Rabbi Pinḥas ben Ya’ir said: Twelve silver dishes, twelve silver basins, twelve golden ladles, twelve cattle, twelve rams, twelve lambs, twelve goats correspond to twelve constellations, corresponding to twelve months of the solar year and twelve months of the lunar year, correspond to the twelve tribes, the twelve princes, twelve implementers of the soul,104Two hands, two feet, two kidneys, spleen, liver, gall bladder, stomach, maw, and craw. and the twelve loaves of showbread on the Table.
“All the silver of the vessels was two thousand and four hundred, in the sacred shekel” (Numbers 7:85) – from when the world was created until Moses was thirty-two years old, when he began to instruct Israel in Egypt, were two thousand four hundred years. “Twelve golden ladles” (Numbers 7:86) that weigh one hundred and twenty – it corresponds to the days of Moses the pious. Likewise the living offerings correspond to these: Bulls correspond to kings;105There were twelve righteous kings. rams correspond to princes; goats correspond to chiefs, deputies, and governors;106There were four of each of these categories who served under the kings. and lambs correspond to officials and “the Keretites and the Peletites” (II Samuel 8:18).
Twenty-four bulls of the peace offerings corresponded to the twenty-four books, and the twenty-four priestly watches, and atonement for the twenty-four thousand who perished due to Baal Peor (see Numbers 25:9). “Sixty rams, sixty goats, sixty lambs” – they corresponded to the sixty myriads; and corresponded to the esoterica [sod], whose numerical value107The numerical value of its first letter. is sixty; and corresponded to “they are sixty queens” (Song of Songs 6:8); corresponded to the second Temple, which was built sixty by sixty: “Its height shall be sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits” (Ezra 6:3); and Elisha served Israel sixty years; corresponded to the “sixty cities, the entire region of Argov” (Deuteronomy 3:4); “Isaac was sixty years old” (Genesis 25:26);108When Esau and Jacob were born. corresponding to the sixty letters of the Priestly Benediction, as it is stated: “Sixty warriors surrounding it” (Song of Songs 3:7).
The offering of each and every prince was peace offerings of three species, fifteen for each of them, corresponding to the verse: “May the Lord bless you” (Numbers 6:24), which contains fifteen letters. Each and every species was of five each, corresponding to the fact that each and every verse is five letters longer than its predecessor. How so? The verse “may…bless you” is fifteen letters.
The next verse has five letters more, as it consists of twenty letters. “May the Lord lift His countenance” (Numbers 6:26) is five letters longer than it, as it is twenty-five letters. Because it concludes the Priestly Benediction with peace: “And grant you peace” (Numbers 6:26), that is why they sacrificed peace offerings corresponding to them. “Sixty rams, sixty goats, sixty lambs” – that is one hundred and eighty, corresponding to the years of Isaac.
“This was the dedication of the altar after it was anointed” – if it was “on the day that it was anointed” (Numbers 7:84), is it, perhaps, before it was anointed? The verse states: “After it was anointed.” From here you learn on the day that it was anointed, and after it was anointed, the princes began to present their offerings.