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Numbers 7 · a question people ask

Why is there no prince for Levi?

In the text

The givers are "the princes of the tribes. These are they who were over those who were counted" (7:2), the same twelve men who stood with Moses at the census (Numbers 1:5-16). Levi wasn't counted with the other tribes: "the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not counted among them" (Numbers 1:47). The twelve still come to twelve because Joseph's sons Ephraim and Manasseh each have a prince (7:48, 7:54). In this chapter, the Levites receive: the wagons and oxen are given to them (7:6).

The verses

“the princes of Israel, the heads of their fathers’ houses, gave offerings. These were the princes of the tribes. These are they who were over those who were counted;”
Numbers 7:2 · World English Bible
“Moses took the wagons and the oxen, and gave them to the Levites.”
Numbers 7:6 · World English Bible
“On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim,”
Numbers 7:48 · World English Bible
“On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children of Manasseh,”
Numbers 7:54 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Numbers 7

Numbers 7: Each prince on his day

Numbers 7 goes back to the day the tabernacle was set up (7:1; Exodus 40:17). Kohath got no wagons because they carried the sanctuary's holy things on their shoulders (7:9; Numbers 4:15). Then twelve princes brought exactly the same gift on twelve days, in the order their tribes camped (Numbers 2), and the text names every one.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions