My Bible reading for last week brought me to Numbers 7. It would be one of those “boring parts” of the Bible as described by Philip Rosenbaum in his book “How To Enjoy The Boring Parts Of The Bible.”
Even my reading schedule recognized Numbers 7 as a “boring part”. The schedule will normally give two or more chapters to read in a single day. But not Numbers 7. It was a chapter that stood alone.
Chapter 7 is the place where the leaders of each tribe of Israel bring gifts from their respective tribe for the dedication of the altar. One leader a day for twelve consecutive days.
The really boring part is that each tribe is bringing the exact same gifts and the gifts are all described and identified in exactly the same way. The only difference is in the name of the tribe and the tribe’s leader. Except for the first verse, every paragraph of the twelve paragraphs describing the gifts reads exactly the same.
So why wouldn’t God shorten the Bible some by just telling us that all twelve tribes gave the same gift? He actually does that in the summary of the gifts given in verses 84-88. So why not just give us those five verses?
There may be many lessons here. Can you think of some? How about this one—God treated every gift as unique. Every tribe was given their special time and their special day to honor God and dedicate the altar.
There may be a lot of things about us that are similar and alike, but to God we are all our own unique individual, loved by Him and desired by Him.