Numbers 7:1

Footnotes

1. 1 This long and repetitious chapter has several parts to it: the introduction (vv. 1–3), the assigning of gifts (vv. 4–9), the time of presentation (vv. 10–11), and then the tribes (vv. 12–83), and then a summary (vv. 84–89).
2. 2 The construction of this line begins with the temporal indicator (traditionally translated “and it came to pass”) and then after the idiomatic “in the day of” (= “when”) uses the Piel infinitive construct from כָּלָה (kalah). The infinitive is governed by the subjective genitive, “Moses,” the formal subject of the clause. The object of the infinitive is the second infinitive, “to set up” (לְהָקִים, léhaqim). This infinitive, the Hiphil, serves as the direct object, answering the question of what it was that Moses completed. The entire clause is an adverbial clause of time. This chapter belongs chronologically after Lev 8:11, because Aaron and his sons were not yet made the celebrants and officiants of the new shrine (completed in Exodus). Here then chapters 7–9 are actually earlier than chapters 1–6, and form a supplement by adding information not found in Exodus and Leviticus. The first verse here recapitulates the first act of Moses in consecrating the shrine (Exod 30:23–31).