Tanach · Acharonim on Tanach · Or HaChaim · Torah
Or HaChaim on Numbers 7:5/אור החיים על במדבר ז׳:ה׳
אקַח מֵאִתָּם וְגוֹ׳. אָמְרוֹ מֵאִתָּם, לְלַמֵּד שֶׁעֲדַיִן הָיוּ בִּרְשׁוּת הַמְּבִיאִים וְלֹא בָּאוּ לִרְשׁוּתוֹ שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה, וְטַעְמוֹ שֶׁל מֹשֶׁה לְצַד שֶׁלֹּא נִצְטַוָּה שֶׁיִּשְׂאוּ הַמִּשְׁכָּן עַל הָעֲגָלוֹת לֹא רָצָה לְקַבֵּל כִּי לְמָה הֵם רְאוּיִים, וְהַנְּשִׂיאִים שִׁעֲרוּ בְּדַעְתָּם כִּי הַקְּרָשִׁים וְהָאֲדָנִים מַשָּׂא גָּדוֹל שֶׁצָּרִיךְ לַעֲגָלוֹת, וְהִסְכִּימָה דַּעְתּוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא.
1 קח מאתם, "accept it from them!" The reason the Torah wrote the word מאתם (instead of מהם) is that as of that moment the gifts were still the property of the princes and had not as yet been transferred to Moses. The reason that Moses had not as yet accepted the gifts was that he had not been commanded that the Tabernacle be transported on wagons and did not know what else to do with them. The princes had reasoned that seeing the boards and the sockets of the Tabernacle were large and heavy respectively, they would need to be transported on wagons. As it turned out, G'd agreed with their reasoning.