The Pentateuch Numbers

Calendar of Public Sacrifices

Discover Jesus as: Rock Numbers 29-30 Read on Bible Gateway (HCSB)

Day 89 of 730
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INTRO

Yesterday, we saw Moses at 120 years old pass the baton of leadership of Israel to Joshua. Going into Numbers 28, we expected a full-on battle. Instead, Moses jumped into offerings and sacrifices again. God was ingraining the value of the calendar in the minds of the people. He instructed them to observe these feasts to not lose their focus. God wanted them to know that the heart behind their entire calendar was worship.

The calendar started in Numbers 28 (see the chart at the end of the lesson). Priests, who were of the Levitical tribe, had a set number of years they were to serve. Priests started serving at the age of 25 and retired at 50. After turning 50 years old, they were permitted to assist, but not actually do the work.

TEACHING

Numbers 29:1–6: During the Feast of the Trumpets, the Israelites were to do no work, hold a sacred assembly, and offer burnt offerings. An acceptable offering was an unblemished animal—a young bull, a ram, and seven male yearling lambs—and one goat that would be offered as a sin offering for oneself. The trumpet sounded at the beginning of the new civil year (Rosh Hashanah) of the Jewish calendar.

The priests also blew a trumpet to gather people together, to sound an alarm, or announce a battle. Short and long blasts were used to get the people’s attention. Israel was going to be scattered, but eventually regathered together in the end times at the sound of a trumpet.

  • “On that day the LORD will thresh grain from the Euphrates River as far as the Wadi of Egypt, and you Israelites will be gathered one by one. On that day a great trumpetwill be blown, and those lost in the land of Assyria will come, as well as those dispersed in the land of Egypt; and they will worship the LORD at Jerusalem on the holy mountain” (Isaiah 27:12–13).
  • “Immediately after the tribulation of those days . . . Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky . . . He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:29–31).
  • The elect are called together (1 Thessalonians 4).

Numbers 29:7: The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) was the highest and holiest of holy days. It was also a celebration that used the scapegoat, which was released into the wilderness, taking with it the sins of the people (Leviticus 16:10). The Israelites offered burnt offerings of unblemished animals, either one young bull, one ram, seven male yearling lambs, and one male goat.

In Numbers 28—29, the Lord put together a structure so the leadership could implement the sacrifices as the people entered the land. This did not include all the personal sacrifices that were to be offered regularly. Unlike Leviticus 23, in these chapters we learn more about the sacrifices than the event itself. The Passover was the only feast in full implementation at this time.

Numbers 29:12–39: The Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths) is still celebrated today. It is a seven-day festival. Notice the consistency of the unblemished animals offered with exception of the bulls (see chart on page 2).

Numbers

Occasion

Also known as

Bulls

Rams

Lambs

Goats

28:3–8

Daily

2

28:9–10

Every Sabbath

Shabbat

2

28:11–15

1st Day of the month

2

1

7

1

28:17–25

Passover

Feast of Unleavened Bread

2

1

7

1

28:26–31

Pentecost

Feast of Weeks

2

1

7

1

29:1–6

Feast of Trumpets

Rash Hashanah

1

1

7

1

29:7–11

Day of Atonement

Yom Kippur

1

1

7

1

29:12–39

Feast of Tabernacles

Feast of Booths

Day 1

13

2

14

1

Day 2

12

2

14

1

Day 3

11

2

14

1

Day 4

10

2

14

1

Day 5

9

2

14

1

Day 6

8

2

14

1

Day 7

7

2

14

1

Day 8

1

1

7

1

Numbers 29:40: “So Moses told the Israelites everything the LORD had commanded him.”

CLOSING

Gordon Wenham observed, “Over the course of one year, 113 bulls, 1,086 lambs, tons of flour and thousands of bottles of oil are used. And that is just what is prescribed, the public sacrifices! It does not include the individual offerings.”1

Wiersbe laid out three points for all these sacrifices to help answer the questions: What do you do with all this? How is this practical?

All of these sacrifices are fulfilled in Christ (Hebrews 10:1–18).

The nation of Israel could not have functioned without the priests at that time (Hebrews 4:14–16).

Sacrifices are extremely expensive.2

Praise the Lord we do not have to remember any of this! We literally can come before Jesus because we know He gave up Himself so we can go back to Him.

  1. Gordon Wenham, Tyndale Old Testament Commentary, Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 4 (Downer’s Grove, IL: University of Michigan, 1981), p. 197.

  2. Warren Wiersbe, Be Counted: Living a Life that Counts for God (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 1999), p. 162.

Questions

  1. Why did the Lord have Moses repeat the commands about the offerings during special days and weeks in the seventh month (Leviticus 16:29; 23:24, 34; Numbers 29)? What details did the Lord give in these chapters which had not been given earlier? (Leviticus 23:34–43)
  2. When a woman made a vow to the Lord, at what point could her father (or husband if she was married) forbid her to keep those vows (Numbers 30:5, 8)? Were there any circumstances listed by which a man could get out of fulfilling a vow he had made to the Lord (Numbers 30; Deuteronomy 23:21)? What does this say about God’s protection of women from guilt over being unable to honor a vow or rash statement by which she had bound herself?
  3. Read Matthew 5:33–37. Describe what you think Jesus meant by these instructions.
  4. What did the Holy Spirit highlight to you in Numbers 29-30 through the reading or the teaching?

Next: the Daily Word →

Daily Word

Laura Martin Numbers 29:39-40

“‘You must offer these to the LORD at your appointed times in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt, grain, drink, or fellowship offerings.’ So Moses told the Israelites everything the LORD had commanded him.”

Once again Moses instructed the Israelites on everything the Lord commanded regarding sacrifices and offerings. Every year during the many festivals, the Israelites gave up their resources in the form of sacrifices and offerings to make atonement for their sins. This was all the Israelites knew in the way of atonement

.

However, in the New Testament, Christ came and offered a sacrifice for sin forever. With His life, He paid the price of sin once and for all. Through this one offering, Jesus has perfected forever those who are sanctified in Him. You are forgiven forever; therefore, sacrifices and offerings are no longer necessary. Praise the Lord for this sacrificial act of love.

“‘You must offer these to the Lord at your appointed times in addition to your vow and freewill offerings, whether burnt, grain, drink, or fellowship offerings.” So Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him.”

— Numbers 29:39–40

FURTHER SCRIPTURE

  • Ephesians 5:2 — “And walk in love, as the Messiah also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.”
  • Hebrews 10:10–12 — “By this will of God, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. Every priest stands day after day ministering and offering the same sacrifices time after time, which can never take away sins. But this man, after offering one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.”
  • Hebrews 10:17–18 — “He adds, ‘I will never again remember their sins and their lawless acts.’ Now where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.”