David Guzik :: Study Guide for Numbers 29

The Sacrificial System (Continued)

A. Offerings related to the seasonal feasts (continued from Numbers 28).

1. (Numbers 29:1-6) Offerings at the Feast of Trumpets.

And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work. For you it is a day of blowing the trumpets. You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, to make atonement for you; besides the burnt offering with its grain offering for the New Moon, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to their ordinance, as a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

2. (Numbers 29:7-11) Offerings on the Day of Atonement.

On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work. You shall present a burnt offering to the Lord as a sweet aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs in their first year. Be sure they are without blemish. Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the sin offering for atonement, the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

a. You shall afflict your souls: The Day of Atonement was not a happy feast. It was a day to carefully consider the burden of sin, and to put it away on a national basis through the appointed sacrifice for that day.

3. (Numbers 29:12-39) Offerings at the Feast of Tabernacles.

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work, and you shall keep a feast to the Lord seven days. You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year. They shall be without blemish. Their grain offering shall be of fine flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams, and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. On the second day present twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings. On the third day present eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. On the fourth day present ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year, without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one kid of the goats as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. On the fifth day present nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. On the sixth day present eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. On the seventh day present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. On the eighth day you shall have a sacred assembly. You shall do no customary work. You shall present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a sweet aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven lambs in their first year without blemish, and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, by their number, according to the ordinance; also one goat as a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering. These you shall present to the Lord at your appointed feasts (besides your vowed offerings and your freewill offerings) as your burnt offerings and your grain offerings, as your drink offerings and your peace offerings.

a. Thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs: This was the required offering on the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Numbers 29:13). On the second day, twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs (Numbers 29:17) were required, and so on, throughout the feast.

b. These you shall present to the Lord at your appointed feasts: God required so many animals and such expensive sacrifice because the Feast of Tabernacles was a happy memorial of God’s faithfulness to Israel during the Exodus. The sacrifice of so many animals was a demonstration of the richness of God’s provision to them through the years in the wilderness.

B. The obedience of Israel.

1. (Numbers 29:40a) Moses tells the children of Israel the words of the Lord.

So Moses told the children of Israel everything,

a. So Moses told the children of Israel everything: Significantly, now as Israel was on the threshold of the Promised Land, they needed to be reminded of the essential place of sacrifice. Promised Land people know they need an atoning sacrifice and they remember it often.

2. (Numbers 29:40b) A costly obedience.

Just as the Lord commanded Moses.

a. Just as the Lord commanded: For Israel to obey what God commanded in Numbers 28-29, it meant that every year, the priests sacrificed at least 1,086 lambs, 113 bulls, 32 rams, more than a ton of flour, and some 1,000 bottles of oil and wine on behalf of the nation.

i. The most prominent animal of sacrifice was the lamb. This is an obvious prophetic reference to Jesus, who is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

b. Just as the Lord commanded: All this sacrifice did not include the sacrifices made by individuals or households. The priests and Levites were clearly busy with the job of sacrifice, and it was fulfilled at considerable expense.

i. In the days of Jesus, there is record of 255,600 Passover lambs being sacrificed at one Passover just by individuals and households.

ii. Significantly, none of it was enough! Not one of these hundreds of thousands of sacrifices over the centuries could ever take away a person’s sin; that had to wait until a perfect sacrifice was offered — the sacrifice of Jesus.

© 2021 The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik — ewm@enduringword.com

Updated: August 2022