Introduction
‘The LORD said to Moses, “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.’ 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. Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight, together with a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives. This is the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the LORD. 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. 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.’ Numbers 28:1-8
Daily Offerings
In preparation for entering Canaan, God wanted to remind His people of their relationship with Him. This was done through daily, weekly, monthly and yearly offerings in worship to God.
Israel needed to be reminded that it was God who brought them out of Egypt and God who would sustain them in the Promised Land if they remained faithful to Him.
They are commanded to bring a male lamb to God, every morning and every evening, Exodus 29:38. There’s no better way to remember their relationship with God than by beginning and ending each day with the reminder of the need for atonement by sacrifice and expression of devotion to Him.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘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 God their property and the fruits of their labour as well as their own persons, Numbers 15:2 / Leviticus 21:6.’
Whitelaw, in his commentary, says the following.
‘A great variety of observances which were zealously followed by the Jews of later ages find no place here. 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, 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, Exodus 29:38ff.’
Sabbath Offerings
‘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 of the finest flour mixed with olive oil. This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.’ Numbers 28:9-10
Notice that on every Sabbath day, an additional lamb was sacrificed every morning and every evening.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The key words here are, ‘besides the continual burnt-offering’. It was not enough merely to double the offering of sabbath days; it was to be doubled and added to the continual burnt-offering.’
Monthly Offerings
‘On the first of every month, present to the LORD a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; and with each lamb, a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil. This is for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the LORD. With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin5 of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year. Besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering, one male goat is to be presented to the LORD as a sin offering.’ Numbers 28:11-15
At the beginning of every month, Israel were to bring a burnt offering to the LORD, 1 Samuel 20:5.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Although it is true that the Jewish lunar months called special attention to ‘feasts of the new moons’ which were prevalent among the pagans, they were specifically commanded not to worship the moon, Deuteronomy 17:3, but it would seem from Paul’s words in Colossians 2:16 that the Jews continued to participate in ‘new moon’ festivals, whether or not this was the original intention. Under Judaism, they served a different purpose from the customs of pagans.’
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The New-moon offering is here also commanded for the first time. The goat as a sin-offering, though mentioned last, would seem in fact to have been offered first (compare the precedents in Exodus 29:1-10 / Leviticus 5:1-10 / Leviticus 8:1-10 / Leviticus 9:1-10 / Leviticus 14:1-10 / Leviticus 16:1-10). The sin-offering, which Numbers 15:22-26 had been contemplated in cases where a sin had been committed ignorantly without the knowledge of the congregation, was henceforth not to be offered merely at discretion, as circumstances might seem to require, but to be regularly repeated, not less frequently than once a month.’
The Passover
‘On the fourteenth day of the first month the LORD’s Passover is to be held. On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Present to the LORD a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With each bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. Offer these in addition to the regular morning burnt offering. In this way present the food offering every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to the LORD; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.’ Numbers 28:16-25
Remember, the Passover hadn’t been observed throughout the wilderness wanderings. Now it was time to rehearse the laws concerning the time and event of the Passover, Exodus 12:16 / Leviticus 23:7-8.
In addition to the lamb, each household was to offer to God, the priests were also required to bring these offerings to God at the time of Passover on behalf of the entire nation.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It is clear that all of these sacrifices were supplementary to the ones already prescribed for Passover in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23:4-8. Of particular interest is the fact that the seven days feast of Unleavened Bread that always began on the day after Passover required the observance of ‘a holy convocation’ with abstinence from all ‘servile’ work. In fact, these were simply additional sabbaths (rests), and were different from the weekly sabbaths in that they could come on any day of the week. This phenomenon resulted in the back-to-back sabbaths on Friday and Saturday the week our Lord was crucified. The Greek text of Matthew 28:1 refers to these back-to-back ‘sabbaths’ (plural). Servile work here prohibited primarily meant that all ‘occupational’ work, or work done for making a living was prohibited.’
The Festival Of Weeks
‘On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the LORD an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Present a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old as an aroma pleasing to the LORD. With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat to make atonement for you. Offer these together with their drink offerings, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. Be sure the animals are without defect.’ Numbers 28:26-31
Straight after the Passover, the feast of unleavened bread was to begin, Leviticus 23:5-6. This feast lasted for seven days and was the offering of the first fruits of the harvest, Exodus 34:22.
The main reason for the Festival of Weeks or the Feast of Pentecost wasn’t about atonement, it was about thanksgiving for the harvest. Yet every feast of Israel was to carry with it the idea of atonement.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This great feast day was honoured by God in the sending of the Holy Spirit and the beginning of the Church of Christ on earth, Acts 2. Through the ages, several names have been attached to this festival, First-fruits, Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, Whitsunday, etc. Leviticus 23:9-23.’