Numbers 28: Daily, Weekly and Monthly Offerings
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.’
3 “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, 5 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 7 And its drink offering shall be one-fourth of a hin for each lamb; in a holy place you shall pour out the drink to the Lord as an offering. 8 The other lamb you shall offer in the evening; as the morning grain offering and its drink offering, you shall offer it as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.
9 ‘And on the Sabbath day two lambs in their first year, without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, with its drink offering— 10 this is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering.
11 ‘At the beginnings of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish; 12 three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with oil, as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering of sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 14 Their drink offering shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb; this is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year.
"The general laws regarding the sacrifices proper to the feast days had already been given at Sinai (Leviticus 23). Their repetition with certain details here probably indicates that these laws had been neglected. Some of them, indeed, were only intended to be observed after the settlement in Canaan, which was now in the near future. Moreover, the generation to whom they were spoken at Sinai had passed away. Hence their repetition here to the younger generation." (John Dummelow's Commentary)
“The second verse of chapter 28 gives us a condensed statement of the contents of the entire section." (Mackintosh)- "A sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time." “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 of by the Lord; and his acceptance of them, and well pleasedness in them, may easily be observed in the expressions used concerning them: ‘A sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.’” (Gill’s Exposition)
"God speaks as though He is fed, through the sacrificial flame, on the offerings of his people. There can be no doubt that the obedience of the blessed Lord to the death of the cross was very satisfying to the hunger of the Father’s heart (Ephesians 5:2); and there is a sense in which our prayers and praises, the offering of ourselves in consecration, the gifts we lay before Him, are, when laid upon the altar of Christ, very pleasing to God. They are his food (Hebrews 13:15–16)." (F B Meyer)
"Every day two young lambs were to be offered, one in the morning and one in the evening (vs.3-4). These were burnt offerings… On the Sabbath days there were two lambs added to the daily offering, with both grain offerings and drink offerings as in the daily offerings… There would be no lack of work to keep the priests occupied. At each month's beginning a special burnt offering was to be made to the Lord, of two young bulls, one ram and seven lambs of the first year, without blemish (v.11). With this was included three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for each bull, two tenths of the same for the ram and one tenth for each lamb. The total of this was called 'a burnt offering of sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.' (v.13)." (Grant's Commentary)
The special theme here is "God's delight in Christ. Morning and evening, day by day, week after week, from one new moon to another, from the opening to the close of the year, it is Christ in His fragrance and preciousness to Godward… the heart of God is fed, refreshed, and delighted by Christ.” (C. H. Mackintosh's Notes on the Pentateuch)
Why is this so? Because the penalty for sin is death, but He alone lived a perfect life and His death alone satisfied the divine sentence- death by fire at His coming-- for all who trust in Him for their salvation. The acceptance of the offerings is signified by another offering- a free-will "burnt offering" made by the individual sinner at the door of the tabernacle under the guidance of a priest. “But why dwell upon this? Why insist upon it? Simply to show to the Christian reader the true character of the worship God looks for, and in which He delights. God delights in Christ; and it should be our constant aim, to present to God that in which He delights. Christ should ever be the material of our worship; and He will be, in proportion as we are led by the Spirit of God. How often, alas it is otherwise with us the heart call tell. Both in the assembly and in the closet, how often is the tone low, and the spirit dull and heavy. We are occupied with self instead of with Christ; and the Holy Ghost, instead of being able to do His own proper work, which is to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us, is obliged to occupy us with ourselves, in self-judgement, because our ways have not been right.
All this is to be deeply deplored. It demands our serious attention both as assemblies and as individuals-in our public reunions and in our private devotions. Why is the tone of our public meetings frequently so low? Why such feebleness, such barrenness, such wandering? Why are the hymns and prayers so wide of the mark? Why is there so little that really deserves the name of worship? Why is there such restlessness and aimless activity? Why is there so little in our midst to refresh the heart of God? so little that He can really speak of as ‘His bread, for His sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet savour unto him?’ We are occupied with self and its surroundings — our wants, our weakness, our trials and difficulties; and we leave God without the bread of His sacrifice. We actually rob Him of His due, and of that which His loving heart desires."
(C. H. Mackintosh's Notes on the Pentateuch)
15 Also one kid of the goats as a sin offering to the Lord shall be offered, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
Monthly – "And one kid of the goats, for a sin offering unto the Lord, shall be offered,.... This was an offering of a different sort, not a burnt offering, but a sin offering, typical of Christ, who was made an offering for sin; and it was of that sort of sin offerings which were to be eaten,..." (Gill's Exposition) Come to the Lord's Table for "if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:7)
Numbers 28: Morning Repost: Additional Spring Feast Offerings
16 ‘On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord. 17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast; unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. 18 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. 19 And you shall present an offering made by fire as a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish. 20 Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah you shall offer for a bull, and two-tenths for a ram; 21 you shall offer one-tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs; 22 also one goat as a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. 24 In this manner you shall offer the food of the offering made by fire daily for seven days, as a sweet aroma to the Lord; it shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work.
"You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service. And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’ And the people bowed their heads and worshiped." (Exodus 12:24-27)
God has wrought a great deliverance for us, by bringing us out of the house of bondage to sin and death. Let us, likewise, bow our heads and worship Him Who begat us-- the Messiah of Israel.
These were burnt offerings, and a sin offering, which continued the idea of God's pleasure with the sacrifice of Christ. "The Paschal feast (on the 14th of Abib) had no general congregational sacrifice, but only that of the lamb for the Paschal supper in each household." (Edersheim) "Offer the burnt offering — A new sacrifice is here ordered for the celebration of this festival, in addition to the other offering, which was to accompany the first-fruits (Leviticus 23:18)." (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown)
"Verses 16-22: The same number of sacrifices as at the new moon were to be offered on every one of the seven days of the feast of unleavened bread (Mazzoth), from the 15th to the 21st of the month, whereas there was no general festal offering on the day of the Passover, or the 14th of the month (Exodus 12:3-14). With regard to the feast of Mazzoth, the rule is repeated from Exodus 12:15-20 and Leviticus 23:6-8, that on the first and seventh day there was to be a Sabbath rest and holy meeting.
Verses 23-25: The festal sacrifices of the seven days were to be prepared 'in addition to the morning burnt-offering, which served as the continual burnt-offering.' This implies that the festal sacrifices commanded were to be prepared and offered every day after the morning sacrifice." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)
26 ‘Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. 27 You shall present a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, 28 with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 29 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 also one kid of the goats, to make atonement for you. 31 Be sure they are without blemish. You shall present them with their drink offerings, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering."
"The Day of the First Fruits is also known as the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost: see on Leviticus 23:9-22." (Dummelow) "The sacrifices for the feast of weeks were the same as those for the feast of unleavened bread, with the addition of the two 'wave loaves' and their accompanying sacrifices prescribed in Leviticus 23:7-21. This concluded the first festive cycle in the year." (Alfred Edersheim)
"The festal burnt-offering and sin-offering of this one day was independent of the supplementary burnt-offering and sin-offering of the wave-loaves appointed in Leviticus 23:18, and was to be offered before these and after the daily morning sacrifice." (Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament)
It is not only God's pleasure in the sacrifice of Christ, but our response to it that is pleasing to Him.
PASSOVER- "A gospel conversation, in gratitude for Christ our passover who was sacrificed, is called the keeping of this feast (1 Corinthians 5:8) for it is not enough that we purge out the leavened bread of malice and wickedness, but we must offer the bread of our God, even the sacrifice of praise, continually, and continue herein unto the end.
PENTECOST- The sacrifices are likewise appointed which were to be offered at the feast of pentecost, here called the day of the first-fruits, Numbers 28:26. In the feast of unleavened bread they offered a sheaf of their first-fruits of barley (which with them was first ripe) to the priest (Leviticus 23:10), as an introduction to the harvest but now, about seven weeks after, they were to bring a new meat-offering to the Lord, at the end of harvest, in thankfulness to God, who had not only given, but preserved to their use, the kindly fruits of the earth, so as that in due time they did enjoy them. It was at this feast that the Spirit was poured out (Acts 2:1-13, &c.), and thousands were converted by the preaching of the apostles, and were presented to Christ, to be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. The sacrifice that was to be offered with the loaves of the first-fruits was appointed, Leviticus 23:18. But over and above, besides that and besides the daily offerings, they were to offer two bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs, with a kid for a sin-offering, Numbers 28:27-30. When God sows plentifully upon us he expects to reap accordingly from us. Bishop Patrick observes that no peace-offerings are appointed in this chapter, which were chiefly for the benefit of the offerers, and therefore in them they were left more to themselves but burnt-offerings were purely for the honour [pleasure] of God, were confessions of his dominion, and typified evangelical piety and devotion, by which the soul is wholly offered up to God in the flames of holy love and sin-offerings were typical of Christ's sacrifice of himself, by which we and our services are perfected and sanctified." (Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary)
If the church could master these precepts by faith in gratitude for Christ's sacrifice for us, then there would be another outpouring of the Holy Spirit, as in the days of old. "When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2: 1–4)
"Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God; for He has given you the former rain faithfully, and He will cause the rain to come down for you—the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil." (Joel 2:23–24)