Eliasaph

The name Eliasaph belongs in the UPDV to two distinct men, both contemporaries of Moses and both confined to the early chapters of Numbers. The first is Eliasaph the son of Deuel, the prince of Gad during the wilderness census, offerings, and march. The second is Eliasaph the son of Lael, the chief of the Gershonite Levites encamped on the west side of the tabernacle. The two share nothing but the name and the period; the UPDV gives no narrative about either beyond the lists in which they stand.

Prince of Gad

When Yahweh commanded Moses to take the sum of the congregation by their fathers' houses, the man named to lead Gad was Eliasaph son of Deuel: "Of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel" (Nu 1:14). The same man heads the tribe in the order of march. As Numbers sets out the camp on the south side under the standard of Reuben, the third tribe in that division is Gad, and Eliasaph stands at its head: "And the tribe of Gad: and the prince of the sons of Gad will be Eliasaph the son of Deuel" (Nu 2:14).

When the host moved, the same arrangement held. The Gadites marched in the second division, and over them again was Eliasaph: "And over the host of the tribe of the sons of Gad was Eliasaph the son of Deuel" (Nu 10:20). Across census, camp, and march, the UPDV preserves the one figure in the same office.

The Sixth-Day Offering at the Altar

When the tabernacle had been set up and the princes brought their dedication offerings on twelve successive days, Eliasaph's day came sixth. The UPDV records his oblation in full, in the same fixed pattern given to each of the other princes: "On the sixth day Eliasaph the son of Deuel, prince of the sons of Gad: his oblation was one silver platter, the weight of which was a hundred and thirty [shekels], one silver bowl of seventy shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary; both of them full of fine flour mingled with oil for a meal-offering; one golden spoon of ten [shekels], full of incense; one young bull, one ram, one he-lamb a year old, for a burnt-offering; one male of the goats for a sin-offering; and for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, two oxen, five rams, five he-goats, five he-lambs a year old: this was the oblation of Eliasaph the son of Deuel" (Nu 7:42-47). The repetition of the formula across all twelve days gives the offering of Gad neither more nor less weight than that of the other tribes; the UPDV's only addition is the day number and the name.

Chief of the Gershonites

The second Eliasaph belongs not to the lay tribes but to the Levites. In the Levitical census of Numbers 3, the Gershonite clans were assigned the west side of the tabernacle, and their head is named: "And the prince of the fathers' house of the Gershonites will be Eliasaph the son of Lael" (Nu 3:24). His office sets him over the Gershonite charge — the curtains, hangings, and screens of the tabernacle — but the UPDV preserves no further detail of him beyond the appointment itself.