Numbers 7:12-17 meaning

Starting with the day of the dedication of the tabernacle (the tent of meeting), each of the 12 tribes would bring gifts to the Levites over the following 12 days—one tribe per day, amounting to a 12-day dedication ceremony.

Verse 12 identifies the one who presented his offering on the first day (v. 13). His name was Nahshon the son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah (v. 12). Nahshon ("little snake") was mentioned in Numbers 1:7 as the leader of the tribe of Judah.

The offering of the tribe of Judah was identical to the other tribes and consisted of the following items:

• One silver dish whose weight was one hundred and thirty shekels (v. 13). This made the dish about 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms) of silver.
• One silver bowl of seventy shekels. This made the bowl about 1.75 pounds (or 0.8 kilograms) of silver. The standard weight of the "shekel" was based according to the shekel of the sanctuary, making it around 0.4 ounces.
• The silver dish and silver bowl were full of fine flour mixed with oil. The "flour" was to be used for a grain offering.
• One gold pan of ten shekels (v. 14), or about 0.24 pounds (110 grams) of gold. The "pan" was presented full of incense.
• One bull, one ram, one male lamb one year old, for a burnt offering (v. 15).
• One male goat for a sin offering (v. 16).
• The next items were to be used for the sacrifice of peace offerings (v. 17), and they consisted of two oxen, five rams, five male goats, five male lambs one year old.

All of the items above comprised the offering of Nahshon the son of Amminadab on behalf of the tribe of Judah. The tribes present their offerings in the same order as the tribes were assigned their places in Numbers 2. In both cases, Judah might have gone first due to its place of prophetic prominence, as the Messiah will come from the tribe of Judah.