Bible Commentaries
Numbers 28

Introduction

THE LAWS OF THE DAILY WORSHIP AND THE ANNUAL FEASTS RESTATED AND CODIFIED. CHAPS. 28, 29.

Israel was soon to enter the promised land and to have a stationary tabernacle, and for the first time ample facilities for the daily and festal offerings in perfect conformity to the statutes. “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 its full extent, and to observe all the sacrificial and festal laws.” Knobel. In addition to a conspectus, or condensed view of the national sacrifices, the fact is here brought out that the daily sacrifice was not to be omitted when the general and special sacrifices occurred, but the latter were to accompany the former, and rest upon them as their basis. Thus daily worship is especially honoured, being made fundamental to all extraordinary acts of religious service. “In the daily burnt offering the congregation of Israel 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.” Keil and Delitzsch. All the feasts formed a series of concentric circles, of which the sabbath was the centre. From this point, proceeding outward, we find the feast of weeks, months, years, and periods of years arranged according to the number seven. The yearly feasts were seven, two of which lasted seven days. The days of sabbatical rest and holy meeting in all the feasts were seven, the symbol of perfection. Leviticus 4:6, note.

Verse 2

SACRIFICES REQUIRED BY JEHOVAH, Numbers 28:1-2.

2. My offering Korban. Leviticus 1:2, note.

My bread Leviticus 3:11, note.

By fire… sweet savour Leviticus 1:9, note.

Due season The festal times of Jehovah, (Leviticus 23:2,) appointed by him as days or times which were to be sanctified to his service, include the sabbath, new moon, the yearly feasts, and the daily sacrifices.

Verse 3

3. Without spot Perfect and unblemished. This did not include spots or various colours in the wool or skin. The Mishna describes fifty blemishes: five in the ear, three in the eyelid, eight in the eye, three in the nose, six in the mouth, twelve in the genitals, six in the feet, four in any place of the body as scabs and wens and three besides over all the body as trembling with old age, sickness, or foul with excrements. It was unlawful to offer a lamb less than eight days old, a hybrid, a monstrosity, if it had killed a man, or were the price of a dog or a harlot, or had been dedicated to idolatry, or was an hour over a year old when the law required it to be of the first year.

Day by day The daily burnt offering was a perpetually repeated demonstration of the duty of consecrating body, soul, and spirit to God. It was a reiterated object-lesson, teaching the human side of entire sanctification, entire self-surrender to Jehovah. Leviticus 1:3, note.

A continual burnt offering That the whole daily life of Israel might be consecrated unto the Lord it was to be offered every morning and evening, for all future time, at the door of the tabernacle, where Jehovah met his people and communed with them. The daily sacrifice ceased at the destruction of Jerusalem. It will not be renewed until the Jews regain possession of Mount Moriah, the last place chosen by the Lord for offering sacrifices. Leviticus 17:2-5, notes; comp. Deuteronomy 12:11-14, and 1 Kings 8:29.

Verses 3-8

THE DAILY BURNT OFFERING, Numbers 28:3-8.

This had already been instituted at Sinai, (Exodus 29:38-42,) but it could not be performed amid the wilderness wanderings.

Verse 5

5. A tenth part of an ephah Leviticus 23:13, note.

Flour Leviticus 2:1, note.

A hin Leviticus 23:13.

Beaten oil The olive berries were beaten in a mortar. The best oil was thus made in November or December. When the berry was softer it yielded, by pressing, a larger quantity of inferior oil.

Verse 7

7. The drink offering Leviticus 23:13, note.

In the holy place Not in the priests’ apartment, the so called holy place, but, as Josephus says, “about the altar.”

Strong wine Hebrew, shecar, does not here mean intoxicating drink, but strong drink in distinction from water. Leviticus 10:9, note.

Verse 9

THE SABBATH OFFERING, Numbers 28:9-10.

9. Sabbath day Greek, in the plural, the day of sabbaths. Thus the New Testament, Luke 4:16: Acts 13:14; Acts 16:13.

Two lambs In addition to the regular daily sacrifice. The Sabbath was instituted in memory of the creation, (Exodus 20:11,) of the exode from Egypt, (Deuteronomy 5:15,) as a sign of Israel’s consecration to the Lord, (Ezekiel 20:12,) and as an emblem of soul-rest in Christ here, and of heavenly rest hereafter. Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 4:9. Ezekiel, predicting that service under the Gospel, glad and free in the fulness of the Spirit, says that in the sabbath day the prince shall offer six perfect lambs. Ezekiel 46:4-5.

Tenth deals Leviticus xxiii, 13, note.

Meat offering Leviticus 2:0, notes.

Verse 11

LAW OF OFFERINGS AT THE NEW MOONS, Numbers 28:11-15.

11. Beginnings of… months The months began with the new moon at the signal of the silver trumpet in the sanctuary. Numbers 10:10, note; 2 Chronicles 2:4. Then Israel gathered to the prophets, or other teachers, to hear the word of God, (2 Kings 4:23,) and kept a religious feast, abstaining from business. 1 Samuel 20:5-6; Amos 8:5. This was “a shadow of Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17. This accords with Isaiah 66:23. The Hebrews say, “As the beginning of the months are sanctified and renewed in this world, so shall Israel be sanctified and renewed in time to come.”

Two young bullocks A more costly sacrifice than that on the sabbath. Leviticus iv, Concluding Note, (4.) It was an additional offering to the daily sacrifice. All the animals in this verse were for a burnt offering.

Verse 12

12. Mingled with oil Leviticus 2:1, note; for the amount see Numbers 28:5, note.

Verse 13

13. A several tenth deal A tenth of an ephah for each lamb.

Verse 14

14. A hin of wine Leviticus 23:13, note.

Verse 15

15. A sin offering For an atonement for them, Numbers 28:22. See Leviticus iv, notes. The Hebrews say that this sin-offering was eaten. Leviticus 4:26; Leviticus 4:30.

Verse 16

LAW OF OFFERINGS AT THE PASSOVER, Numbers 28:16-25.

16. The first month The passover month, answering in part to our March. Leviticus 23:5, note.

Verse 17

17. The feast Of unleavened cakes, (Leviticus 23:6, note,) prefiguring sincerity and truth, as the passover lamb typified Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; John 1:29, note.

Verse 18

18. A holy convocation Leviticus 23:2. No…

servile work Leviticus 23:7, note.

Verses 19-21

19-21. Ye shall offer The same sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, as were required at the new moons. Ezekiel (Ezekiel 45:22-24) predicts a change in these.

Verse 22

22. A sin offering The rabbins say that it was eaten on the second day of the passover, the sixteenth of Nisan.

Verse 23

23. Beside the burnt offering The daily sacrifice, Numbers 28:3, note. In addition there was a lamb for a burnt offering accompanied by the wave sheaf. Leviticus 23:12, note.

Verse 25

25. The seventh day Leviticus 23:8, note. It is called in Exodus 13:6, a feast to Jehovah.

Verse 26

OFFERINGS AT THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS, Numbers 28:26-31.

26. Firstfruits Called the feast of harvest, Exodus 23:16; of weeks, Exodus 34:22; and day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1. See Leviticus 23:15-21, notes.

A new meat offering New in respect to the former offered at the passover. Leviticus 23:16, note.

After your weeks Fifty days after the passover.

Verses 27-31

27-31. Two… bullocks These. the ram, and seven lambs were in addition to the one bullock, two rams, and seven lambs offered with the firstfruits, (Leviticus 23:18, note,) and besides the daily sacrifice or continual burnt offering. The parenthesis in Numbers 28:31 seems to apply to the meat offering, which was to be without blemish, or perfect.

Drink offerings That is, “strong wine, (Numbers 28:7,) not dead, sour, mixed with dregs or lees, or otherwise corrupted.” Ainsworth.