קַ֚ח מֵֽאִתָּ֔ם וְהָי֕וּ לַעֲבֹ֕ד אֶת־עֲבֹדַ֖ת אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֑ד וְנָתַתָּ֤ה אוֹתָם֙ אֶל־הַלְוִיִּ֔ם אִ֖ישׁ כְּפִ֥י עֲבֹדָתֽוֹ׃
Tómalo de ellos, y será para el servicio del tabernáculo del testimonio: y lo darás á los Levitas, á cada uno conforme á su ministerio.
Rashi
ויקרבו אותם לפני המשכן AND THEY BROUGHT THEM BEFORE THE TABERNACLE — because Moses would not accept them (the gifts) at their (the princes’) hands until he was so bidden by the mouth of the Omnipresent (cf. v. 5). — Rabbi Nathan said: What reason had the princes to give their contributions here first of all the people, whereas at the work of the Tabernacle they were not the first but the last to contribute? But — he replied — the princes spoke thus: “Let the community in general contribute all they wish to give and then what will then be lacking we shall supply”. As soon as they saw that the community gave everything needed in its entirety (lit., that the community completed everything) — as it said, (Exodus 36:7) “For the stuff they had was enough [for all the work to make it]” — the princes asked, ‘What can we now do’? Therefore they brought the onyx stones, and stones for setting for the Ephod and for the breast plate. That is why they were here the first to contribute” (Sifrei Bamidbar 45 1).
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach based on Bamidbar Rabbah 12,17-21: “The six covered wagons corresponded to six of the heavens. You may ask that after all, there are seven heavens! Rabbi Avin answered that the seventh heaven is reserved as a residence for the “king” (G’d Himself) and is not included in the regular count of heavens. Moses reportedly said to G’d: “supposing one of the animals will die or one of the wheels will fall off one of the wagons, is not the entire offering of the princes going to be disqualified and the entire Tabernacle discredited?” [I suppose this is based on only the combined total number of all the princes’ offerings making up the number required to complete the symbolism involved. Ed.]
In response to this G’d said to Moses: קח מאתם והיו לעבודת וגו', “take it from them so they can be used in the service of the Tabernacle” (verse 5). The word והיו in this verse which is not really necessary means that these animals and wagons will have an enduring existence (the normal meaning of the word in connection with the story of creation, for instance). This raises the question for how long did these animals live and these wagons remain functional? Answer: until the building of Solomon’s Temple some 480 years later. These oxen were slaughtered and sacrificed on the Altar of the Temple at the inauguration. We read in Chronicles II 7,5 ויזבח המלך שלמה את זבח הבקר עשרים ושנים אלף, "King Solomon slaughtered there as sacrifices 22,000 oxen, etc. We would have expected to read the words זבח בקר instead of the expression זבח הבקר. The latter expression suggests that we have heard about these oxen previously. When did we hear about them? In our passage here. This led Rabbi Meir to state that the animals donated by the princes at this time survived until the inauguration of Solomon’s Temple. During all these years these animals had sustained neither blemish nor developed signs of old age (which would have disqualified them as suitable for the Altar).
In fact there is logic in all this: if the oxen whose function in connection with the Tabernacle was merely peripheral, i.e. they served as beasts of burden transporting parts of the Tabernacle, and as a result G’d endowed them with such longevity and enduring youthful vigour, how much more so must the Tabernacle exert this kind of influence on the Israelites who made the Tabernacle the centre of their existence! This is testified to by Moses in his final address to the Jewish people in Deut. 4,4 when he points out to them that the reason they were alive and well on the day he spoke to them was that ואתם הדבקים בה' “you who have been cleaving to the Lord.” Thus far the Midrash.
There is another Midrash Shir Hashirim Rabbah (6,10) on Song of Songs 6,4 on the words יפה את רעיתי כתרצה, “You are beautiful My love when your deeds are pleasing.” The Midrash there also implies that the reason these animals lived so long was because the owners who donated them for the purpose were possessed of purity of thought in doing so. It appears that this Midrash too is based on the wording of a verse on the same procedure but in Kings I 8,63 which prompted the Midrash Rabbah in Nasso. The Midrash in Shir Hashirim uses a different nuance of the verse in Kings I 8,63 where the same offering is described. In that verse in Kings the word בקר appears immediately next to the word לה'. The wording we would have expected there was עשרים ושנים אלף בקר. The association of the word בקר and ה' then are the background to the longevity of these animals. It may well have been a long-standing tradition the sages had on the matter.
Rabbi Meir’s additional contribution to this tradition was merely to establish a conceptual link why the Israelites themselves who were devoted to the Tabernacle should be blessed with long life. There were a total of eighteen wagons and animals drawing them, the number eighteen, i.e. חי, i.e. an allusion to the life-sustaining power of the Tabernacle and those connected with its functions.
Two of the wagons were given to the sons of Gershon in accordance with the demands of their work. The other four wagons were given to the sons of Merari in accordance with the demands of the work assigned to them. The work-load of the sons of Merari was much heavier than that of the sons of Gershon. This is why the wagons were not evenly divided between the Levites who had not been commanded to carry the furnishings of the Tabernacle on their shoulders, i.e. the Kehatites. Details of who carried what have been discussed at the beginning of the Parshah.
In response to this G’d said to Moses: קח מאתם והיו לעבודת וגו', “take it from them so they can be used in the service of the Tabernacle” (verse 5). The word והיו in this verse which is not really necessary means that these animals and wagons will have an enduring existence (the normal meaning of the word in connection with the story of creation, for instance). This raises the question for how long did these animals live and these wagons remain functional? Answer: until the building of Solomon’s Temple some 480 years later. These oxen were slaughtered and sacrificed on the Altar of the Temple at the inauguration. We read in Chronicles II 7,5 ויזבח המלך שלמה את זבח הבקר עשרים ושנים אלף, "King Solomon slaughtered there as sacrifices 22,000 oxen, etc. We would have expected to read the words זבח בקר instead of the expression זבח הבקר. The latter expression suggests that we have heard about these oxen previously. When did we hear about them? In our passage here. This led Rabbi Meir to state that the animals donated by the princes at this time survived until the inauguration of Solomon’s Temple. During all these years these animals had sustained neither blemish nor developed signs of old age (which would have disqualified them as suitable for the Altar).
In fact there is logic in all this: if the oxen whose function in connection with the Tabernacle was merely peripheral, i.e. they served as beasts of burden transporting parts of the Tabernacle, and as a result G’d endowed them with such longevity and enduring youthful vigour, how much more so must the Tabernacle exert this kind of influence on the Israelites who made the Tabernacle the centre of their existence! This is testified to by Moses in his final address to the Jewish people in Deut. 4,4 when he points out to them that the reason they were alive and well on the day he spoke to them was that ואתם הדבקים בה' “you who have been cleaving to the Lord.” Thus far the Midrash.
There is another Midrash Shir Hashirim Rabbah (6,10) on Song of Songs 6,4 on the words יפה את רעיתי כתרצה, “You are beautiful My love when your deeds are pleasing.” The Midrash there also implies that the reason these animals lived so long was because the owners who donated them for the purpose were possessed of purity of thought in doing so. It appears that this Midrash too is based on the wording of a verse on the same procedure but in Kings I 8,63 which prompted the Midrash Rabbah in Nasso. The Midrash in Shir Hashirim uses a different nuance of the verse in Kings I 8,63 where the same offering is described. In that verse in Kings the word בקר appears immediately next to the word לה'. The wording we would have expected there was עשרים ושנים אלף בקר. The association of the word בקר and ה' then are the background to the longevity of these animals. It may well have been a long-standing tradition the sages had on the matter.
Rabbi Meir’s additional contribution to this tradition was merely to establish a conceptual link why the Israelites themselves who were devoted to the Tabernacle should be blessed with long life. There were a total of eighteen wagons and animals drawing them, the number eighteen, i.e. חי, i.e. an allusion to the life-sustaining power of the Tabernacle and those connected with its functions.
Two of the wagons were given to the sons of Gershon in accordance with the demands of their work. The other four wagons were given to the sons of Merari in accordance with the demands of the work assigned to them. The work-load of the sons of Merari was much heavier than that of the sons of Gershon. This is why the wagons were not evenly divided between the Levites who had not been commanded to carry the furnishings of the Tabernacle on their shoulders, i.e. the Kehatites. Details of who carried what have been discussed at the beginning of the Parshah.