Numbers 7:3 - Exposition

They brought their offering before the Lord, i.e; probably to the entrance of the tabernacle. Six covered wagons. עֶגְלֹת צָב . The meaning of the qualifying word צָב is extremely doubtful. The Targums render it as the A.V. On the other hand, Gesenius and. De Wette render it "litters," as the similar word צַבִּים in Isaiah 66:20 . The reading of the Septuagint, ἀμάξας λαμπηνίκας , is equally doubtful. λαμπήνη , itself probably a foreign word, is explained by the Scholiasts as ἅμαξα βασιλικὴ , or as ἅρμα σκεπαστὸν ; and Aquila has here ἅμαξαι σκεπασταὶ , and the Vulgate plaustra tecta. But Euseb. Emis. understands it as meaning "two-wheeled vehicles." It is a matter of little importance, but the nature of the country itself and the small number of oxen to each carriage point to the probability that they had no wheels, and were carried by the oxen, one in front, and one behind, by means of shafts, as is still the case in parts of India.