NOTES for Num 7:1-89
The long list of offerings to the Lord from the children of Israel makes one wonder: why does God need all this? Did He not create all these animals? Is all the gold, silver, and precious stones not in His hand? Why would God need money, valuables, food, or draft animals at all?
The answer lies in human nature. After all, the Lord entrusts all His creation to the human being so that the human being can freely use all this material to take part in the Creator's design, thereby becoming God's coworker. Need it be said that the human being does not fulfill this assignment, does not work together with God, and therefore uses God's gifts for something other than their purpose? If this is so, then all these offerings form a kind of history of the salvation of the material world, the return of all creation to God's disposal, to the service of His design.