If you’ve ever committed to reading your Bible through and made it all the way to Numbers, you probably remember the “infamous” Numbers chapter 7 as one of the greatest challenges to your tenacity. 

Picture with me the procession described in these verses: it is the first morning of the twelve days set aside for the dedication of the tabernacle that has cost them great riches, much skill, and nine months to prepare. Now all is ready, and from his station on the east side of the camp, the desert sun rising behind him (cf. Num. 2:3), here comes Nahshon the son of Amminadab, carrying a heavy silver platter and silver bowl, both full of something like cracker dough: fine flour mixed with oil. 

Perhaps in his other hand, or perhaps carried by an assistant or a Levite, is a solid gold spoon filled with a particular mixture of fragrant oils that—on pain of being banished from Israel (Ex. 30:34-38)—no one is to use for any other purpose except worshipping God. Behind them walks a procession of farm animals unknowingly headed toward death: the young bull pulling at his rope, the first-year lamb bleating its way over the dusty trail, the five he goats playfully pouncing at one another as their shepherd struggles to keep them in line between the rams and lambs.

So far so good. But then the next day the whole parade is repeated, and the next and the next. In part, it goes like this (I know you’ll probably want to skim this, but please bear with me and read at least vss. 11-20 . . . out loud if possible):

11 And the LORD said unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar. 

12 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. 

18 On the second day Nethaneel the son of Zuar, prince of Issachar, did offer: 

19 He offered for his offering one silver charger, the weight whereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering: 

20 One spoon of gold of ten shekels, full of incense: 

21 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering: 

22 One kid of the goats for a sin offering: 

23 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 Nethaneel the son of Zuar. 

24 On the third day Eliab the son of Helon, prince of the children of Zebulun, did offer: 

25 His offering was one silver charger, the weight whereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering: 

(Num. 7:11-25 KJV)

Is There an Echo in Here?

Now, if you skipped ahead or skimmed so fast that you didn’t notice the pattern, the rest of this article probably won’t make sense, so try going back and see if you catch it—there’s something really important here, I promise!

Got it? Did you notice that, apart from the number of the day and the change of names, verses 18-23 were an exact repeat of verses 12-17? Exactly the same list of offerings repeated—just a different day and a different person? And vss. 24-25 are just the start of another repetition . . . And then comes another, and another . . .

Until in vs. 78 and following, we finally reach the last one,

78 On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the children of Naphtali, offered:

79 His offering was one silver charger, the weight whereof was an hundred and thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meat offering:

80 One golden spoon of ten shekels, full of incense:

81 One young bullock, one ram, one lamb of the first year, for a burnt offering:

82 One kid of the goats for a sin offering:

83 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 Ahira the son of Enan.

Why?

Whew! Twelve lists of offerings, almost exactly the same, given one after the other in seemingly monotonous succession—why? Why did God have Moses record these offerings in such detail that we have a hard time keeping our eyes open to the end—especially when He also then summarizes the offerings in vss. 84-88, and could have simply added a list of the princes so we could know which came on which day, and cut out all that repetition in vss. 12-83? After all, isn’t the cardinal rule of good writing “Omit needless words”?

Now I know that I don’t know better than God and would never presume that I could improve on His perfect word. But as I waded through this passage again this time reading through the Bible, I was genuinely curious—God must have put all that repetition in there for a reason, so—what was that reason? Why do we need to hear all the same details twelve times?

I wrote three possible answers in my notes, each of which has a comforting application to moms today:

1. Repetition Builds Anticipation

Repetition of the offerings builds anticipation for the conclusion of the passage (vs. 89) when Moses goes into the tabernacle to speak with the Lord and hear His voice. As we read over and over about the bowls, the spoons, the bullocks, the rams, the lambs, the goats, and the oxen, we are to gain an increasing sense of the importance of this place where Israel’s sins would be atoned for and where they would see a repeated, bloody foreshadowing of the once-for-all sacrifice of Christ for our sins. Israel has just spent most of Exodus and Leviticus getting ready for this moment—receiving the law and instructions for the tabernacle, preparing all the instruments of worship, the priests who would minister, and the people who would worship. Now the twelve tribes, which had been individually assigned their stations in the camp and numbered in the census, were sending their chosen princes to present on their behalf an offering for the dedication of the altar. And Moses, for the first time, was meeting with this God-who-was-a-consuming-fire in the tabernacle which He designed for His own worship. What an awesome experience! Not one to rush through, for sure.

And God doesn’t expect us to rush through our lives as if the details are insignificant and only the big picture matters. I Cor. 3:11-15 teaches that the works we do—good or bad—are the gold, silver, precious stones, or wood, hay, and stubble with which we are building on our foundation, Jesus Christ. Each one of them counts! This includes our secret works (Ecc. 12:14), our inner thoughts (I Cor. 4:5), and our idle words (Mt. 12:36). Everything we do will one day be tested by fire and either pass the test or be burned. The standard is not whether our diaper-changing, laundry-doing, child-hugging days are valuable in the world’s eyes, but whether we are faithful in doing what our Master has commanded us to do (Mt. 25:21). These long days of preparation also build our anticipation for the time when we can worship Him face to face, bringing the works of service He allowed us to do for Him on earth to present at His feet as our offering of thanks.

2. Repetition Confirms Veracity

Repetition of the offerings shows this is a formal legal record of a very important process: the dedication of the altar. As a legal record, the details of the offerings are merely one evidence of the Bible’s reliability: if the stories of the Pentateuch were (as modern literary critics like to claim) simply cultural tales or sybolic myths designed to convey universal truth rather than to be taken literally, who would have thought to list such detail? I remember one of my college professors telling how it was the genealogies of the Bible that convinced him Scripture was true—no one would have made up all those names! 

As Christian women today, we must stand strong against the devil’s attacks, wielding the shield of faith—believing that the word of God is actually, literally true in all its details. We can thank God for giving us in Scripture an even “more sure word of prophecy” than those who—like the disciples (and Moses)—heard directly from God, and we can cling to the truth of the gospel not just as a nebulous fact deserving of our acknowledgement, but the lifeline and only hope for ourselves and our families.

3. Repetition Shows Value

Repetition of the offerings shows that God recognizes and values the obedience of the individual. He does not just nod acknowledgment to the generosity of the whole body; He records and will reward the specific deeds of each member. Each of these twelve days of sacrifices was given by a different leader on behalf of his own tribe, because He saw and knew them individually. God did not lump them all together, but acknowledged and recorded each gift separately. What a loving God!

What about us today? Thankfully we no longer have to make sacrifices of rams and goats, but there is a sacrifice God expects of His children, those who have been purchased by the precious blood of Christ. Rom. 12:1-2 says,

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

What is our sacrifice? Our bodies! This is not just a generic dedication of “our lives”—as if we could put an “I’m God’s” tag on our lives and be done with it. No, it means our flesh and blood—our tired eyes, our repeatedly-instructing mouths, our dishwashing hands, our aching backs, our swollen feet—our actual bodies are presented a “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” And this is not some special call for the missionary, the pastor, or the full-time Christian worker. It is for all the brethren, our “reasonable service” because it is the only logical response to God’s mercy, riches, and wisdom in dealing with us (Rom. 11:30-36).

Sacrifices of Joy

I don’t mean to imply that we should seek suffering, as if God were some sort of ruthless dictator who is only pleased with us when we are worn out, miserable shadows of our former selves. On the contrary, the whole purpose is that we “may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Good. Acceptable. Perfect. Because He is a good God and a loving Master, and being yoked together with Him is the only true freedom (Mt. 11:28-30; Ps. 116:16).

And when we work with and for God, He records each service for Him just like He did for the heads of the tribes back in Numbers. Not a single spoon or goat kid missed his notice, not even when it was given day after day after day. Whatever offering you are making the Lord today, He is recording it completely, separately, and in detail—and when someday He reviews your service, He won’t skim the repetitive parts.

Of course it doesn’t really work out that neatly . . . in real life the numbers and acts of service vary from day to day. There are many things that we ourselves forget we have done. But God records, remembers, and rewards every act done for Him. What is He recording for us today?