And a Partridge in a Pear Tree …

“On the first day of Christmas my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree.” So runs the traditional Christmas carol. The song then proceeds to detail the gifts sent to the beloved, which increase incrementally day after day, until we reach the climactic twelfth day. At this point you may well be wondering where she was supposed to put the vast array of wildlife, servants, and entertainers she had by now accumulated.1 Here is a gift giver who certainly does not believe that “More is less!”


WHEN MORE IS NOT LESS

There are certain similarities between the Christmas carol and Numbers 7. It is not only the common motif of the number twelve; it is also the repetitious description of the same gifts given over and over. Why does the writer take no fewer than eighty-nine verses to describe these gifts? It is not so much that he is adding new information each time around; on the contrary, the gifts given by each tribe are identical. Rather, he wants you to understand that here was an overwhelming outpouring of love on the part of each and every one of the tribes of Israel that cannot be captured in a few words or phrases. Only a full rendition of the details will give an adequate sense of what is transpiring here. If it is true in giving that sometimes “More is indeed more,” then it is also true in describing giving that “More is more.”

Although the chapter itself is extremely long due to the repetition, it is really only seeking to convey two essential pieces of information. The message of this chapter of the book of Numbers is contained in what the people gave to the Lord and the attitude with which they gave it. As we study these things, we will be challenged in terms of our own giving to the Lord.


WHAT CAN YOU GIVE GOD?

First, what did the people give God? What can we give God? What could we possibly buy for the deity who not only already has everything but actually made everything? In my experience there are some people for whom it is very difficult to purchase presents because they already have everything they want. My father is like that. He doesn’t have a great array of hobbies or interests, and he has enough money to buy the limited range of things that he needs and wants. That makes Christmas shopping on his behalf a challenging proposition. You might think that it would be even more difficult to procure something suitable for the Lord, the God of the entire universe. In this case, though, the Lord was about to move into his newly completed and consecrated house, the tabernacle. As a result, housewarming gifts were highly appropriate.

What are the best housewarming gifts? They are the gifts given to us by people who know us well enough to know what will be useful and appreciated. There is no point giving a corkscrew to a teetotaler or a pound of fine coffee beans to someone without a coffee grinder. The best gifts are those that exhibit a personal knowledge of the recipient, and the gifts given by Israel to God were no exception to that rule. Every single tribe brought exactly the same housewarming gifts to God’s tabernacle not because they lacked imagination and flair but because they understood the nature and function of the tabernacle. They brought items that reflected the needs of the tabernacle. The gifts that each tribe brought were designed to accomplish three things: they provided means of transport, means of sacrifice, and means of ministry for the tabernacle.


MEANS OF TRANSPORT

The first set of gifts that they brought were six carts or wagons and twelve oxen (v. 3). The people knew that the tabernacle was intended as a mobile sanctuary that would move around with the people. At the same time, the tabernacle contained many heavy items, made of gold and silver and bronze. These carts would ease the task of the Levites, whose job it was to transport the tabernacle from place to place. In response, the Lord instructed Moses to receive these gifts and apportion them out as required (v. 5). The carts were not evenly distributed or given preferentially to those with the highest status, but rather were to be given to those with the greatest need for them. Thus four carts went to the Merarites, the least significant group of Levites, but the group who had the greatest amount of heavy lifting to do. They were responsible for the frames, posts, and bases of the tabernacle (4:31, 32). Meanwhile, two carts went to the Gershonites, who had to carry the various curtains of the tabernacle (4:24–26). The Kohathites, on the other hand, received no carts at all because theirs was the most precious cargo: the ark of the covenant and the contents of the Holy of Holies itself (7:9). These special burdens were to be hand-carried.

These carts were gifts that showed thoughtfulness as well as care. The Lord did not command Israel to bring carts, but as they considered the tabernacle and the needs of caring for it, they realized the blessing that such gifts could be to those charged with its transportation. That should challenge us in our giving, shouldn’t it? It is one thing to write a weekly or monthly check and drop it in the offering plate. It is another to look around at the ministry needs of the church and, without being asked, find a need that we can meet, then meet it. What a blessing it is to have such people in a congregation.

However, we do need to be careful that our proposed gifts are kosher ways of meeting needs. Carts for the Kohathites might have looked like a great gift on the surface of things—but that was not God’s way of doing things. We may think it would be a wonderful ministry to endow a troupe of liturgical dancers or fund a life-size statue of Jesus in our church sanctuary, but such a gift doesn’t fit with the scriptural depiction of how we should worship God. That’s why it is a good idea to bring our gifts to those whom God has placed in spiritual oversight of the church and allow them to use their spiritual maturity and insight to put our gifts to work in accord with God’s plan and purpose for the church.


MEANS OF SACRIFICE

In addition to carts to provide for the transportation needs of the tabernacle, the princes of the tribes also brought resources for the regular sacrifices and ministry of the tabernacle. These are the gifts that are enumerated twelve times over: utensils and supplies for the grain offering and incense offering, along with various animals to be offered as burnt offerings, sin offerings, and fellowship offerings. These gifts demonstrate that they understood the purpose of the tabernacle. It wasn’t just a glorious building to attract tourists and serve as a cultural center for the community. The tabernacle was to be a place where various kinds of sacrifices would be offered.

These sacrifices served a number of different purposes in Old Testament Israel. Some sacrifices had as their primary purpose atoning for sin in general.2 When whole burnt offerings were presented, their smoke would ascend to God and appease his wrath against sin (Leviticus 1:9). The animal paid the wages of sin, which is death. To use a different metaphor, these atoning sacrifices paid the ransom that sin had incurred, enabling the broken relationship between the people and their God to be put right. Similarly, sin offerings served the purpose of purifying the sanctuary from the toxic effects of accumulated sin that would otherwise prevent the presence of a holy God from remaining in the midst of his people (see Leviticus 4).

Other sacrifices, such as the grain offerings, were tribute offered to God as a mark of submission to him (see Leviticus 2). Just as every citizen of our country is required to pay taxes to the government, so they were required to offer these grain offerings as a sign of obedience to the Lord. Still other sacrifices, such as the fellowship offerings or peace offerings (Leviticus 3), were ceremonial meals to be eaten in the Lord’s presence. These sacrifices symbolized the enjoyment of the relationship with him that God graciously offers his people. For that reason, only part of the animal was offered on the altar to the Lord in these sacrifices; part of the remainder went to the priest for his family, while the worshiper and his family ate the rest of the animal. The incense, meanwhile, ascended to God, not merely providing a pleasant fragrance, mixed in with the aroma of burning flesh, but representing the prayers and praises of God’s people rising up before the Lord (see Psalm 141:2). Since part of each of these sacrifices was given to the priests, this system also provided an important aspect of funding the ministry that the priests provided in Israel.


MEANS OF MINISTRY

The gifts given by the twelve tribes thus provided the resources for these regular daily sacrifices to be begun.3 These daily sacrifices were the sacrifices that were routinely offered in the tabernacle, rather than those offered on special occasions of repentance or thanksgiving, such as the guilt offering or freewill offerings. The altar of the tabernacle had been anointed and set apart for holy use (7:10), but now the regular daily routine of sacrifice had to be initiated. This chapter shows us that the twelve tribes all eagerly played their part in providing the resources for a program of worship and fellowship with God. All of God’s people came together to fund the ministry of the tabernacle and those who served in it.

What is more, the tribes did so freely, generously, and unitedly. The point of the passage is not simply the large amounts that were given to the Lord but the equal and united way in which those gifts were given. Everyone had an equal part to play. The larger tribes did not dominate the giving, leaving the smaller tribes feeling like second-rate contributors. Nor did the smaller tribes use their size as an excuse for giving less. Each tribe contributed exactly the same amount, for all shared in this ministry. Each tribe gave generously, without compulsion, yet with an eagerness that came from a sense of gratitude and expectation about the presence of the tabernacle in their midst. No guilt-driven appeals were launched to fund the ministry of the tabernacle: the people saw what needed to be done and gave generously and unitedly to meet those needs.

What is more, the end result of this generous giving was that the tabernacle functioned exactly as it was intended to do. That is the point of the final note of the chapter:

  And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him. (v. 89)

Many scholars see this verse as an irrelevant insertion, but it is not. It shows what happened when God’s people gave: God dwelt in their midst and spoke to Moses from the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle. There was fellowship between God and his people, accomplishing the goal of the covenant in every age and generation.


GIVING FLOWS FROM GRACE

This chapter is intended to provide a pattern for us in our giving as well. To be sure, we don’t have a tabernacle that needs to be carried about, nor do we have a regular sequence of animals to offer; yet ministry continues to have financial needs and costs associated with it. There is much that we can learn from their model of giving.

In the first place, notice that their giving was not an attempt to buy God’s favor but rather flowed out of the experience of God’s favor. It is not coincidental that this chapter comes after Numbers 6:22–27 and not before. The Israelites did not give generously to God so that they could hear him say in response, “I will surely bless you.” On the contrary, God blessed his people first, and then they gave. This perspective is fundamental to all true Christian giving. Just as we love because God loved us first, so too we give because God gave to us first. God doesn’t need our money. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills and can direct the hearts of millionaires as he pleases. He therefore certainly doesn’t need your check or mine to accomplish his ministry goals. Let me put it more strongly: if it is God’s ministry, he will provide the funds to support it. It is that conviction that frees us from trying to induce people to give out of guilt. Pragmatically speaking, guilt may be a very successful fund-raising tool, as many people have discovered. However, it is not a Biblical fund-raising tool. Biblical giving does not flow out of a sense of guilt or a desire to win God’s favor; it flows out of a sense of God’s grace.

That’s why Paul can say in 2 Corinthians 9:7: “God loves a cheerful giver.” Guilt-driven givers are never cheerful givers: you need to squeeze every last penny from them, and they give it as if it really was their last penny. I know such guilt-driven giving when I see it because that is my own natural mode. Perhaps it is my ethnic heritage: we Scots are notoriously (though not always fairly) noted for our tightfistedness. However, it is far more likely that is simply a convenient excuse for my sinful heart. I am not naturally a grace-driven giver. My tendency is always to give the minimum necessary to assuage my guilt, forgetting the God from whom I have received so much. But if God owns everything, he doesn’t need my gifts. If God gives his blessing to me freely, I don’t need to give to try to buy that favor. It is already mine. If our vision for ministry comes from the Lord, he will certainly supply the resources necessary to carry it out. Knowing this leads us to an attitude of prayerfulness and patience while we wait for God to provide for our needs.

Yet, on the other side of the coin, the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills does not choose to oversee them personally. He is not the great cowboy in the sky. Instead, the cattle that he owns are assigned into the care and stewardship of his people, from whom he receives them again when he has need of them. God didn’t need the gifts of the princes of Israel, nor did he promise them additional favor in response to their giving; but nonetheless they lined up one after another to give sacrificially to his ministry. Perhaps they recognized that they could afford to be generous because they remembered where they got all of these riches in the first place. God gave this wealth to them by enabling them to plunder the Egyptians on their way out of Egypt (Exodus 12:35, 36). This was not gold for which they had personally labored: God had given it to them in the first place, and now they simply gave it back to him.

The way in which God meets the needs of his ministry is by moving the hearts of his people to remember who gave them everything they have. In this way he prompts in us an eagerness to give back. He reminds his people once again of the blessing and favor that he has shown toward them, and as the reality of his grace lays hold of their hearts afresh, they ask, “What can I give? How can I contribute something back to the Lord for the salvation that he has given me? What do I have that I can contribute to his cause?” Grace lays hold of our hearts and makes us cheerful givers, not just of our money but of our time and gifts as well.


JOYFUL GIVING

That raises a question for each of us, doesn’t it? When there is an opportunity to give, as there is Sunday by Sunday and in between, what is our attitude? When there is work of ministry to be done, are we eager to volunteer? It is not simply a matter of “How big is your check?” or “How many ministries do you serve in?” Those are different questions. For some, giving generously and joyfully may not have many zeros on the end of it, while others may give millions and yet have hearts that are entirely untouched by grace. Jesus pointed that out when he told the story of the widow’s offering. Surrounded by wealthy givers, she only gave two copper coins. Yet Jesus affirmed that her gift was greater than their larger ones because they gave out of their abundance, while she gave everything she had to live on (Luke 21:1–4).
Similarly, some people may pour their hearts joyfully into a single ministry, while others may wear themselves out for the church, grumbling inside all the time. The Israelites gave freely and joyfully because they knew themselves to be so blessed by the Lord. You and I need to join them in giving generously out of a heart that is conscious of great blessing.


THE SHAPE OF OUR GIVING

So far we’ve been addressing the fact that the how of our giving needs to reflect a similar attitude to that of ancient Israel. How about the what of our giving though? In what ways does their giving provide us with direction in the shape of the ministry toward which we should be giving? I think there are several suggestive aspects to that. The carts that they provided to transport the tabernacle remind us that the place of their worship was constantly mobile. So, too, we are pilgrims and strangers in this world, constantly on the move (Hebrews 13:14). The temptation for us is always to try to settle down and put down roots, as if this world is our home. Yet here in this world we have no settled city, and the shape of our ministry should reflect that.

One temptation that faces us is to transfer our trust from God to a building. There are certainly advantages to having a settled building in which to worship; yet how easily a building can become an idol. One mark of that may be the fact that we can be more heavily invested in beautifying the building than we are in meeting with God. Those congregations, like ours, that meet in rented facilities are freed from that temptation, and from a great deal of expense. This freedom ought to release us to be able to pour more resources into ministry. If we don’t have a building, we should be able to provide the resources necessary for a variety of ministries, even as a relatively small fellowship of God’s people. Larger churches face the challenge of keeping their budget focused on ministry as their resources grow, not merely focused on maintaining ever-expanding facilities.

In addition, the giving in Numbers 7 was focused on providing for the sacrifices, with their multidimensional presentation of worship. So, too, our giving should be the expression and means of reaching the same goals. We don’t ask people to bring along a goat or two to church each Sunday. This is not simply because there are zoning laws in our community against slaughtering animals in church buildings, but because what these sacrifices pointed toward has already been fulfilled in Christ. So our giving enables us to meet together Sunday by Sunday to focus our hearts afresh on the gospel. It enables us to gather around the Word and hear God speak in our midst as its truths are proclaimed afresh to us. We meet around the Lord’s Table and feast together on Christ, our Passover lamb, just as the Israelites feasted together on the body of the fellowship offering in God’s presence. We lift up our prayers and petitions before God, just as the incense ascended before God from the tabernacle.

However, it is not simply that our giving enables us to come together in a local church. More than that, what we do when we come together is itself in a fundamental sense an offering of ourselves in God’s service. Our sacrifice is a sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13:15), a laying of our own bodies on the altar as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1). We are called cheerfully to lay down our lives at the feet of Christ week after week and to commit ourselves afresh to take up our cross and follow him.


LIVING SACRIFICES

When I was seventeen years old, the Lord called me to serve him with my life, and I began (through a convoluted route) to prepare for a career of ministry. Perhaps someone reading these words will likewise sense God’s call to turn aside from other labors and watch over his sheep. Yet as I get older, I realize increasingly that serving the Lord with my life is not a single decision but a daily commitment. As someone once said, the problem with living sacrifices is that they have a habit of crawling off the altar. Day by day we need to make the commitment afresh to serve the Lord wholeheartedly in whatever his calling is for us.

We make that commitment because, like God’s Old Testament people, we know how much we have been blessed. They had the shadows of redemption and were nonetheless richly blessed. What then shall we say of ourselves since we experience the fullness toward which the shadows pointed? We know and experience the Lord’s blessing and love in a whole new way in Christ. In Christ, God himself took on flesh and tabernacled in our midst (John 1:14), pursuing his own pilgrim journey in our midst. He is the reality toward which the Old Testament tabernacle pointed, the glory of God dwelling in the midst of his people.

Yet when Jesus came to his own people, they did not receive him (John 1:11). Instead of joyfully bringing him abundant gifts and laying down their lives in his service, they stripped him and beat him and nailed him to a cross. There Jesus himself became the reality toward which the whole Old Testament system of sacrifices pointed. He offered himself completely to God, an atoning ransom for our sins. Throughout his earthly pilgrimage he gave the homage of complete obedience to God, even to the point of death on the cross. Through that death and resurrection, Jesus ushered us into the reality of fellowship with God forever. In the Garden of Gethsemane, his pleas and petitions to be spared the cup of suffering and death came before the Father; yet they were not answered in the affirmative, so that God could say “Yes!” to us and welcome us into his family. As a result, it is in Christ that you and I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3). You and I have been invited to his great feast. How could God have blessed us any more than he already has?

Do you know the reality and scale of the blessing you have received in Christ? If so, no one will have to beg you to give or beat you into giving. You will have a heart that longs to give, that delights to give as much as you possibly can, so that the name of Christ can be lifted up and his grace magnified. You will eagerly and joyfully pour out your life in his service, so that the wonder of his mercy can be known more widely. If God’s kingdom and the deserved fame of Jesus’ name can be extended, then my life will truly have been worthwhile. Nothing else in Heaven or earth could be more worth living for or giving to than that.



Duguid, I. M., & Hughes, R. K. (2006). Numbers: God’s presence in the wilderness (pp. 97–105). Crossway Books.