Numbers 28 commentary

NUMBERS 28 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Daily Offerings
1The Lord said to Moses,
BARNES, "The daily offering had been already commanded Exo_29:38,
and no doubt additional offerings had become customary on festivals. But
no such elaborate system as is here prescribed was or could possibly have
been observed in the wilderness: compare Deu_12:8-9. The regulations of
this and the next chapter therefore point to the immediate prospect of that
settlement in Canaan which alone could enable the Israelites to obey them.
Compare the ordinances in Num. 15.
GILL, "And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... The number of the children of
Israel being taken, and orders given to divide the land unto them, according
to their numbers; it was thought proper by the Lord to renew, or to put in
mind of, the laws concerning sacrifices which had been made, and which
they were to observe when they came into the land of Canaan; and the
rather this was necessary, as it was now thirty eight years ago since these
laws were first made, and during that time were much in disuse, at least
some of them: and besides, this was a new generation of men that were
sprung up, those that were at Mount Sinai at the giving of the law being all
dead, except a very few; and now Moses also was about to die, and would be
no more with them to remind them of these laws, and see that they were
observed; and a successor of him being appointed and constituted, it may be
likewise on his account, as well as the people's, that these laws were
repeated:
HENRY 1-2, "Here is, I. A general order given concerning the offerings of
the Lord, which were to be brought in their season, Num_28:2. These laws
are here given afresh, not because the observance of them was wholly
disused during their thirty-eight years' wandering in the wilderness (we
cannot think that they were so long without any public worship, but that at
least the daily lamb was offered morning and evening, and doubled on the
sabbath day; so bishop Patrick conjectures); but that many of the sacrifices
were then omitted is plainly intimated, Amo_5:25, quoted by Stephen, Act_
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7:42. Did you offer unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty
years, O house of Israel? It is implied, “No, you did not.” But, whether the
course of sacrifices had been interrupted or no, God saw fit now to repeat
the law of sacrifices, 1. Because this was a new generation of men, that were
most of them unborn when the former laws were given; therefore, that they
might be left without excuse, they have not only these laws written, to be
read to them, but again repeated from God himself, and put into a less
compass and a plainer method. 2. Because they were now entering upon
war, and might be tempted to think that while they were engaged in that
they should be excused from offering sacrifices. Inter arma silent leges -
law is little regarded amidst the clash of arms. No, says God, my bread for
my sacrifices even now shall you observe to offer, and that in the due
season. They were peculiarly concerned to keep their peace with God when
they were at war with their enemies. In the wilderness they were solitary,
and quite separate from all other people, and therefore there they needed
not so much their distinguishing badges, nor would their omission of
sacrifices be so scandalous as when they came into Canaan, when they
mingled with other people. 3. Because possession was now to be given them
of the land of promise, that land flowing with milk and honey, where they
would have plenty of all good things. “Now” (says God), “When you are
feasting yourselves, forget not to offer the bread of your God.” Canaan was
given to them upon this condition, that they should observe God's statutes,
Psa_105:44, Psa_105:45.
K&D, "When Israel was prepared for the conquest of the promised land
by the fresh numbering and mustering of its men, and by the appointment
of Joshua as commander, its relation to the Lord was regulated by a law
which determined the sacrifices through which it was to maintain its
fellowship with its God from day to day, and serve Him as His people (Num
28 and 29). Through this order of sacrifice, the object of which was to form
and sanctify the whole life of the congregation into a continuous worship,
the sacrificial and festal laws already given in Exo_23:14-17; Exo_29:38-42;
Exo_31:12-17; Lev_23:1, and Num_25:1-12, were completed and arranged
into a united and well-ordered whole. “It was very fitting that this law
should be issued a short time before the advance into Canaan; for it was
there first that the Israelites were in a position to carry out the sacrificial
worship in all its full extent, and to observe all the sacrificial and festal
laws” (Knobel). The law commences with the daily morning and evening
burnt-offering (Num_28:3-8), which was instituted at Sinai at the
dedication of the altar. It is not merely for the sake of completeness that it is
introduced here, or for the purpose of including all the national sacrifices
that were to be offered during the whole year in one general survey; but also
for an internal reason, viz., that the daily sacrifice was also to be offered on
the Sabbaths and feast-days, to accompany the general and special festal
sacrifices, and to form the common substratum for the whole of these. Then
follow in Num_28:9-15 the sacrifices to be offered on the Sabbath and at the
new moon; and in Num 28:16 - Num 29:38 the general sacrifices for the
different yearly feasts, which were to be added to the sacrifices that were
peculiar to each particular festival, having been appointed at the time of its
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first institution, and being specially adapted to give expression to its specific
character, so that, at the yearly feasts, the congregation had to offer their
different kinds of sacrifices: (a) the daily morning and evening sacrifice; (b)
the general sacrifices that were offered on every feast-day; and (c) the festal
sacrifices that were peculiar to each particular feast. This cumulative
arrangement is to be explained from the significance of the daily and of the
festal sacrifices. In the daily burnt-offering the congregation of Israel, as a
congregation of Jehovah, was to sanctify its life, body, soul, and spirit, to the
Lord its God; and on the Lord's feast-days it was to give expression to this
sanctification in an intensified form. This stronger practical exhibition of
the sanctification of the life was embodied in the worship by the elevation
and graduation of the daily sacrifice, through the addition of a second and
much more considerable burnt-offering, meat-offering, and drink-offering.
The graduation was regulated by the significance of the festivals. On the
Sabbaths the daily sacrifice was doubled, by the presentation of a burnt-
offering consisting of two lambs. On the other feast-days it was increased by
a burnt-offering composed of oxen, rams, and yearling lambs, which was
always preceded by a sin-offering. - As the seventh day of the week, being a
Sabbath, was distinguished above the other days of the week, as a day that
was sanctified to the Lord in a higher degree than the rest, by an enlarged
burnt-offering, meat-offering, and drink-offering; so the seventh month,
being a Sabbath-month, was raised above the other months of the year, and
sanctified as a festal month, by the fact that, in addition to the ordinary new
moon sacrifices of two bullocks, one ram, and seven yearling lambs, a
special festal sacrifice was also offered, consisting of one bullock, one ram,
and seven yearling lambs (Num_29:2), which was also repeated on the day
of atonement, and at the close of the feast of Tabernacles (Num_29:8, Num_
29:36); and also that the feast of Tabernacles, which fell in this month, was
to be celebrated by a much larger number of burnt-offerings, as the largest
and holiest feast of the congregation of Israel.
(Note: Knobel's remarks as to the difference in the sacrifices are not
only erroneous, but likely to mislead, and tending to obscure and distort
the actual facts. “On those feast-days,” he says, “which were intended as
a general festival to Jehovah, viz., the sabbatical portion of the seventh
new moon, the day of atonement, and the closing day of the yearly feasts,
the sacrifices consisted of one bullock, one ram, and seven yearling
lambs (Num_29:2, Num_29:8, Num_29:36); whereas at the older
festivals which had a reference to nature, such as the new moons, the
days of unleavened bread, and the feast of Weeks, they consisted of two
bullocks, one ram, and seven yearling lambs (Num_28:11, Num_28:19,
Num_28:24, Num_28:27; Num_29:6), and at the feast of Tabernacles of even a
larger number, especially of bullocks (Num_29:12.). In the last, Jehovah was
especially honoured, as having poured out His blessing upon nature, and granted
a plentiful harvest to the cultivation of the soil. The ox was the beast of
agriculture.” It was not the so-called “older festivals which had reference to
nature” that were distinguished by a larger number of sacrificial
animals, above those feast-days which were intended as general festivals
to Jehovah, but the feasts of the seventh month alone. Thus the seventh
new moon's day was celebrated by a double new moon's sacrifice, viz.,
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with three bullocks, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs; the feast of
atonement, as the introductory festival of the feast of Tabernacles, by a
special festal sacrifice, whilst the day of Passover, which corresponded
to it in the first festal cycle, as the introductory festival of the feast of
unleavened bread, had no general festal sacrifices; and, lastly, the feast
of Tabernacles, not only by a very considerable increase in the number of
the festal sacrifices on every one of the seven days, but also by the
addition of an eighth day, as the octave of the feast, and a festal sacrifice
answering to those of the first and seventh days of this month.)
All the feasts of the whole year, for example, formed a cycle of feast-days,
arranged according to the number seven, which had its starting-point and
centre in the Sabbath, and was regulated according to the division of time
established at the creation, into weeks, months, years, and periods of years,
ascending from the weekly Sabbath to the monthly Sabbath, the sabbatical
year, and the year of jubilee. In this cycle of holy periods, regulated as it was
by the number seven, and ever expanding into larger and larger circles,
there was embodied the whole revolution of annually recurring festivals,
established to commemorate the mighty works of the Lord for the
preservation and inspiration of His people. And this was done in the
following manner: in the first place, the number of yearly feasts amounted
to exactly seven, of which the two leading feasts (Mazzoth and the feast of
Tabernacles) lasted seven days; in the second place, in all the feasts, some
of which were of only one day's duration, whilst others lasted seven days,
there were only seven days that were to be observed with sabbatical rest and
a holy meeting; and in the third place, the seven feasts were formed into two
large festal circles, each of which consisted of an introductory feast, the
main feast of seven days, and a closing feast of one day. The first of these
festal circles was commemorative of the elevation of Israel into the nation
of God, and its subsequent preservation. It commenced on the 14th Abib
(Nisan) with the Passover, which was appointed to commemorate the
deliverance of Israel from the destroying angel who smote the first-born of
Egypt, as the introductory festival. It culminated in the seven days' feast of
unleavened bread, as the feast of the deliverance of Israel from bondage,
and its elevation into the nation of God; and closed with the feast of Weeks,
Pentecost, or the feast of Harvest, which was kept seven weeks after the
offering of the sheaf of first-fruits, on the second day of Mazzoth. This festal
circle contained only three days that were to be kept with sabbatical rest
and a holy meeting (viz., the first and seventh days of Mazzoth and the day
of Pentecost). The second festal circle fell entirely in the seventh month, and
its main object was to inspire the Israelites in their enjoyment of the
blessings of their God: for this reason it was celebrated by the presentation
of a large number of burnt-offerings. This festal circle opened with the day
of atonement, which was appointed for the tenth day of the seventh month,
as the introductory feast, culminated in the seven days' feast of
Tabernacles, and closed with the eighth day, which was added to the seven
feast-days as the octave of this festive circle, or the solemn close of all the
feasts of the year. This also included only three days that were to be
commemorated with sabbatical rest and a holy meeting (the 10th, 15th, and
22nd of the month); but to these we have to add the day of trumpets, with
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which the month commenced, which was also a Sabbath of rest with a holy
meeting; and this completes the seven days of rest (see my Archaeologie, i. §
76).
CALVIN, "1.And the Lord spake unto Moses. Moses, being about to speak again of
the “continual” sacrifice, premises in general that the people should diligently follow
in their offerings whatever God has enjoined; for by the word “observe,”
(custodiendi,) not only diligence, but obedience is also expressed. But, in order that
they should more earnestly beware of every transgression, God calls either that
which was wont daily to be placed on the table, or that which was annexed to the
burnt-offerings, His bread, as if He ate of it after the manner of men. It is indeed a
hard expression, but the rudeness of His ancient people obliged Him to speak thus
grossly, that, on the one hand, they might learn this rite to be acceptable to God, just
as food is acceptable to man; and, on the other, that they might study to offer their
sacrifices more purely and chastely.
COFFMAN, "These two chapters are being treated together because they actually
constitute a summary of the offerings Israel was commanded to make throughout
the whole year. Every one of the requirements laid down in Numbers 28 and
Numbers 29 has already been discussed at length in this series of commentaries
under those verses where they were first mentioned in the Pentateuch. The last
syllable of the material here is Mosaic, both as to authorship and from the
standpoint of the time when the instructions were given. Our text states (Numbers
28:1) that God commanded Moses to give this summary, and we have discovered no
good reason for assigning it to any other.[1]
Neither is there very much mystery as to just why the summary appears at this
particular place in the Books of Moses. God's people had certainly not been able, for
many reasons, to observe all of the sacrifices and ordinances commanded at Sinai.
In fact, "The whole Mosaic system presupposed an almost immediate entry into
Canaan."[2] But then, through human rebellion, there resulted the forty-year delay,
and during that forty years it is clear enough that all of those ordinances so clearly
designed for a people settled in Canaan were in fact neglected and disobeyed, but
now that entry into the Promised Land was immediately to be an accomplished fact,
it was appropriate indeed that God should again have given a summary of what
their duties in Canaan would be.
When Joshua brought the people into their inheritance, the thrill and joy of having
a homeland could have led to a sense of having arrived or of having concluded their
purpose.[3]
Such a danger was averted by this divine summary of the strict and continual duties
of worship and sacrifices which God expected of them. Israel in no sense had
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arrived! It was not the end of God's purpose with them, but only the beginning.
"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, and say
unto them, My oblation, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a sweet savor
unto me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season."
The use of the possessive personal pronoun "my" is impressive here. The conception
is that of God's food, God's pleasing odor, and God's oblations. As Owens noted,
"All of these expressions stem from a time when people thought of God as eating
and drinking with his worshippers in the sacrificial meals."[4] However, it is
important to remember that this same concept has been brought over into the New
Covenant particularly in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper during which Jesus
"drinks the fruit of the vine new with his disciples in the kingdom of heaven!"
(Matthew 26:29). See Leviticus 3:11.
COKE "Numbers 28:1. And the Lord spake unto Moses— The stated sacrifices and
services of the tabernacle having now been omitted, or at least very much
interrupted, for many years, on account of the frequent and tedious travels of the
Israelites; (see Deuteronomy 12:8.) and this new generation not having heard the
ordinances relating to them at the first institution, (see Numbers 28:6.) and being
now shortly to take up their residence in the promised land, where they were
obliged to the most punctual observance of them; God commands Moses to repeat
them to the people in the following order of daily, weekly, monthly, and anniversary
sacrifices: which having before fully explained, we shall, in the course of these
chapters, direct the reader for such explanations to the margins of our Bibles.
EBC, "OFFERINGS AND VOWS
Numbers 28:1-31; Numbers 29:1-40; Numbers 30:1-16
THE legislation of chapters 28-30 appears to belong to a time of developed ritual
and organised society. Parallel passages in Exodus and Leviticus treating of the
feasts and offerings are by no means so full in their details, nor do they even
mention some of the sacrifices here made statutory. The observances of New Moon
are enjoined in the Book of Numbers alone. In chapter 15 they are simply noticed;
here the order is fixed. The purpose of chapters 28-29 is especially to prescribe the
number of animals that are to be offered throughout the year at a central altar, and
the quantities of other oblations which are to accompany them. But the rotation of
feasts is also given in a more connected way than elsewhere; we have, in fact, a
legislative description of Israel’s Sacred Year. Daily, weekly, monthly, and at the
two great festal seasons, Jehovah is to be acknowledged by the people as the
Redeemer of life, the Giver of wealth and blessedness. Of their cattle and sheep, and
the produce of the land, they are to bring continual oblations, which are to be their
memorial before Him. By their homage and by their gladness, by afflicting
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themselves and by praising God, they shall realise their calling as His people.
The section regarding vows (chapter 30) completes the legislation on that subject
supplementing Leviticus 27:1-34, and Numbers 6:1-27. It is especially interesting for
the light it throws on the nature of family life, the position of women and the
limitations of their freedom. The link between the law of offerings and the law of
vows is hard to find; but we can easily understand the need for rules concerning
women’s vows. The peace of families might often be disturbed by lavish promises
which a husband or a father might find it impossible or inconvenient to fulfil.
1. THE SACRED YEAR.- Numbers 28:1-31; Numbers 29:1-40
Throughout the year, each day, each sabbath, and each month is to be consecrated
by oblations of varying value, forming a routine of sacrifice. First the Day, bringing
duty and privilege, is to have its morning burnt offering of a yearling lamb, by
which the Divine blessing is invoked on the labour and life of the whole people. A
meal offering of flour and oil and a drink offering of "strong drink"-that is, not of
water or milk, but wine-are to accompany the sacrifice. Again in the evening, as a
token of gratitude for the mercies of the day, similar oblations are to be presented.
Of this offering the note is made: "it is a continual burnt offering, which was
ordained in Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord."
In these sacrifices the whole of time, measured out by the alternation of light and
darkness, was acknowledged to be God’s; through the priesthood the nation
declared His right to each day, confessed obligation to Him for the gift of it.. The
burnt offering implied complete renunciation of what was represented. No part of
the animal was kept for use, either by the worshipper or the priest. The smoke
ascending to heaven dissipated the entire substance of the oblation, signifying that
the whole use or enjoyment of it was consecrated to God. In the way of impressing
the idea of obligation to Jehovah for the gifts of time and life the daily sacrifices
were valuable; yet they were suggestive rather than sufficient. The Israelites
throughout the land knew that these oblations were made at the altar, and those
who were pious might at the times appointed offer each his own thanksgivings to
God. But the individual expression of gratitude was left to the religious sense, and
that must often have failed. At a distance from the sanctuary, where the ascending
smoke could not be seen, men might forget; or again, knowing that the priests would
not forget, they might imagine their own part to be done when offering was made
for the whole people. The duty was, however, represented and kept before the minds
of all.
In the Psalms and elsewhere we find traces of a worship which had its source in the
daily sacrifice. The author of Psalms 141:1-10., for example, addresses Jehovah:
"Give ear unto my voice when I cry unto Thee. Let my prayer be set forth as incense
before Thee The lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."
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Less clearly in the fifth, the fifty-ninth, and the eighty-eighth psalms, the morning
prayer appears to be connected with the morning sacrifice:
"O Lord, in the morning shalt Thou hear my voice; In the morning will I order my
prayer unto Thee, and will keep watch." {Psalms 5:3}
The pious Hebrew might naturally choose the morning and the evening as his times
of special approach to the throne of Divine grace, as every believer still feels it his
duty and privilege to begin and close the day with prayer. The appropriateness of
dawn and sunset might determine both the hour of sacrifice and the hour of private
worship. Yet the ordinance of the daily oblations set an example to those who would
otherwise have been careless in expressing gratitude. And earnestly religious
persons learned to find more frequent opportunities. Daniel in Babylon is seen at
the window open towards Jerusalem, kneeling upon his knees three times a day,
praying and giving thanks to God. The author of Psalms 119:1-176 says:
"Seven times a day do I praise Thee, Because of Thy righteous judgments."
The grateful remembrance of God and confession of His right to the whole of life
were thus made a rule with which no other engagements were allowed to interfere.
It is by facts like these the power of religion over the Hebrews in their best time is
explained.
We pass now to the Sabbath and the sacrifices by which it was distinguished. Here
the number seven which recurs so frequently in the statutes of the sacred year
appears for the first time. Connection has been found between the ordinances of
Israel and of Chaldea in the observance of the seventh day as well as at many other
points. According to Mr. Sayce, the origin of the Sabbath went back to pre-Semitic
days, and the very name was of Babylonian origin. "In the cuneiform tablets the
sabbath is described as a ‘day of rest for the soul.’…The Sabbath was also known,
at all events in Accadian times, as a dies nefastus, a day on which certain work was
forbidden to be done; and an old list of Babylonian festivals and fast-days tells us
that on the seventh, fourteenth, nineteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of
each month the Sabbath rest had to be observed. The king himself, it is stated, ‘must
not eat flesh that has been cooked over the coals or in the smoke, he must not change
the garments of his body, white robes he must not wear, sacrifices he may not offer,
in a chariot he must not ride."’ The soothsayer was forbidden on that day "to
mutter in a secret place." In this observance of a seventh day of rest, specially
sacred, for the good of the soul, ancient Accadians and Babylonians prepared the
way for the Sabbath of the Mosaic law.
But while the days of the Chaldean week were devoted each to a separate divinity,
and the seventh day had its meaning in relation to polytheism, the whole of time,
every day alike, and the Sabbaths with greater strictness than the others, were, in
Israel’s law, consecrated to Jehovah. This difference also deserves to be noticed,
that, while the Chaldean seventh days were counted from each new moon, in the
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Hebrew year there was no such astronomical date for reckoning them. Throughout
the year, as with us, each seventh day was a day of rest. While we find traces of old
religious custom and observance that mingled with those of Judaism and cannot but
recognise the highly humane, almost spiritual character those old institutions often
had, the superiority of the religion of the One Living and True God clearly proves
itself to us. Moses, and those who followed him, felt no need of rejecting an idea they
met with in the ancient beliefs of Chaldea, for they had the Divine light and wisdom
by which the earthly and evil could be separated from the kernel of good. And may
we not say that it was well to maintain the continuity of observance so far as
thoughts and customs of the far past could be woven into the worship of Jehovah’s
flock? Neither was Israel nor is any people to pretend to entire separation from the
past. No act of choice or process of development can effect it. Nor would the
severance, if it were made, be for the good of men. Beyond the errors and
absurdities of human belief, beyond the perversions of truth due to sin, there lie
historical and constitutional origins. The Sabbaths, the sacrifices, and the prayers of
ancient Chaldea had their source in demands of God and needs of the human soul,
which not only entered into Judaism, but survive still, proving themselves
inseparable from our thought and life.
The special oblations to be presented on the Sabbath were added to those of the
other days of the week. Two lambs of the first year in the morning and two in the
evening were to be offered with their appropriate meal and drink Offerings. It may
be noted that in Ezekiel where the Sabbath ordinances are detailed the sacrifices are
more numerous. After declaring that the eastern gate of the inner court of the
temple, which is to be shut on the six working days, shall be opened on the Sabbath
and in the day of the new moon, the prophet goes on to say that the prince, as
representing the people, shall offer unto the Lord in the Sabbath day six lambs
without blemish and a ram without blemish. In the legislation of Numbers, however,
the higher consecration of the Sabbath as compared with the other days of the week
did not require so great a difference as Ezekiel saw it needful to make. And, indeed,
the law of Sabbath observance assumes in Ezekiel an importance on various
grounds which passes beyond the high distinction given it in the Pentateuch. Again
and again in Ezekiel chapter 20 the prophet declares that one of the great sins of
which the Israelites were guilty in the wilderness was that of polluting the Sabbath
which God had given to be a sign between Himself and them. The keeping holy of
the seventh day had become one of the chief safeguards of religion, and for this
reason Ezekiel was moved to prescribe additional sacrifices for that day.
We find as we go on that the week of seven days, ended by the recurring day of rest,
is an element in the regulations for all the great feasts. Unleavened bread was to be
eaten for seven days. Seven weeks were then to be counted to the day of the
firstfruits and the feast of weeks. The feast of tabernacles, again, ran for seven days
and ended on the eighth with a solemn assembly. The whole ritual was in this way
made to emphasise the division of time based on the fourth commandment.
The New Moon ritual consecrating the months was more elaborate. On the day
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when the new moon was first seen, or should by computation be seen, besides the
continual burnt offering two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs of the first
year, with meal and drink offerings, were to be presented. These animals were to be
wholly offered by fire. In addition, a sin offering was to be made, a kid of the goats.
Why this guilt sacrifice was introduced at the new moon service is not clear. Keil
explains that "in consideration of the sins which had been committed in the course
of the past month, and had remained without expiation," the sin offering was
needed. But this might be said of the week in its degree, as well as of the month. It is
certain that the opening of each month was kept in other ways than the legislation of
the Pentateuch seems to require. In Numbers it is prescribed that the silver
trumpets shall be blown over the new moon sacrifices for a memorial before God,
and this must have given the observances a festival air. Then we learn from 1
Samuel 20:1-42 that when Saul was king a family feast was observed in his house on
the first day of the month, and that this day also, in some particular month, was
generally chosen by a family for the yearly sacrifice to which all were expected to
gather (1 Samuel 20:5-6). These facts and the festal opening of Psalms 81:1-16, in
which the timbrel, harp, and psaltery, and joyful singing in praise of God, are
associated with the new moon trumpet, imply that for some reason the occasion was
held to be important. Amos {Amos 8:5} implies further that on the day of new moon
trade was suspended; and in the time of Elisha it seems to have been common for
those who wished to consult a prophet to choose either the Sabbath or the day of
new moon for enquiring of him. {2 Kings 4:23} There can be little doubt that the
day was one of religious activity and joy, and possibly the offering of the kid for
expiation was intended to counteract the freedom the more thoughtless might
permit themselves.
There are good reasons for believing that in pre-Mosaic times the day of new moon
was celebrated by the Israelites and all kindred peoples, as it is still among certain
heathen races. Originally a nature festival, it was consecrated to Jehovah by the
legislation before us, and gradually became of account as the occasion of domestic
gatherings and rejoicings. But its religious significance lay chiefly in the dedication
to God of the month that had begun and expiation of guilt contracted during that
which had closed.
We come now to the great annual festivals. These were arranged in two groups,
which may be classed as vernal and autumnal, the one group belonging to the first
and third months, the other to the seventh. They divided the year into two portions,
the intervals between them being the time of great heat and the time of rain and
storm. The month Abib, with which the year began corresponded generally to our
April; but its opening, depending on the new moon, might be earlier or later. One of
the ceremonies of the festival season of this month was the presentation, on the
sixteenth day, of the first sheaf of harvest; and seven weeks afterwards, at Pentecost,
cakes made from the first dough were offered. The explanation of what may appear
to be autumnal offerings in spring is to be found in the early ripening of corn
throughout Palestine. The cereals were all reaped during the interval between
Passover and Pentecost. The autumnal festival celebrated the gathering in of the
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vintage and fruits.
The Passover, the first great feast, a sacrament rather, is merely mentioned in this
portion of Numbers. It was chiefly a domestic celebration-not priestly-and had a
most impressive significance, of which the eating of the lamb with bitter herbs was
the symbol. The day after it, the "feast of unleavened bread" began. For a whole
week leaven was to be abjured. On the first day of the feast there was to be a holy
convocation, and no servile work was to be done. The closing day likewise was to be
one of holy convocation. On each of the seven days the offerings were to be two
young bullocks, one ram, and seven yearling he-lambs, with their meal and drink
offerings, and for sin one he-goat to make atonement.
The week of this festival, commencing with the paschal sacrament, was made to bear
peculiarly on the national life, first by the command that all leaven should be rigidly
kept out of the houses. As the ceremonial law assumed more importance with the
growth of Pharisaism, this cleansing was sought quite fanatically. Any crumb of
common bread was reckoned an accursed thing which might deprive the observance
of the feast of its good effect. But even in the time of less scrupulous legalism the
effort to extirpate leaven from the houses had its singular effect on the people. It was
one of the many causes which made Jewish religion intense. Then the daily
sacrificial routine, and especially the holy convocations of the first and seventh days,
were profoundly solemnising. We may picture thus the ceremonies and worship of
these great days of the feast. The people, gathered from all parts of the land,
crowded the outer court of the sanctuary. The priests and Levites stood ready
around the altar. With solemn chanting the animals were brought from some place
behind the temple where they had been carefully examined so that no blemish might
impair the sacrifice. Then they were slain one by one, and prepared, the fire on the
great altar blazing more and more brightly in readiness for the holocaust, while the
blood flowed away in a red stream, staining the hands and garments of those who
officiated. First the two bullocks, then the ram, then the lambs were one after
another placed on the flames, each with incense and part of the meal offering. The
sin offering followed. Some of the blood of the he-goat was taken by the priest and
sprinkled on the inner altar, on the veil of the Holy of Holies, and on the horns of
the great altar, around which the rest was poured. The fat of the animal, including
certain of the internal parts, was thrown on the fire; and this portion of the
observances ended with the pouring out of the last drink offering before the Lord.
Then a chorus of praise was lifted up, the people throwing themselves on the ground
and praying in a low, earnest monotone.
To this followed in the later times singing of chants and psalms, led by the chorus of
Levites, addresses to the people, and shorter or longer prayers to which the
worshippers responded. The officiating priest, standing beside the great altar in
view of all, now pronounced the appointed blessing on the people. But his task was
still not complete. He went into the sanctuary, and, having by his entrance and safe
return from the holy place shown that the sacrifice had been accepted, he spoke to
the assembly a few words of simple and sublime import. Finally, with repeated
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blessing, he gave the dismissal. On one or both of these occasions the form of
benediction used was that which we have found preserved in the sixth chapter of
this book.
It is evident that celebrations like these, into which, as time went on, the mass of
worshippers entered with increased fervour, gave the feast of unleavened bread an
extraordinary importance in the national life. The young Hebrew looked forward to
it with the keenest expectancy, and was not disappointed. So long as faith remained,
and especially in crises of the history of Israel, the earnestness that was developed
carried every soul along. And now that the Israelites bewail the loss of temple and
country, reckoning themselves a martyred people, this feast and the more solemn
day of atonement nerve them to endurance and reassure them of their hope. They
are separate still. They are Jehovah’s people still. The covenant remains. The
Messiah will come and bring them new life and power. So they vehemently cling to
the past and dream of a future that shall never be.
"The day of the firstfruits" was, according to Leviticus 23:15, the fiftieth day from
the morrow after the passover sabbath. The special harvest offering of this "feast of
weeks" is thus enjoined: "Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of
two tenth parts of an ephah; they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baken with
leaven, for firstfruits unto the Lord". {Leviticus 23:17} According to Leviticus one
bullock, two rams, and seven lambs; according to Numbers two bullocks, one ram,
and seven lambs, were to be sacrificed as whole offerings; the difference being
apparently that of varying usage at an earlier and later time. The sin offering of the
he-goat followed the burnt offerings. The day of the feast was one of holy
convocation; and it has peculiar interest for us as the day on which the pentecostal
effusion of the Spirit came on the gathering of Christians in the upper room at
Jerusalem. The joyous character of this festival was signified by the use of leaven in
the cakes or loaves that were presented as firstfruits. The people rejoiced in the
blessing of another harvest, the fulfilment once more by Jehovah of His promise to
supply the needs of His flock. It will be seen that in every case the sin offering
prescribed is a single he-goat. This particular sacrifice was distinguished from the
whole offerings, the thank offerings, and the peace offerings, which were not limited
in number. "It must stand," says Ewald, "in perfect isolation, as though in the midst
of sad solitude and desolation, with nothing similar or comparable by its side." Why
a he-goat was invariably ordered for this expiatory sacrifice it is difficult to say. And
the question is not made more easy by the peculiar rite of the great day of
atonement, when besides the goat of the sin offering for Jehovah another was
devoted to "Azazel." Perhaps the choice of this animal implied its fitness in some
way to represent transgression, wilfulness, and rebellion. The he-goat, more wild
and rough than any other of the flock, seemed to belong to the desert and to the
spirit of evil.
From the festivals of spring we now pass to those of autumn, the first of which
coincided with the New Moon of the seventh month. This was to be a day of holy
convocation, on which no servile work should be done, and it was marked by a
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special blowing of trumpets over the sacrifices. From other passages it would appear
that the trumpets were used on the occasion of every new moon; and there must
have been a longer and more elaborate service of festival music to distinguish the
seventh. The offerings prescribed for it were numerous. Those enjoined for the
opening of the other months were two bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs, and the
he-goat of the sin offering. To these were now added one bullock, one ram, and
seven he-lambs. Altogether, including the daily sacrifices which were never omitted,
twenty-two animals were offered; and with each sacrifice, except the he-goat, fine
flour mingled with oil and a drink offering of wine had to be presented.
There seems no reason to doubt that the seventh month was opened in this
impressive way because of the great festivals ordained to be held in the course of it.
The labour of the year was practically over, and more than any other the month was
given up to festivity associated with religion. It was the seventh or sabbath month,
forming the "exalted summit of the year, for which all preceding festivals prepared
the way, and after which everything quietly came down to the ordinary course of
life." The trumpets blown in joyful peals over the sacrifices, the offering of which
must have gone on for many hours, inspired the assembly with gladness, and
signified the gratitude and hope of the nation.
But the joy of the seventh month thus begun did not go on without interruption. The
tenth day was one of special solemnity and serious thought. It was the great day of
confession, for on it, in the holy convocation, the people were to "afflict their souls."
The transgressions and failures of the year were to be acknowledged with sorrow.
From the evening of the ninth day to the evening of the tenth there was to be a rigid
fast-the one fast which the law ordained. Before the full gladness of Jehovah’s
favour can be realised by Israel all those sins of neglect and forgetfulness which
have been accumulating for twelve months must be confessed, bewailed, and taken
away. There are those who have become unclean without being aware of their
defilement; those who have unwittingly broken the Sabbath law; those who have for
some reason been unable to keep the passover, or who have kept it imperfectly;
others again have failed to render tithes of all the produce of their land according to
the law; and priests and Levites called to a high consecration have come short of
their duty. With such defects and sins of error the nation is to charge itself, each
individual acknowledging his own faults. Unless this is done a shadow must lie on
the life of the people; they cannot enjoy the light of the countenance of God.
For this day the whole offerings are, one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs;
and there is this peculiarity, that, besides a he-goat for a sin offering, there is to be
provided another he-goat, "for atonement." Maimonides says that the second he-
goat is not that "for Azazel," but the fellow of it, the one on which the lot had fallen
"for Jehovah." Leviticus again informs us that Aaron was to sacrifice a bullock as a
sin offering for himself and his house. And it was the blood of this bullock and of the
second he-goat he was to take and sprinkle on the ark and before the mercy-seat.
Further, it is prescribed that the bodies of these animals are to be carried forth
without the camp and wholly burned-as if the sin clinging to them had made them
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unfit for use in any way.
The great atonement thus made, the reaction of joy set in. Nothing in Jewish
worship exceeded the solemnity of the fast, and in contrast with that the gladness of
the forgiven multitude. Another crisis was past, another year of Jehovah’s favour
had begun. Those who had been prostrate in sorrow and fear rose up to sing their
hallelujahs. "The deep seriousness of the Day of Atonement," says Delitzsch, "was
transformed on the evening of the same day into lighthearted merriment. The
observance in the temple was accomplished in a significant drama which was
fascinating from beginning to end. When the high priest came forth from the Most
Holy Place, after the performance of his functions there, this was for the people a
consolatory, gladsome sight, for which poetry can find no adequate words: ‘Like the
peace-proclaiming arch in painted clouds; like the morning star, when he arises
from the eastern twilight; like the sun, when opening his bud, he unfolds in roseate
hue.’ When the solemnity was over, the high priest was escorted with a guard of
honour to his dwelling in the city, where a banquet awaited his more immediate
friends." The young people repaired to the vineyards, the maidens arrayed in simple
white, and the day was closed with song and dancing.
This description reminds us of the mingling of elements in the old Scottish fast-days,
closing as they did with a simple entertainment in the manse.
The feast of tabernacles continued the gladness of the ransomed people. It began on
the fifteenth day of the seventh month, with a holy convocation and a holocaust of
no fewer than twenty-nine animals, in addition to the daily sacrifice, and a he-goat
for a sin offering. The number of bullocks, which was thirteen on this opening day
of the feast, was reduced by one each day till on the seventh day seven bullocks were
sacrificed. But two rams and fourteen he-lambs were offered each day of the feast,
and the he-goat for expiation, besides the continual burnt offering. The celebration
ended, so far as sacrifices were concerned, on the eighth day with a special burnt
offering of one bullock, one ram, and seven he-lambs, returning thus to the number
appointed for New Moon.
It will be noticed that on the closing day there was to be a "solemn assembly." It
was "the great day of the feast" (John 7:37). The people who during the week had
lived in the booths or arbours which they had made, now dismantled them and went
on pilgrimage to the sanctuary. The opening of the festival came to be of a striking
kind. "One could see," says Professor Franz Delitzsch, "even before the dawn of the
first day of the feast, if this was not a Sabbath, a joyous throng pouring forth from
the Jaffa Gate at Jerusalem. The verdure of the orchards, refreshed with the first
showers of the early rain, is hailed by the people with shouts of joy as they scatter on
either side of the bridge which crosses the brook fringed with tall poplar-osiers,
some in order with their own hands to pluck branches for the festal display, others
to look at the men who have been honoured with the commission to fetch from
Kolonia the festal leafy adornment of the altar. They seek out right long and goodly
branches of these poplar-osiers, and cut them off, and then the reunited host returns
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in procession, with exultant shouts and singing and jesting, to Jerusalem, as far as
the Temple hill, where the great branches of poplar-osier are received by the priests
and set upright around the sides of the altar, so that they bend over it with their
tips. Priestly trumpeting resounded during this decoration of the altar with foliage,
and they went on that feast day once, on the seventh day seven times, around the
altar with willow branches, or the festive posy entwined of a palm branch and
branches of myrtles and willows, amidst the usual festive shouts of Hosanna;
exclaiming after the completed encircling, ‘Beauty becomes thee, O Altar! Beauty
becomes thee, O Altar!"’ So, in later times, the festival began and was sustained,
each worshipper carrying boughs and fruit of the citron and other trees. But the
eighth day brought all this to a close. The huts were taken down, the worshippers
sought the house of God for prayer and thanksgiving. The reading of the Law which
had been going on day by day concluded; and the sin offering fitly ended the season
of joy with expiation of the guilt of the people in their holy things.
The series of sacrifices appointed for days and weeks and months and years
required a large number of animals and no small liberality. They. did not, however,
represent more than a small proportion of the offerings which were brought to the
central sanctuary. Besides, there were those connected with vows, the free-will
offerings, meal offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings. {Numbers 29:39} And
taking all together it will be seen that the pastoral wealth of the people was largely
claimed.
The explanation lies partly in this, that among the Israelites, as among all races,
"the things sacrificed were of the same kind as those the worshippers desired to
obtain from God." The sin offering, however, had quite a different significance. In
this the sprinkling of the warm blood, representing the life blood of the worshipper,
carried thought into a range of sacred mystery in which the awful claim of God on
men was darkly realised. Here sacrifice became a sacrament binding the
worshippers by the most solemn symbol imaginable-a vital symbol-to fidelity in the
service of Jehovah. Their faith and devotion expressed in the sacrifice secured for
them the Divine grace on which their well-being depended, the blood-bought pardon
that redeemed the soul. Among the Israelites alone was expiation by blood made
fully significant as the center of the whole system of worship.
PETT, " 2). Provision for Future Worship in the Land And The Continuing
Dedication of All Israel (chapters 28-30).
There could have been no better place for these chapters on Israel’s response to
Yahweh than here. It follows the sin at Baal Peor, the death of Zelophehad through
sin, and the death of Moses through a failure in his dedication to Yahweh, and it
follows them with a call to continually renew their dedication, and with a promise of
continual forgiveness and purification.
This purifying and dedication of the new Israel parallels the call for the purification
15

and dedication of the old Israel in chapters 5-10. There it was necessary if they were
to consider entering into Yahweh’s land, here it is seen to be gloriously fulfilled in
the new Israel.
But above all this call for such offerings is a proclamation of the prosperous future
that would be theirs on possession of the land. It follows the capture of huge
amounts of cattle from Gilead and Bashan (Deuteronomy 2:35; Deuteronomy 3:7),
together with land which would be settled on, in which they would already have
found vineyards, cereal crops and olive trees, so that firstfruits would be produced
as never before. From now on these ceremonies were to be conducted in their full
glory, because at least some tribes were already prospering. This would have begun
to happen very rapidly. Having taken the land of Sihon and the Amorites Reuben
and Gad had decided that they wanted it, an event which probably preceded the
defeat of Bashan (note how Manasseh come in later). The process of at first
temporary possession and settlement was no doubt initially quite complicated, but
we can be sure that it happened quickly. Yahweh had indicated from the very
beginning that this was land to be possessed (Deuteronomy 2:31). Then part of the
overcoming of Bashan resulted from Machir’s recognition of the potential of the
land (Numbers 32:40-42).
But it also underlines the certainty of the prosperity that would be theirs once all
were in the land, for it reveals the offerings that they were to continually make once
they were settled there. It is only the prosperous who could bring their offerings in
such abundance as this. It was thus very much a message of hope and
encouragement.
Note that the primary emphasis is on the whole burnt offering, the offering that
‘goes up’, in these cases offered on behalf of the whole people (contrast Leviticus
1-2), the offering indicating wholehearted dedication, and thanksgiving and tribute,
while also being underlaid by a recognition of the need for atonement. And it is
continually accompanied by the necessary offering for the purification of sin. While
therefore sin would trouble even the best of them, even a Moses, it was pointing out
that it could be dealt with for the nation as a whole and put behind their backs
because of the gracious provision God had made for them, as they continually
rededicated themselves to Him at all their feasts. That is the message of what now
follows. As in the stories of the numbering of Israel, of the daughters of Zelophehad
and of the appointment of Joshua, these chapters are filled with hope and
expectancy as they look to the future.
Thus what is mentioned here concentrates on Israel’s dedication, tribute, worship
and atonement as a people. In its quantities it magnifies all of these in readiness for
the grand assault.
To us these feasts of Israel may appear a little boring, but they were not so to Israel.
If we think so let us consider our own feast as we gather at the Lord’s Table. Do we
find that boring? If we do little more needs to be said. To the people of Israel, to
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whom every one of their feasts had a meaning and a significance, they spoke with a
loud voice (and they blew their trumpets at them - Numbers 10:10). And the depth
of offerings now required spoke even louder of a renewed and deeper dedication
and a glorious future of prosperity and blessing.
We should note that these offerings described here were not the personal offerings
described elsewhere (e.g. Leviticus 1-7). They were very much a part of the
continual activity of the priests on behalf of the people. They were the backbone of
the nations offerings. Apart from in Numbers 30 dealing with oaths (where they are
assumed rather than mentioned) there is no thought here of the myriad of personal
offerings that would be offered to Yahweh. Those have been dealt with in detail in
Numbers 15 and in Leviticus 1-7. Here concentration is on the nation as a whole
making their regular offerings through their representatives. This permanent
determination to be dedicated to Yahweh as expressed in these chapters was equally
as important to their moving forward as the numbering on the mobilisation of the
army and the Levites in chapter 26. Without it the invasion could not take place.
These offerings are now dealt with as follows:
a The regular offerings; continual daily offerings and sabbath and new moon
offerings (Numbers 28:1-15).
b Passover and the Seven Day Feast of Unleavened bread (Numbers 28:16-25).
c The One Day Feast of the Firstfruits (Numbers 28:26-31).
d The One Day Feast of the blowing of trumpets (Numbers 29:1-6).
c The One Day Feast of the Day of Atonement (Numbers 29:7-11).
b The Seven Day Feast of the Harvest Moon - Tabernacles and the final Solemn
Sabbath (Numbers 29:12-40).
a The continual making and confirmation of vows (with their accompanying
peace/wellbeing offerings - see Numbers 29:39) (30).
That the making of vows is a part of this overall pattern is confirmed by Numbers
29:39. The continual making of oaths was as much a sign of Israel’s ongoing
dedication as the continual daily offering (compare the Nazirite vows in Numbers
6:1-21). It is probable overall that we are to see Numbers 28:1-2 a and Numbers
29:39-40 as a kind of ‘envelope’ containing the individual chiasma or sequences that
follow. Thus while the making of oaths is a part of this series of dedicatory activity,
it lies outside the envelope as a distinctive feature.
We should note in this respect how Deuteronomy 12:10-11 closely links offerings
with vows. They went closely together in the Israelite mind.
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Chapter 28 The Continual Daily Offerings, The Sabbath Offerings, The New Moon
Offerings, The Feast of Passover and Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Firstfruits (of
Sevens).
There now follow information concerning the various feasts with emphasis on the
regular priestly offerings.
The Continual Daily Offerings (Numbers 28:1-8).
The first offerings described, the continual daily offerings, underpin all the others.
It is emphasised that all the others will be offered as well as these. Every day, both
morning and late-afternoon (‘between the evenings’), the continual whole burnt
offerings were to be offered to Yahweh. These each consisted of the offering of a he-
lamb of the first year, accompanied by grain and drink offerings. They were an
offering by fire to Yahweh, and would rise to Him, when offered on behalf of an
obedient people, as a pleasing odour.
And it will be emphasised throughout what follows, that the festal offerings were
additional to this daily offering, which had precedence. They were also additional to
the special offerings which related to each particular feast.
a A command to offer an oblation as a pleasing odour to Yahweh (Numbers 28:1-2).
b The offering by fire to Yahweh of he-lambs of the first year, one each morning
and one each late-afternoon each day, together with the grain offering (Numbers
28:3-4).
b The offering of the continual whole burnt offering which is an offering made by
fire to Yahweh together with the drink offering (Numbers 28:5-7).
a The evening lamb to be offered as a pleasing odour to Yahweh (Numbers 28:8).
Numbers 28:1
‘And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,’
As ever we are reminded that these things were spoken by Yahweh to Moses.
PULPIT, "The Lord spake unto Moses. It is impossible to say with any assurance
whether the law of offerings contained in these two chapters was really given to
Moses shortly before his death, or whether it was ever given in this connected and
completed form. It is obvious that the formula with which the section opens might
be used with equal propriety to introduce a digest of the law on this subject
compiled by Moses himself, or by some subsequent editor of his writings from a
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number of scattered regulations, written or oral, which had Divine authority. It is
indeed quite true that this routine of sacrifice was only suitable for times of settled
habitation in the promised land, and therefore there is a certain propriety in its
introduction here on the eve of the entry into Canaan. But it must be remembered,
on the other hand, that the same thing holds true of very much of the legislation
given at Mount Sinai, and avowedly of that comprised in Numbers 15:1-41 (see
Numbers 15:2), which yet appears from its position to have been given before the
rebellion of Korah in the wilderness. It is indeed plain that the ritual, festal, and
sacrificial system, both as elaborated in Leviticus and as supplemented in Numbers,
presupposed throughout an almost immediate settlement in Canaan. It is also plain
that a system so elaborate, and entailing so much care and expense, could hardly
have come into regular use during the conquest, or for some time after. It cannot,
therefore, be said with any special force that the present section finds its natural
place here. All we can affirm is that the system itself was of Divine origin, and dated
in substance from the days of Moses. In any case, therefore, it is rightly introduced
with the usual formula which attests that it came from God, and came through
Moses. It must be noted that a great variety of observances which were zealously
followed by the Jews of later ages find no place here. Compare, e.g; the ceremonial
pouring of water during the feast of tabernacles, to which allusion is made by the
prophet Isaiah (Isaiah 12:3) and our Lord (John 7:37, John 7:38).
2 “Give this command to the Israelites and say to
them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the
appointed time my food offerings, as an aroma
pleasing to me.’
BARNES, "My offering, and my bread ... - Or, my offering, even my bread,
etc. Offering is here ‫קרבן‬ qorbân (compare Lev_1:2; Mar_7:11), a term in
itself of quite general import, but often especially applied, as apparently in
this instance, to the meat-offering which accompanied the sacrifices. This
meat-offering connected itself, from its very nature, with the life of the
Israelites in Canaan, not with their life in the wilderness; and it was
annexed to the animal sacrifices as a token that the people must dedicate to
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God their property and the fruits of their labor as well as their own persons.
See Num_15:2 note and Lev_21:6.
CLARKE, "Command the children of Israel, etc. - It is not easy to account
for the reason of the introduction of these precepts here, which had been so
circumstantially delivered before in different parts of the books of Exodus
and Leviticus. It is possible that the daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly
services had been considerably interrupted for several years, owing to the
unsettled state of the people in the wilderness, and that it was necessary to
repeat these laws for two reasons:
1. Because they were now about to enter into the promised land, where
these services must be established and constant.
2. Because the former generations being all dead, multitudes of the
present might be ignorant of these ordinances.
In their due season - Moses divides these offerings into: -
1. Daily. The morning and evening sacrifices: a lamb each time, Num_
28:3, Num_28:4.
2. Weekly. The Sabbath offerings, two lambs of a year old, Num_28:9,
etc.
3. Monthly. At the beginning of each month two young bullocks, one ram,
and seven lambs of a year old, and a kid for a sin-offering, Num_28:11,
etc.
4. Annual.
1. The passover to last seven days; the offerings, two young bullocks,
one ram, seven lambs of a year old, and a he-goat for a sin-offering,
Num_28:16, etc.
2. The day of First-Fruits. The sacrifices, the same as on the beginning
of the month, Num_28:26, etc.
With these sacrifices were offered libations, or drink-offerings of strong
wine, Num_28:7, Num_28:14, and minchahs, or meat-offerings, composed
of fine flour mingled with oil, Num_28:8, Num_28:12, etc. For an ample
account of all these offerings, see the notes on Leviticus 7 (note) and Exodus
12 (note).
GILL, "Command the children of Israel, and say unto them,.... For what
follows concerned them all; namely, the offering of their daily, weekly,
monthly, and anniversary sacrifices, which were not for private persons,
but for the whole congregation; and these might be considered by them not
merely as commands and duties to be observed, but as tokens of the divine
favour to them, that notwithstanding all their rebellions and provocations
in the wilderness, sacrifices for sin were ordered, continued, and accepted
20

of by the Lord; and his acceptance of them, and well pleasedness in them,
may easily be observed in the expressions used concerning them:
my offering, and my bread; by "offering" may be meant in general all
sacrifices which were offered to the Lord, and by his command; and more
especially the burnt offering, which was wholly and peculiarly his, and is
after explained by sacrifices made by fire, and it is chiefly of burnt offerings
this chapter treats; and by "bread" may be meant either the shewbread,
which was set upon a table before the Lord continually, as his bread; so the
Targum of Jonathan,"my oblation, the bread of the order of my table, shall
the priests eat, but what ye offer on the altar no man has power to eat;''or
else the meat offering, or rather, as it may be called, the bread offering,
which always went along with burnt offerings; though the copulative "and",
which is not in the text, may be omitted, and both may signify the same, "my
offering", that is, "my bread"; for the sacrifices were the food of God, the
provisions of his house, of which there were all sorts in the sacrifices, flesh,
bread, and wine; particularly the daily sacrifice was his food every day, and
the fat of sacrifices burnt is called the food of the offering made by fire, Lev_
3:16, so Jarchi interprets it, "my offering", this is the blood; "my bread", the
"amurim", or fat that covereth the inward parts, which were burnt on the
altar:
for my sacrifices made by fire for a sweet savour unto me; which respects
burnt offerings, wholly consumed by fire, and were entirely the Lord's, and
which he smelled a sweet savour in, or were acceptable to him: these the
children of Israel were
to observe to offer unto him in their due season; the daily sacrifice, morning
and evening; not before morning, nor after evening, as Aben Ezra observes;
and so all the rest at the proper time fixed, whether weekly, monthly, or
yearly. The Jews, from this phrase, "observe to offer unto me", conclude the
necessity of fixing stations, or stationary men, as Jarchi notes; so the
tradition is,"these are the stations, as it is said, "command the children of
Israel, &c." but how can the offering of a man be offered, and he not stand
by it? wherefore the former prophets appointed twenty four courses, and to
every course there was a station at Jerusalem of priests, Levites, and
Israelites; and when the time of each course came to go up, the priests and
Levites went up to Jerusalem, and the Israelites who belonged to that
course went into their cities, and read the history of the creation (d):''now
these stations, or stationary men, were substitutes for, or representatives of
all Israel, and stood by the sacrifices when they were offered, in which all
Israel were concerned, as particularly in the daily sacrifice, which is here
first taken notice of.
JAMISON,"Command the children of Israel, and say unto them — The
repetition of several laws formerly enacted, which is made in this chapter,
was seasonable and necessary, not only on account of their importance and
the frequent neglect of them, but because a new generation had sprung up
21

since their first institution and because the Israelites were about to be
settled in the land where those ordinances were to be observed.
My offering, and my bread — used generally for the appointed offerings,
and the import of the prescription is to enforce regularity and care in their
observance.
K&D, "Num_28:2 contains the general instruction to offer to the Lord His
sacrificial gift “at the time appointed by Him.” On corban, see at Lev_1:2; on
“the bread of Jehovah,” at Lev_3:11; on the “sacrifice made by fire,” and “a
sweet savour,” at Lev_1:9; and on “moed,” at Lev_23:2, Lev_23:4.
ELLICOTT, "(2) My offering, and my bread . . . —Better, My oblation (even) my
bread, &c. The offering, though presented by the hands of men, was God’s, not
theirs. “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts” (Haggai
2:8). “Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Ps.
1.10). The word korban is a general term for an oblation. It may denote in this place
the minchah, or meal offering, or the shew-bread, offerings which were directly
connected with a settled life in Canaan rather than with a nomadic life in the
wilderness. Or the word lehem (bread) may be used to denote food generally, the
sacrificial offerings being symbolically regarded as the Lord’s food. (Comp.
Leviticus 3:11; Leviticus 3:16, where the same word is rendered food, and where the
reference is to a portion of the flesh of the lamb and of the goat of the peace offering.
See also Malachi 3:7.)
BENSON, "Numbers 28:2. Command the children of Israel — God here repeats
some of the former laws about sacrifices, not without great reason; 1st, Because they
had been generally discontinued for thirty-eight years together. 2d, Because the
generation to which the former laws had been given about these things was wholly
dead, and it was fit the new generation should be instructed about them, as their
parents were. 3d, To renew the testimonies of God’s grace and mercy,
notwithstanding their frequent forfeitures thereof by their rebellion. And, 4th, and
principally, Because they were now ready to enter into that land, in which they were
obliged to put these things in practice. It is observable that God commands Moses to
repeat them in the following order of daily, weekly, monthly, and anniversary
sacrifices.
PETT, "Numbers 28:2
“Command the children of Israel, and say to them, My oblation, my food for my
offerings made by fire, of a pleasing odour to me, shall you observe to offer to me in
their due season.”
This verse introduces the next two chapters which describe the pleasing offerings
22

made to Yahweh, each in its due season, whether daily, weekly, monthly or at the
particular feasts. The offerings made by fire were probably to be seen as ascending
to Yahweh in the smoke of the offering which contained within it the essence of the
offering. And it arose as something pleasing to Yahweh.
“My oblation, my food for my offerings made by fire, of a pleasing odour to me.”
Compare Leviticus 3:11 ‘It is the food of the offering made by fire to Yahweh.’ Note
there the change from ‘a pleasing odour to Yahweh’. Here the two are combined.
The sacrifice offered in loving obedience is all that He needs to satisfy Him as He
joins in fellowship with His own. But the offering is consumed in the flames. God is
not seen as feeding on it directly. His ‘food’ is the pleasing odour, His spiritual
satisfaction in the offering as He partakes of their obedience, love and gratitude.
Parts of most of the other offerings apart from the whole burnt offerings were eaten,
but they were eaten by the priests (and in some cases by the people). There was
never any suggestion that God ate them.
PULPIT, "My offering, and my bread. Literally, "my korban, my bread." The
general term korban is here restricted by the words which follow to the meat
offering. "Bread" ( ‫ם‬ֶ‫ֶח‬‫ל‬ ) is translated "food" in Le Numbers 3:11, Numbers 3:16
(see the note there). Sweet savour. ַ‫יח‬ ֵ‫ר‬ . Septuagint, εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας (see on
Genesis 8:21; Le Genesis 3:16; Ephesians 5:2).
POOLE, " God here repeats some of the former laws about sacrifices, not without
great reason, partly, because they had been generally discontinued for thirty-eight
years together; partly, because the generation to which the former laws had been
given about these things was wholly dead, and it was fit the new generation should
be instructed about them, as their parents were; partly, to renew the testimonies of
God’s grace and mercy, notwithstanding their frequent forfeitures thereof by their
horrid apostacies and rebellions; and principally, because they were now ready to
enter into that land, in which they were obliged to put these things in practice,
Deuteronomy 12:8, &c.
Made by fire. According to this translation the sense is, My offering, i.e. my offering
or sacrifices, and my bread, i.e. either my shew-bread, or rather my meat-offering
made of bread or meal, for my sacrifices made by fire, i.e. which is to accompany my
burnt-offerings. Or thus, My offering, to wit, my bread, i. e. my meat-offering,
which was made of bread or meal, which is oft expressed by this very name of
corban or offering, as Leviticus 2:1 6:20; but because corban signifies not only a
meatoffering, but other offerings also, as Leviticus 7:37,38, therefore he limits that
general word by adding my bread with (so the Hebrew lamed is oft used, as Genesis
46:26 Ezra 1:5 2:63, &c.) my sacrifices made by fire, which may be understood
either,
1. Generally for all the sacrifices, as that phrase is sometimes taken, as 1 Samuel
2:28, where it must needs be so meant, because the burntofferings properly so called
23

were not given to the priest, but reserved to God himself, and the priest’s portion lay
in the other sacrifices only; or,
2. Specially and properly for burnt-offerings; and so under them, as the most
eminent kind, are contained all other sacrifices; as under the meat-offering here is
contained the drink-offering. And according to this translation and explication these
words contain a full and general rule, comprehending all the particulars following
in this chapter, as in reason they ought to do, and which otherwise they do not.
TRAPP, "Numbers 28:2 Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My
offering, [and] my bread for my sacrifices made by fire, [for] a sweet savour unto
me, shall ye observe to offer unto me in their due season.
Ver. 2. My offering.] He is owner of all; and of his own we give him. Tα σα εκ των
σων, said that great emperor.
And my bread.] Called their bread for their souls; that is, the bread for their
natural sustenance, common bread, when not rightly offered. So Jeremiah 7:21. God
in scorn calls their sacrifice flesh, ordinary flesh, such as is sold in the shambles. So
at the Lord’s Supper impenitent communicants receive no more than the bare
elements; panem Domini, but not panem Dominum. (a)
In their due season.] Which for eight and thirty years they had intermitted. Get a
settlement, or Sabbath of spirit, or else God shall be but ill, if at all, served.
3 Say to them: ‘This is the food offering you are to
present to the Lord: two lambs a year old without
defect, as a regular burnt offering each day.
GILL, "And thou shalt say unto them,.... Having directed Moses to
command the people of Israel to observe to offer all the sacrifices of God in
general, the Lord proceeds to order him to speak of them to them
particularly and distinctly; this, according to Jarchi, is an admonition to the
sanhedrim:
this is the offering made by fire, which ye shall offer unto the Lord; the daily
24

burnt offering, which was wholly consumed by fire:
two lambs of the first year without spot, day by day for a continual burnt
offering; this law was made before, and is directed to in Exo_29:38 where
the same things are said as here, only, as a further descriptive character of
the lambs, they are here said to be "without spot"; so all sacrifices were to
be without blemish, whether expressed or not; and in this, as in other
things, these lambs were typical of Christ, the Lamb of God, without spot
and blemish; and are said to be a "continual" burnt offering, because they
were offered every day in the week, without any intermission, on any
account whatever, which is frequently observed in this chapter: and this
was to continue, and did continue until the Messiah came, who put an end to
it by the sacrifice of himself, as to any real use of it; and was in fact made to
cease a few years after, by the utter destruction of Jerusalem, and was
before that a little while interrupted in the times of Antiochus, Dan_8:11.
HENRY 3-8, " The particular law of the daily sacrifice, a lamb in the
morning and a lamb in the evening, which, for the constancy of it as duly as
the day came, is called a continual burnt-offering (Num_28:3), which
intimates that when we are bidden to pray always, and to pray without
ceasing, it is intended that at least every morning and every evening we
offer up our solemn prayers and praises to God. This is said to be ordained
in Mount Sinai (Num_28:6), when the other laws were given. The
institution of it we have, Exo_29:38. Nothing is here added in the repetition
of the law, but that the wine to be poured out in the drink-offering is
ordered to be strong wine (Num_28:7), the riches and most generous and
best-bodied wine they could get. Though it was to be poured out upon the
altar, and not drunk (they therefore might be ready to think the worst
would serve to be so thrown away), yet God requires the strongest, to teach
us to serve God with the best we have. The wine must be strong (says
Ainsworth) because it was a figure of the blood of Christ, the memorial of
which is still left to the church in wine, and of the blood of the martyrs,
which was poured out as a drink-offering upon the sacrifice and service of
our faith, Phi_2:17.
K&D 3-6, "“The daily sacrifice: as it had already been instituted at Sinai
(Exo_29:38-42).
CALVIN, "3.And thou shalt say unto them. He repeats what we have seen in
Exodus, that they should kill two lambs daily, one in the morning, and the other in
the evening; but he speaks more fully of the concomitants of flour and wine, and
also refers to the antiquity of this kind of sacrifice as its recommendation, because it
began to be offered to God on Mount Sinai, and was a “savor of rest.” (236) The
libation of wine, of which mention is made, was also in use among heathen nations;
but, inasmuch as it was without the command and promise of God, it could not but
be unmeaning (insipidum ) (237) And it is probable (as we have seen elsewhere) that
many of the heathen rites descended from the ancient fathers but as a false and
25

empty imitation; for when they had forgotten the reason of them, all they did could
only be a mere theatrical pageantry. But we have said that thus men were reminded
always to have God before their eyes in their daily food; and therefore in every way
to accustom themselves to cultivate holiness.
COFFMAN, "THE DAILY OFFERINGS
"And thou shalt say unto them, This is the offering made by fire which ye shall offer
unto Jehovah: he-lambs a year old without blemish, two day by day, for a continual
burnt-offering. The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb
shalt thou offer at even; and the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal-
offering, mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil. It is a continual burnt-
offering, which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a sweet savor, an offering made by
fire unto Jehovah. And the drink-offering thereof shall be the fourth part of a hin
for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou pour out a drink-offering of strong
drink unto Jehovah. And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even: as the meal-
offering of the morning, and as the drink-offering thereof, thou shalt offer it, an
offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto Jehovah."
The rugged simplicity of all these sacrifices should be particularly noted. As
Whitelaw said, "A great variety of observances which were zealously followed by
the Jews of later ages find no place here."[5] This offering of the lamb morning and
evening was called the "daily sacrifice" and was continued right up until the
destruction of Jerusalem. "This offering was basic to all the others,"[6] and was not
to be omitted, no matter what other sacrifices were to be made on any given day or
days. All such sacrifices were offered additionally. (See under Exodus 29:38f.)
ELLICOTT, " (3) Two lambs of the first year . . . —See Exodus 29:38-42.
A continual burnt offering.—The morning and evening lamb offered as “a continual
burnt offering” afforded a striking type of the Lamb of God offered once for all”
(Hebrews 7:3; Hebrews 10:12; Hebrews 10:14).
PETT, "Numbers 28:3-4
“And you shall say to them, This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to
Yahweh, he-lambs a year old without blemish, two day by day, for a continual
whole burnt offering. The one lamb shall you offer in the morning, and the other
lamb shall you offer between the evenings,”
Each daily offering, morning and late afternoon/early evening, would be of a he-
lamb, a year old and without blemish, together with its accompanying offerings. It
was to be seen as a continual whole burnt offering, a constant renewal of Israel’s
dedication and gratitude to Yahweh, and means of atonement. And it was to be a
year old and without blemish. It was day by day a continual reminder both to God
and His people of the Passover lamb (Exodus 12:5) which had revealed Yahweh as
26

their Deliverer, and themselves as in need of mercy and protection. But the Passover
lambs had also been a sign of faith as their blood was smeared on the doorposts and
lintel. So every day these offerings, when offered in true faith on behalf of a
believing people, said that in His judgments Yahweh would pass over them and they
would be protected from all harm through the shed blood applied to the sides of the
altar. But they were not to be partaken of, for their emphasis was on wholehearted
response to God.
We too should look to Christ our Passover, offered for us once for all, and claim
protection under His shed blood daily. Though He was offered once for all, we must
come continually day by day to receive the continuing benefits of His death. If we
walk in His light then the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, will go on cleansing us
from all sin (1 John 1:7).
PULPIT, "This is the offering made by fire. The daily offering prescribed at Exodus
29:38-42, and which had presumably never been intermitted since, is specified again
here because it formed the foundation of the whole sacrificial system. Whatever else
was offered was in addition to it, not in lieu of it. The sabbath and festival use of the
Jews was developed out of the ferial use, and rested upon it. Hence in a connected
republication of the law of offering it could not be omitted. Without spot. ‫ם‬ ִ‫ימ‬ ִ‫מ‬ ְ‫ת‬ .
Septuagint, ἀνώμους. This necessary qualification had not been expressed in the
original ordinance, but in respect of other sacrifices had been continually required
(see on Exodus 12:5; Le Exodus 1:3; Exodus 19:2; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19).
4 Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at
twilight,
GILL, "The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning,.... Every morning, to
make atonement for the sins of the night, as the Targum of Jonathan:
and the other lamb shall thou offer at even; or "between the two evenings",
to make atonement for the sins of the day, as the same Targum; in which
they prefigured Christ, the Lamb of God, who continually, every day,
morning and night, and every moment, takes away the sins of his people,
through the virtue and efficacy of his sacrifice, Joh_1:29; see Gill on Exo_
29:39.
27

5 together with a grain offering of a tenth of an
ephah[a] of the finest flour mixed with a quarter
of a hin[b] of oil from pressed olives.
GILL, "And the tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering,.... Which
always went along with the burnt offering:
mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil: which in those times
and countries was used instead of butter; and fine flour and this mingled
together made a "minchah", or bread offering, as it should rather be called;
of the measures used; see Gill on Exo_29:40.
PETT, "Numbers 28:5
“And the tenth part of an ephah of milled grain for a grain offering, mingled with
the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil.”
With it would be offered a measure of milled grain mingled with olive oil, as
described. This grain offering, offered with the whole burnt offering, was an
offering to Yahweh of what they had produced in response to His goodness in
sending rain. It was a dedication of their labours and a thanksgiving offering, and a
reminder to Him of their continuing need for rain in its season. For this offering
continued throughout the year, summer and winter alike,
6 This is the regular burnt offering instituted at
Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, a food offering
presented to the Lord.
28

GILL, "It is a continual burnt offering,.... For the meat offering was burnt as
well as the lambs, at least part of it:
which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by
fire unto the Lord; that is, this law concerning the daily burnt offering was
made on Mount Sinai, so long ago as the children of Israel were there; and it
was then ordered that they should continually offer such a sacrifice by fire,
which would be grateful and acceptable unto God, especially when done in
faith of the sacrifice of his Son it was a type of; or which sacrifice was
"made" (e) or offered at Mount Sinai, when the law of it was first given
there: hence Aben Ezra observes, that this is a sign that they did not offer
burnt offerings in the wilderness after they journeyed from Sinai; but then,
though sacrifices were not so frequently offered by them as afterwards, yet
one would think that the daily sacrifice would not be omitted, which seemed
to be always necessary; nor would there be any, or but little use of the altar,
and the fire continually burning on it, if this was the case; see Amo_5:25.
ELLICOTT, "(6) Which was ordained in mount Sinai . . . Or, which was offered
(Hebrew, made) in Mount Sinai. Ibn Ezra adduces this passage as a proof that the
Israelites ceased to offer burnt sacrifices after they left the encampment at Sinai
throughout the time of their wanderings in the wilderness.
PETT, "Numbers 28:6
“It is a continual whole burnt offering, which was ordained in mount Sinai for a
pleasing odour, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.”
And here it is confirmed that this offering of he-lambs and grain was one that was
ordained on Mount Sinai (compare Exodus 29:38-42), to represent a continual
dedication of Israel before God.
7 The accompanying drink offering is to be a
quarter of a hin of fermented drink with each
lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the Lord at
the sanctuary.
BARNES, "The original of the word “strong wine” ‫שׁכר‬ shêkār is a term
usually employed to describe strong drink other than wine (Lev_10:9 note).
29

The Israelites in the wilderness had, in their lack of wine, substituted
shechar made from barley for it. They had thus observed the spirit, though
not the letter of the ordinance. The drink-offering was either poured round
the foot of the altar; or on the altar, and so upon the flesh of the sacrifice by
which the altar was covered (compare Exo_30:9).
CLARKE, "Strong wine - Sikera; see the note on Lev_10:9, where this is
largely explained.
GILL, "And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for
the one lamb,.... For the lamb offered in the morning, along with the meat
offering of which went a drink offering, which was of wine, and strong wine
too, as the next clause expresses it; the quantity of which was the fourth
part of an hin, which was about a quart and half a pint of our measure:
in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the
Lord for a drink offering; that is, in the court of the tabernacle upon the
altar of burnt offering, which stood there: the Targums of Jonathan and
Jerusalem interpret it of old choice wine, old wine being reckoned best, see
Luk_5:39, and though this wine was poured out on the altar, and not
properly drank by any, yet it was to be the strongest, best, and choicest that
could be got, as it was reasonable it should; since it was poured out as a
libation or drink offering to the Lord, which was his way of drinking it, as
the burning of the sacrifice was his way of eating that; all which was typical
of the sufferings, sacrifice, and bloodshed of Christ, which are well pleasing
and acceptable to the Lord; see Isa_53:10.
K&D, "“In the sanctuary,” i.e., περὶ τὸν βωμόν (round about the altar), as
Josephus paraphrases it (Ant. iii. 10); not “with (in) holy vessels,” as
Jonathan and others interpret it. “Pour out a drink-offering, as ‫ר‬ ָ‫כ‬ ֵ‫שׁ‬ for
Jehovah.” Shecar does not mean intoxicating drink here (see at Lev_10:9),
but strong drink, in distinction from water as simple drink. The drink-
offering consisted of wine only (see at Num_15:5.); and hence Onkelos
paraphrases it, “of old wine.”
COKE, "Numbers 28:7. The strong wine to be poured unto the Lord— See
Leviticus 10:9. This strong wine, of whatever sort it was, was to be the best of the
kind; it being but reasonable that the best should be offered to God. The same
reverence for religion taught the heathens to offer to their gods the most excellent
wine they had; which is imitated in those words we meet with so often in Homer,
both in the Iliad and Odyssey, of men's pouring out upon their sacrifices, αιθοπα
οινον, black wine, or of the deepest colour, red as blood, which was the richest of all.
Herodian, describing the sacrifices of Heliogabalus, says, he poured out many
30

flaggons of the oldest and most excellent wine on the altars, οινου παλαιοτατου και
καλλιστου, lib. 5: cap. 13. In like manner Virgil, mentioning a libation of wine
offered to the gods, calls it, honorem laticum, the honour or prime of the liquor. See
Scacchi, Myrothec. I. 11. c. 42.
REFLECTIONS.—The generation to whom these laws had been given were dead;
their children, therefore, hear a solemn recapitulation of them. They were ready to
enter upon a state of warfare, and might be tempted to neglect the Divine
institutions; but there was double need to secure their peace with God, when they
were at war with the Canaanites. The daily sacrifice is first ordained for a continual
burnt-offering, typical of that sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, who ever appears with his blood before God, to make atonement for
our sins.
ELLICOTT, "(7) Shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured . . . —Better, pour
out the drink offering of strong drink. The word shecar, which is here rendered
“strong wine,” denotes any kind of intoxicating drink, whether made from grapes,
honey, or grain; but it is more frequently used to denote a drink which is not made
from grapes, as, e.g., in Leviticus 10:9, where the command is given to Aaron and
his sons not to drink “wine nor strong drink” (shecar) when they went into the tent
of meeting. In the parallel passage in Exodus, the drink offering was to consist of
“the fourth part of an hin of wine” (Numbers 29:40). (Comp. Numbers 15:5.) In
Exodus 30:9 it is forbidden to pour any drink offering upon the altar of incense,
from which passage it has been inferred that the drink offerings were poured upon
the altar of burnt sacrifice.
BENSON,"Numbers 28:7. In the holy place — Upon the altar of burnt-offerings,
which was in the court of the priests, nigh to the entrance into the sanctuary,
(Exodus 29:42,) and was, with respect to those places of the camp, which were more
remote from the tabernacle, the holy place. Strong wine to be poured unto the
Lord — The original word signifies any strong drink: it was not necessary it should
be wine of grapes; it might be made of dates, or other fruits. But it behooved that it
should be the best of the kind; it being but reasonable that the best should be
offered to God.
PETT, "Numbers 28:7
“And its drink-offering shall be the fourth part of a hin for the one lamb. In the holy
place you shall pour out a drink-offering of strong drink to Yahweh.”
It was also to be offered with a drink offering of strong drink (old matured wine?)
which was to be poured out in the Holy Place. Thus within this offering were all the
major benefits which they received from God. It represented their flocks and herds,
their grain and fruit and the fruit of the vineyards that would be theirs once they
31

were in the land.
PULPIT, "In the holy place. ‫שׁ‬ ֶ‫ד‬ֹ‫קּ‬ַ‫בּ‬ . Septuagint, ἐν τῷ ἀγίῳ. Josephus paraphrases
this by περὶ τὸν βωμόν (‘Ant.,' 3.10), and so the Targum of Onkelos; Jonathan and
the Targum of Palestine render, "from the vessels of the sanctuary." The former
would seem to be the real meaning of the original. There is nowhere any specific
direction as to the ritual of the drink offering (see on Leviticus 23:1-44, and
Numbers 15:7, Numbers 15:10), nor is it certain whether it was poured at the foot of
the altar (as apparently stated in Ecclesiasticus 1:15) or poured upon the flesh of the
sacrifice on the altar (as seems to be implied in Philippians 2:17). The strong wine.
‫ָר‬‫כ‬ ֵ‫שׁ‬ . Septuagint, σίκερα. The Targums render it "old wine," because the drink
offering was in every other instance ordered to be made with wine (Exodus 29:40,
&c.). Shecar, however, was not wine, but strong drink other than wine (such as we
call "spirits"), and it is invariably used in that sense in contradistinction to wine (see
on Le Numbers 10:9; Numbers 6:3, &c.). It can only be supposed that the difficulty
of procuring wine in the wilderness had caused the coarser and commoner liquor to
be substituted for it. It is certainly remarkable that the mention of shecar should be
retained at a time when wine must have been easily obtainable, and was about to
become abundant (Deuteronomy 8:8). As it would seem impossible that shecar
should have been substituted for wine after the settlement in Canaan, its mention
here may be accepted as evidence of the wilderness-origin of this particular
ordinance. The quantity ordained (about a quart for each lamb) was very
considerable.
POOLE, " In the holy place, i.e. upon the altar of burnt-offerings, which was in the
court of the priests nigh to the entrance into the sanctuary. See Exodus 29:42 2
Chronicles 29:7.
Strong wine, Heb. shecar, which though it signify in the general all kinds of strong
drink, yet is here put for the most famous of that kind, to wit, for wine, which alone
was used in offerings, as appears below, Numbers 28:14 Exodus 29:40.
8 Offer the second lamb at twilight, along with the
same kind of grain offering and drink offering
that you offer in the morning. This is a food
offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
32

BARNES, "And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even,.... As before
directed, Num_28:4,
as the meat offering of the morning, and as the drink offering thereof, shalt
thou offer it; some think that "caph", "as", is put for "beth", "with", the
letters being similar, and so render the words, "with the meat offering of
the morning, and with the drink offering thereof"; but there is no need of
such a version, nor is it with propriety; and the meaning is, that a meat
offering and a drink offering were to go with the lamb offered at evening, of
the same sort, and in like manner, as were offered with the lamb of the
morning:
a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; this is repeated, to
encourage the people to offer it, and to show how very acceptable it was to
the Lord, especially the antitype of it.
PETT, "Numbers 28:8
“And the other lamb shall you offer in the evening, as the grain offering of the
morning, and as its drink-offering, you shall offer it, an offering made by fire, of a
pleasing odour to Yahweh.”
The ‘evening’ offering was to be offered in the same way as the morning offering. So
each part of each day in the life of Israel was dedicated to Yahweh, and atoned for,
as they offered their thanksgiving for all His provision.
This continual offering is a reminder to us that we too should come daily to God,
morning and evening, yielding ourselves to Him as a living sacrifice (Romans
12:1-2) and offering our continual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving (Hebrews
13:15; 1 Peter 2:5).
As a comparison to all the offerings which will be described here the daily offering
regularly presented at either of the two Ramesside temples in western Thebes in the
thirteenth century BC amounted to 5,500 loaves, 54 cakes, 204 vessels of beer, up to
50 geese, and an ox, as well as a variety of other items. So the multitude of offerings
described in Numbers 28-29 cannot be looked on as excessive.
POOLE, "Thou shalt offer it, or, thou shalt offer with it. Or, with the meat offering
of the morning, and with the drink offering thereof thou shalt offer it; the letter
caph being put for beth, which are alike in Hebrew, and the words are said to be
read with beth in some copies.
33

Sabbath Offerings
9 “‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two
lambs a year old without defect, together with its
drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths
of an ephah[c] of the finest flour mixed with olive
oil.
BARNES, "The Sabbath-offering, not previously enjoined, consisted of two
lambs, properly accompanied, in addition to the regular daily offering.
GILL, "And on the sabbath day two lambs of the first year without spot,....
Just such as were appointed for the daily sacrifice:
and two tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil; that is,
two tenth parts of an ephah of flour mixed with two fourth parts of an hin of
oil; of oil olive, as the Targum of Jonathan expresses it, which is always
meant, wherever oil is mentioned; which made one meat offering to them
doubled for both lambs, or two meat offerings of the same quantity with
those of the daily sacrifice, one for one lamb, and the other for the other:
and the drink offering thereof: which was of a like quantity of wine doubled,
in proportion to the meat offering; when these lambs, with the meat and
drink offerings, were offered up, is not said, whether the one in the morning
after, and the other in the evening before the daily sacrifice, which is not
improbable, or both together.
HENRY 9-15, "The new moons and the sabbaths are often spoken of
together, as great solemnities in the Jewish church, very comfortable to the
saints then, and typical of gospel grace. Now we have here the sacrifices
appointed, 1. For the sabbaths. Every sabbath day the offering must be
doubled; besides the two lambs offered for the daily burnt-offering, there
must be two more offered, one (it is probable) added to the morning
sacrifice, and the other to the evening, Num_28:9, Num_28:10. This teaches
us to double our devotions on sabbath days, for so the duty of the day
requires. The sabbath rest is to be observed, in order to a more close
application to the sabbath work, which ought to fill up sabbath time. In
Ezekiel's temple-service, which points at gospel times, the sabbath offerings
34

were to be six lambs and a ram, with their meat-offerings, and drink-
offerings (Eze_46:4, Eze_46:5), to intimate not only the continuance, but
the advancement, of sabbath sanctification in the days of the Messiah. This
is the burnt-offering of the sabbath in his sabbath, so it is in the original, v.
10. We must do every sabbath day's work in its day, studying to redeem
every minute of sabbath time as those that believe it precious; and not
thinking to put off one sabbath's work to another, for sufficient to every
sabbath is the service thereof. 2. For the new moons. Some suggest that, as
the sabbath was kept with an eye to the creation of the world, so the new
moons were sanctified with an eye to the divine providence, which appoints
the moon for seasons, guiding the revolutions of time by its changes, and
governing sublunary bodies (as many think) by its influences. Though we
observe not any feast of new moons, yet we must not forget to give God the
glory of all the precious things put forth by the moon which he has
established for ever, a faithful witness in heaven, Psa_89:37. The offerings
in the new moons were very considerable, two bullocks, a ram, and seven
lambs, with the meat-offerings and drink-offerings that were to attend them
(Num_28:11, etc.), besides a sin-offering, Num_28:15. For, when we give
glory to God by confessing his mercies, we must give glory to him likewise
by confessing our own sins; and, when we rejoice in the gifts of common
providence, we must make the sacrifice of Christ, that great gift of special
grace, the fountain and spring-head of our joy. Some have questioned
whether the new moons were to be reckoned among their feasts; but why
should they not, when, besides the special sacrifices which were then to be
offered, they rested from servile works (Amo_8:5), blew the trumpets
(Num_10:10), and went to the prophets to hear the word? 2Ki_4:23. And
the worship performed in the new moons is made typical of gospel
solemnities, Isa_66:23.
JAMISON,"This is the burnt offering of every sabbath — There is no
previous mention of a Sabbath burnt offering, which was additional to the
daily sacrifices.
K&D, "The Sabbath-offering, which was to be added to the daily sacrifice
(‫ל‬ַ‫,ע‬ upon it), consisted of two yearling lambs as a burnt-offering, with the
corresponding meat-offering and drink-offering, according to the general
rule laid down in Num_15:3., and is appointed here for the first time;
whereas the sabbatical feast had already been instituted at Exo_20:8-11 and
Lev_23:3. “The burnt-offering of the Sabbath on its Sabbath,” i.e., as often
as the Sabbath occurred, every Sabbath.
CALVIN, "9.And on the Sabbath-day. What was omitted in the former passage is
here supplied, i.e., that on the Sabbath the continual sacrifice was to be doubled,
and two lambs offered instead of one; for it was reasonable that, as the seventh day
was peculiarly dedicated to God, it should be exalted above other days by some
extraordinary and distinctive mark. He also commands greater sacrifices to be
35

Numbers 28 commentary

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Numbers 28 commentary