When the tribal chieftains of Israel brought their gifts to the newly raised Tabernacle, they came with an oddly specific number of things. Six covered wagons. Twelve oxen. One wagon for every two chieftains, one ox for each. Pesikta de-Rav Kahana 1:7 asks the question a good storyteller always asks — why six?
Six Echoes Across Creation and Torah
The sages line up the correspondences. Six wagons for the six days of Creation (Genesis 1). Six wagons for the six orders of the Mishnah — Zeraim, Moed, Nashim, Nezikin, Kodashim, Tohorot — the great architecture of the oral Torah. And six wagons, startlingly, for the six Matriarchs: Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Leah, Bilhah, and Zilpah. Most lists of mothers stop at four. Pesikta de-Rav Kahana pulls Bilhah and Zilpah into the front row beside their famous sisters and insists that the whole line of matriarchal Israel is carried in the wagons of the desert.
Six Laws for a King
Rabbi Yochanan adds another layer. Six wagons correspond to the six commandments Torah imposes on a Jewish king. "He shall not multiply wives for himself." "He shall not multiply horses for himself." "Silver and gold he shall not multiply for himself." "He shall not pervert judgment." "Nor show favoritism." "Nor take a bribe" (see Deuteronomy 17:16-19). Six limits on royal appetite. Six guardrails built into the very word "king" in Jewish law. Power in Israel is not absolute. It rides in a wagon bounded on six sides.
Solomon's Six Steps and the Seventh Warning
Then the midrash does something unforgettable. It walks the reader up the six steps that led to Solomon's throne (1 Kings 10:19). On each step, a crier calls out one of the six royal commandments. First step — "He shall not multiply wives." Second step — "He shall not multiply horses." Third step — "He shall not multiply silver and gold." Fourth step — "He shall not pervert judgment." Fifth step — "Nor show favoritism." Sixth step — "Nor take a bribe."
On the seventh step, just before the king sits down, the crier says one last sentence — "Know before Whom you are sitting." The Mishnah in Pirkei Avot 3:1 will later echo that line to every Jew. But here it is whispered to the king in the moment of coronation. The throne of Solomon was engineered so that a man could not reach it without six warnings ringing in his ears.
Rabbi Acha fills in the architecture. Behind the throne stood a golden scepter. On top of the scepter, a golden dove. In the dove's mouth, a golden crown — and when the king sat, the crown hovered so close to his head that it touched and did not touch at the same time. Royalty in Israel is always one breath away from being lifted off by a bird.
Six Firmaments, Not Seven
Finally, the midrash lifts its eyes. Six wagons correspond to the six lower firmaments. But are there not seven heavens? Rabbi Avin answers with a small smile. The seventh heaven is where the King Himself resides. That one is the crown property. You can correspond to everything below the throne. You do not measure the throne.
Six is the number of the world, of Torah, of mothers, of royal restraint, of visible heaven. The seventh is always the hidden one — the Shekhinah who holds it all.