[E] Weighing more than one cwt. each: the hundred sockets therefore alone weighing over five tons of pure silver.
THE DEDICATORY OFFERINGS: verses 10, 11.
"And the princes offered for dedicating of the altar in the day that it was anointed.... And the Lord said unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day, for the dedicating of the altar."
The offerings recorded in the early verses of this chapter were given in connection with the setting up of the Tabernacle, and had reference to its transportation. But the offerings now to be considered had reference to the altar, and the sacrifices to be offered thereon. Their number, their character, and their value are full of significance; and the space accorded to their record by God shows the Divine estimation of the altar, and of those gifts which pertain to sacrifice to Him.
The altar points us to our incarnate Saviour, the Christ of God, and reminds us that without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. The altar sanctified the gift; the fire on the altar first came down from heaven; all fire that did not come from the altar was strange fire, and could only bring death to the offerer when used in worship, as in the case of Nadab and Abihu.
Do we not need to remember this in the present day, when false teachers deny the atoning character of the death of Christ, and vainly imagine that God can be served with the unhallowed fires of fleshly activity?
THE DISPLAY OF THE GIFTS.
The twelve princes, the representatives of the Israel of God, brought their offerings before the altar, and would have left them there: they were all exactly alike, and the gifts might have been speedily accepted, and briefly recorded, if recorded at all. But the Lord said unto Moses, They shall offer their offering, each prince on his day,—or, literally, one prince a day, a sentence which is expressed twice in the Original, showing God's regard for order and method in all things which concern His service, and that He graciously receives and remembers the offerings of each of His faithful. Accordingly all the offerings of each of the princes are here registered by the Holy Spirit in God's Book, as an encouragement to Christian liberality in all ages" (Wordsworth).
Does it not seem as though the Divine delight in the offering of His servants was so great that He would have His people also to dwell upon them for twelve consecutive days? And not only does He spread them over twelve days, but He spreads them over seventy-seven long verses in this long chapter; first in minute detail, according as much space to the gifts of the last offerer as to those of the first, and then totalling up the aggregate amount, as though He would say, "Behold the love-gifts of my people! How many and how precious the offerings of each, and how great the value of the whole! Note, too, the persons of the offerers, and that all their gifts were for the dedication of the altar, and show their appreciation of the need for, and the blessed privilege of sacrifice!"