The Most Boring Chapter In The Bible (Numbers 7)

“After the tabernacle of the Lord had been built, according to the plan given to Moses, there was a special ceremony of dedication” (Num 7:1).

The leaders of the 12 tribes of Israel brought a special gift, of their own choosing, to assist the Levites in their duties of transporting the Tabernacle from place to place. Much of the actual structure could be disassembled and made easier to carry, but God (and Moses) accepted the wagons and oxen that the leaders offered to facilitate this work.

All this, however, was only prelude to the main purpose of the chapter: to list, in extraordinary detail, all the offerings of each tribe for the service of the tabernacle. Each of the 12 tribes was asked to contribute exactly the same offering as the other 11. This was for each tribe:

  • One silver plate weighing 130 shekels;
  • One silver sprinkling bowl weighing 70 shekels;
  • Fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, enough to fill each plate and bowl;
  • One gold dish weighing 10 shekels, filled with incense;
  • One young bull, a year old, for a burnt offering;
  • One ram, a year old, for a burnt offering;
  • One male lamb, a year old, for a burnt offering;
  • One male goat for a sin offering;
  • Two oxen, a year old, for a fellowship offering;
  • Five rams, a year old, for a fellowship offering;
  • Five male goats, a year old, for a fellowship offering; and
  • Five male lambs, a year old, for a fellowship offering.

Numbers 7 describes this, in almost excruciating detail, 12 times. The rest of the chapter, up to verse 88, itemizes this whole list over and over again, for each of the twelve tribes, as they brought their offerings, day by day for a full 12 days:

  • On the first day, Judah brought its offerings (vv. 12-17).
  • On the second day, Issachar brought its offerings (vv. 18-23).
  • On the third day, Zebulun brought its offerings (vv. 24-29).
  • On the fourth day, Reuben brought its offerings (vv. 30-35).
  • On the fifth day, Simeon brought its offerings (vv. 36-41).
  • On the sixth day, Gad brought its offerings (vv. 42-47).
  • On the seventh day, Ephraim brought its offerings (vv. 48-53).
  • On the eighth day, Manasseh brought its offerings (vv. 54-59).
  • On the ninth day, Benjamin brought its offerings (vv. 60-65).
  • On the tenth day, Dan brought its offerings (vv. 66-71).
  • On the eleventh day, Asher brought its offerings (vv. 72-77).
  • On the twelfth day, Napthali brought its offerings (vv. 78-83).

As if it weren’t enough detail to make the point, the text of Numbers 7 then also gives a full summary and complete total of all the offerings of all the twelve tribes, and the combined weight of all silver and gold in all the separate vessels (vv. 84-88). Even to list this in abbreviated outline form seems boring, doesn’t it? There is the reading of the whole 88 verses, up to the conclusion of these 12 identical offerings, repeated fully 12 times, and finally concluding with a thirteenth reiteration to summarize and total the first 12 full listings.

The 88 verses that precede this final verse make Numbers 7, in the opinion of many, the most boring chapter in all the Bible. And we might find ourselves agreeing with this assessment! At long last, however, after what can seem like an endless march through mind-numbing lists, we come to the final verse of chapter 7. What a payoff there is at the end:

“When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the Testimony. And he [the LORD] spoke with him [Moses]” (Num 7:89)

When we put things in their proper perspective, how this final verse redeems all the rest! After all the tribes have meticulously brought all their offerings and sacrifices, in perfect order, and after they have all been accounted for and catalogued, carefully and even tediously… only then does the LORD God Almighty speak to Moses from His own special place above the mercy seat.

It is then that we must ask ourselves the question: how could a chapter in the Bible qualify as “boring”, in any way imaginable to true believers, when it culminates with the voice of God speaking to man?

What price would we pay, what effort would we go to, and what years might we be willing to wait and watch, in order that God would finally speak directly to us?

And when the LORD God finally does speak to us, will the sacrifice and the wait have all been worthwhile?