nursery; whether it’s mission service in New Orleans or Nogales or maintenance work at a Christian camp; whether it’s not compromising morals in business or sacrificially loving your wife, God sees it; He knows it; He delights in it. He may even record it somewhere for future reference! (say, when He rewards faithfulness – II Corinthians 5:10).

“Accept these things” God told Moses in v.5, “that they may be used in the service of the tent of meeting . . .”

Our sacrifices for Him, done with a desire to please Him, will be similarly accepted and noted by Him.