Catholic Commentary
Day 7: Offering of Elishama of Ephraim
48On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim,49gave his offering: one silver platter, the weight of which was one hundred thirty shekels, one silver bowl of seventy shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering;50one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense;51one young bull, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;52one male goat for a sin offering;53and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Elishama the son of Ammihud.
Numbers 7:48–53 describes Elishama, prince of Ephraim, presenting his tribal offering on the seventh day of the dedication of the tabernacle, including a golden ladle of incense, a burnt offering, a sin offering, and peace offerings consisting of cattle, rams, goats, and lambs. The passage demonstrates Israel's structured approach to worship, where each tribe presented identical offerings in ritual sequence, emphasizing both individual and communal consecration to God.
God records each offering—identical in form yet singular in His sight—teaching that worship costs something real and nothing you bring before Him is ever overlooked.
Commentary
Numbers 7:48 — "On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim"
The seventh day carries immediate resonance: the Sabbath is woven into creation itself (Gen 2:2–3), and Israel's liturgical calendar revolves around the number seven as a sign of completeness and divine consecration. Elishama's offering falling on the seventh day is not incidental; it situates the gifts of Ephraim within the sacred rhythm God established at the beginning of time. Elishama ("God hears") is identified elsewhere as the grandfather of Joshua son of Nun (1 Chr 7:26–27), placing this man at the root of the lineage that will lead Israel into the Promised Land. Ammihud means "my people is glorious" — a name dense with covenantal resonance. That the text names both father and tribe underlines a fundamental principle of biblical worship: the offering is always made by someone, in a community, before a God who hears and knows.
Numbers 7:49 — "gave his offering"
The verb here (Hebrew: qārab, "to draw near" or "to bring near") is the root of the word qorbān (offering/oblation), which Jesus explicitly references in Mark 7:11. To offer is to draw near — worship is not primarily a transaction but an act of approach, of intimacy with God. Elishama draws the whole tribe of Ephraim near to the Lord through this ritual act.
Numbers 7:50 — "one golden ladle of ten shekels, full of incense"
The golden ladle (kap, literally "palm" or "hand") filled with incense is the sole golden element in the offering, emphasizing the preciousness of prayer and praise. Psalm 141:2 and Revelation 8:3–4 will both explicitly interpret incense as the prayers of the faithful ascending to God. Ten shekels — the number ten in biblical numerology frequently denotes completeness of a human measure (cf. the Ten Commandments, the ten plagues) — suggests the fullness of devotion being rendered.
Numbers 7:51 — "one young bull, one male goat for a sin offering"
The burnt offering (the young bull) signifies total consecration to God — the entire animal was consumed, leaving nothing for human use, symbolizing the unconditional gift of self. The sin offering (male goat) acknowledges Ephraim's unworthiness and need for atonement. Even in a moment of joyful dedication, the liturgy does not bypass the reality of sin. This pairing anticipates the dual movement of every Mass: the gloria and the Confiteor, praise and penitence held together.
Numbers 7:52–53 — "two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old"
The peace offerings (shelamim, from shalom) are the most communal of the sacrificial categories: portions were shared among the priests, the offerer, and guests, making the sacrifice a sacred meal of reconciliation and fellowship. The fivefold repetition of "five" in the component animals (5 rams, 5 goats, 5 lambs) has been noted by patristic commentators as suggestive of the five books of the Torah, the Pentateuch, by which Israel is consecrated in God's word. The young lambs — "a year old" (bene shanah, sons of a year) — are at the prime of their life, unspoiled, prefiguring the Lamb "without blemish" (1 Pet 1:19).
Typological and Spiritual Senses
The repetition of this identical formula across twelve days is not literary monotony — it is liturgical theology. Origen of Alexandria (Homilies on Numbers, Hom. 5) sees in each tribal prince a figure of the souls who approach Christ with their whole selves. The sevenfold structure invites meditation on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph who received the greater blessing (Gen 48:14–20), is a type of the Gentile Church — the younger, unexpected recipient of God's lavish favor. That this tribe appears on the seventh day, in the fullness of sacred time, deepens that typological resonance.
Catholic Commentary
From a Catholic perspective, Numbers 7:48–53 is a microcosm of the Church's theology of worship and oblation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that sacrifice is "a sign of adoration, thanksgiving, supplication, and communion" (CCC §2099), and every element of Elishama's offering embodies exactly these four ends: the golden incense ladle expresses adoration and supplication; the burnt offering gives thanksgiving through total self-gift; the sin offering mediates communion by acknowledging need for atonement; the peace offerings celebrate reconciled fellowship with God and neighbor.
The Church Fathers read these Tabernacle offerings as prefigurations of the one perfect sacrifice of Christ. St. Cyril of Alexandria argued that the Old Testament sacrifices were shadows cast backwards from the Cross — their very multiplicity and repetition pointing to their inadequacy and to the need for the one Lamb who "takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29). The Council of Trent (Session XXII, Doctrina de SS. Missae Sacrificio) taught that the Mass is the unbloody re-presentation of that one sacrifice, fulfilling and perfecting all that the tribal offerings of Numbers prefigured.
Pope Benedict XVI, in Sacramentum Caritatis (§70), recalled that Christian worship must transform daily life into a living oblation, echoing Paul's exhortation in Romans 12:1. The painstaking cataloguing of Elishama's gifts — naming each animal, each weight — models a theology of total, specific, personally-accountable offering. Nothing is vague or token. Catholic Tradition has always insisted that worship must cost something real: time, treasure, and self-surrender. The very identity of Elishama ("God hears") becomes a theological statement: God hears and receives what is offered in faith.
For Today
For the contemporary Catholic, the temptation is to experience liturgical repetition — the same Mass prayers Sunday after Sunday — as monotony rather than as sacred pattern. Elishama's offering, identical in form to six princes before him yet meticulously recorded by name, challenges this instinct. God does not gloss over any person's offering; He receives it as specific, singular, and seen.
Practically, this passage invites an examination of whether our Sunday Mass attendance has become purely habitual or whether we bring something genuinely costly to the altar. The Offertory of the Mass — when bread and wine are brought forward — is the moment each Catholic places his or her week, labor, suffering, and love upon the altar to be united with Christ's sacrifice. Elishama's golden ladle full of incense is a model: our prayers should be full, not half-hearted. His peace offerings were communal — he fed others from his sacrifice. Catholics living in prosperous societies are called to ask concretely: what portion of my resources do I bring near (qārab) to God, and what portion reaches others through that act of worship?
Cross-References