And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
The Lord speaks again to Moses, and a new generation waits on the edge of the land their parents never entered. The command that follows fills two chapters and raises a rare question: what does God want for Himself?
Israel stood ready to enter the land. God's first word to them is not about their needs but about His own rights.
As Israel prepared to enter the land, the Lord raised matters of serious importance. Their recognition of God's rights must come first. He speaks therefore of "My offerings, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me at their appointed time" (v.2). Jacob, in going out from Beersheba, expected God to give him food to eat (Gen. 28:20), but he forgot that he ought to give God food to eat. We also too often think of our rights and forget God's rights. God has made us so that we appreciate food. If so, is it not easy to understand that God should want food from us?
Chapters 28 and 29 belong together. The words that follow this opening verse unlock both. Older translations say "bread" where the ESV says "food."
These words give the reader a key that unlocks this whole part of the Book of Numbers. It is as clear and simple as possible. "My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices," "a sweet aroma to Me." The stress on this is unmistakable. We can learn here, without any effort, that the great leading thought is Christ presented to God. It is not so much Christ meeting our need — though He does meet it, and richly — as Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God.
The proportions of these two chapters can be counted.
The whole section has seventy-one verses. Of these, thirteen refer to the sin offering. The remaining fifty-eight deal with sweet aroma offerings.
This is a command, not an invitation. The word "My" runs all through it and settles who owns these sacrifices.
Numbers 28 and 29 give us very full instructions about the sacrifices Israel had to offer. They came day by day, morning and evening. They came on the sabbaths, at the start of each month, and at the great feasts that marked Israel's year. In verse 2 God calls them "My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices." So God claimed them as His right. They were not optional but compulsory.
The same writer draws out what that settles for worship now.
Nothing was left to the people's own judgment or feelings. They were to recognise and honour God as it pleased Him. Here we see an important principle. We come near to God today and worship Him under a different order of things... Today those who worship God "must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). And 1 Corinthians 12-14 lays down how such worship is to be offered in public. It is not left to us to set the rules for ourselves.
These offerings follow a calendar — morning, evening, sabbath, new month and feast. The daily lamb carries the simplest meaning.
The lamb has the simplest meaning. It is the constant presentation of the value of Christ, and so of believers in Him, the true Lamb of God. The sweet aroma of His sacrifice rises without a break, by day and by night. And when the true sabbath has come, its power will only rise more fully.
God's portion can be withheld. That is the searching edge of this command.
Why is there so little among us to refresh the heart of God? So little that He can truly call "His bread, for His sacrifices made by fire, for a sweet aroma to Him"? We are taken up with self and its surroundings — our wants, our weakness, our trials and difficulties. So we leave God without the bread of His sacrifice. We rob Him of His due, and of what His loving heart desires.
- God's rights. Before Israel crossed into the land, God raised His own rights first. We think of our rights and forget His.
- God's food. God calls the offerings My offering, My food, My sacrifices. He claimed them as His right. They were not optional but compulsory.
- God's delight. Fifty-eight of the section's seventy-one verses deal with sweet aroma offerings. The leading thought is Christ delighting the heart of God, not only meeting our need.
- God's rhythm. The daily lamb is the constant presentation of Christ's value, rising to God by day and by night.
- God's due. Worship is not left to our own judgment or feelings. When we are taken up with our own wants, we leave God without the bread of His sacrifice.
Command the children of Israel, and say unto them, My offering, my bread for my offerings by fire of sweet odour to me, shall ye take heed to present to me at their set time.
Israel's years in the wilderness are over. The people stand ready to enter the land, and God's first word to them is not about conquest but about what belongs to Him. Why does He call a sacrifice "My food"? Why would God ask His people to feed Him?
This verse is the heading over Numbers 28 and 29. The repeated word "My" shows which way the whole section faces.
These words give the reader a key to unlock this whole portion of the Book of Numbers. It is as clear and simple as possible. "My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices," "a sweet savour to Me." All of it is strongly marked. We may learn here, without effort, that the great leading thought is Christ toward God. It is not so much Christ meeting our need — though He surely does meet it most blessedly. It is Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God.
Older translations render "food" here as "bread," and "pleasing aroma" as "sweet savour" — the wording the writers below use.
The word here translated "food" is far more often translated "bread." Whichever word we take as the better translation, the thought conveyed to us is of food that provides a satisfying portion. And we are allowed to find a portion in that which is the "bread" of God.
God calls these sacrifices His own and claims them. One writer sets that beside Jacob, who once asked God for bread to eat.
Their recognition of God's rights must come first... Jacob, going out from Beersheba, expected God to give him food to eat (Gen. 28:20), but he forgot that he ought to give God food to eat. We also too often think of our rights and forget God's rights. May we think more deeply about giving God some true refreshment when the crowds of people ignore Him. God has created us in such a way that we appreciate food. If so, is it not entirely understandable to us that God should desire food from us?
Why does God's claim come first, and who meets it?
For man's own blessing, as for everything else, God must have His place — He must be God. Otherwise there will be confusion, and every other bond will dissolve with the bond to Him... Here God states His claim upon man. Grace affirms that claim as well as law, but grace also provides the answer to it, which law cannot... How is it provided? Moriah declared that long before: God would provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering. But we have seen this done, and we know the blessed Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. So we have the material for perpetual worship, and of His own we give Him.
Atonement is never missing from these chapters. It simply is not the theme.
These two chapters give us what God calls "My bread." They do not present what Christ is for us, or what Christ did for us. It is quite true that in these two chapters the sin offering comes in no fewer than thirteen times — but it only comes in along the way. The sin offering is not the point here. It is what Christ is to God. It is Christ in all the sweet savour and fragrance of His life, and in the devotedness of His death, going up to God.
The numbers make the point:
The whole section has seventy-one verses. Thirteen of them refer to the sin offering. The other fifty-eight deal with sweet savour offerings.
The appointed times come round day and night, and on to the sabbath.
The lamb has the simplest meaning. It is the constant presentation of the value of Christ, and so of believers in Him, the true Lamb of God. The sweet savour of His sacrifice goes up continually, by day and by night. When the true sabbath has come, its power will only rise more abundantly.
The verse has a practical sting: we can leave God without His portion.
Why is the tone of our public meetings so often low? Why such weakness, such barrenness, such wandering?... Why is there so little among us to refresh the heart of God? So little that He can really speak of as "His bread, for His sacrifices made by fire, a sweet savour to Him"? We are taken up with self and its surroundings — our wants, our weakness, our trials and difficulties. So we leave God without the bread of His sacrifice.
- "My" — God stamps His claim on all of it: His offering, His food, His pleasing aroma. His rights come before our requests.
- Food — the word points to a satisfying portion. Christ is that portion, and He feeds the heart of God.
- Provided — grace supplies the answer to God's claim. He provided the Lamb, so we give Him what is already His own.
- Proportion — thirteen verses speak of the sin offering, fifty-eight of sweet savour offerings. God deals with sin here, but the subject is Christ's preciousness to Him.
- Season — day and night, sabbath after sabbath, the offering goes up at set times. Worship is an appointment, not a mood, and self-occupation leaves God's table bare.
And say unto them, This is the offering by fire which ye shall present to Jehovah two yearling lambs without blemish, day by day, as a continual burnt-offering.
Numbers 28 opens with God listing what He wants brought to Him. Verse 3 names the first item: two year-old lambs without blemish, one every morning and one every evening, offered without a break. Why would God want the same sacrifice every single day? And what does that daily fire say about how He sees His Son?
The instruction that governs the whole chapter calls these sacrifices God's bread.
These words give the reader a key to unlock this whole portion of Numbers. It is as clear and simple as possible. "My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices," "a pleasing aroma to Me." All of it is strongly marked. We can learn here, without effort, that the great leading thought is Christ toward God. It is not so much Christ meeting our need — though He surely does meet it most blessedly — as Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God. It is God's bread — a truly wonderful expression, and one little thought of or understood.
Where the ESV says "a regular offering," older translations read "a continual burnt offering." That label sets its direction.
The character of the offering is as plain as possible. It was Christ toward God. This is the special point in the burnt offering. The sin offering is Christ toward us. The sin offering raises the question of the hatefulness of sin. The burnt offering raises the question of the preciousness and excellence of Christ.
The sin offering appears all through these chapters. But most of the text is about something else:
Look at one simple fact that might strike the mind of a child. There are seventy-one verses in the whole section. Thirteen of them refer to the sin offering. The other fifty-eight deal with offerings of pleasing aroma.
Why two lambs, and why add the grain and drink offerings?
To give this its due expression, the grain offering and drink offering had to be added to the burnt offering. Together they present a full Christ in the preciousness of His devotion of Himself. The "lamb" naturally speaks of this. Two lambs are the number of testimony: a daily witness from a redeemed people to the One who has redeemed them. Through Him they are no longer "without God in the world," and their hearts enthrone their glorious King.
The offering was "regular" — it never lapsed. That unbroken quality is where one writer locates the believer's security.
The burnt offering consisted of two lambs of the first year, one offered in the morning and the other in the evening. It was never to stop. It pictures the sacrifice of Christ in this character: His devotion all the way to death. In the place of sin and for God's glory, He proved His obedience to the very end, even to being made sin for His people. Because this offering never stopped, God laid a foundation through it. On that foundation Israel could stand, accepted in all its fragrance and sweetness. It is therefore no small picture of the believer's position. It shows the ground of his acceptance in the Beloved. The pleasing aroma of the continual burnt offering always went up to God on Israel's behalf. In the same way, Christ in all His acceptability is always before His eyes on behalf of His own.
The evening lamb kept burning long after dark, when no one was watching.
In the night hours no worshippers were going to the temple, and the services of the priesthood had stopped. Even then, the altar of the burnt offering still showed evidence of worship. A flame had to be visible on the altar all night long. The night watches passed, but the burnt offering sent up its pleasing aroma. The worshippers were asleep, but the flame still rose from the altar. They might know nothing of this silent worship. But the Lord was refreshing Himself with the sweetness, the excellence, the glory, the grace of His blessed Son. The burnt sacrifice pointed to Him.
That daily offering sets the standard for worship. It also exposes what our worship often becomes instead.
Why is the tone of our public meetings so often low? Why such weakness, such barrenness, such wandering? Why is there so little among us to refresh the heart of God? So little that He can truly call "His bread, for His sacrifices made by fire, for a pleasing aroma to Him"? We busy ourselves with self and its surroundings — our wants, our weakness, our trials and difficulties. So we leave God without the bread of His sacrifice.
- Bread — God calls the daily lamb His own food. The chapter's leading thought is Christ toward God, not only Christ meeting our need.
- Direction — This is a burnt offering, not a sin offering. The sin offering deals with the hatefulness of sin. The burnt offering shows the preciousness of Christ. Fifty-eight of the section's seventy-one verses are offerings of pleasing aroma.
- Testimony — Two lambs, with the grain and drink offerings added, give a full picture of Christ. They are a daily witness from a redeemed people to their Redeemer.
- Continual — The offering never stopped, so Israel always had ground to stand on. In the same way, Christ in all His acceptability is always before God for His own.
- Night and day — The altar burned while the camp slept. God still found His pleasure in what the sacrifice pictured. That is the measure of the worship He looks for from us.
The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer between the two evenings;
Numbers 28 opens a long section of sacrifices that God calls His own food. Verse 4 sets the smallest and most frequent of them: one lamb at daybreak, one as the day closes. Why did God want this one offering repeated twice a day, every day, without fail?
God speaks of these sacrifices as His own. He does not leave them to Israel's choice.
Numbers 28 and Numbers 29 give very full instructions about the various sacrifices. They were to be offered day by day, both morning and evening; on the sabbaths; at the start of the months; and at the great feasts that marked the Israelite year. Verse 2 calls them "My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices." So God claimed them as His right. They were not optional but compulsory.
The daily lamb was a burnt offering. That one fact sets the theme of the chapter.
In a word then, 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 start of the year to its end — it is Christ in His fragrance and preciousness to God... our sin is atoned for, judged, and put away for ever — our trespasses forgiven and guilt cancelled. But above and beyond this, Christ feeds, refreshes and delights the heart of God.
Yet the sin offering is never dropped altogether.
But along with these there was also an offering for sin. This shows that the sinful state of the people was never forgotten. Sacrifice met it.
Why two lambs, and not one? The number itself carries meaning.
To give full expression to what is in the fullest way sweet savour to God, the meal offering and the drink offering must be added to the burnt offering — a full Christ in the preciousness of His self-giving. The "lamb" speaks of this; two lambs, the number of testimony, a daily witness from a redeemed people to the One who has redeemed them. Through Him they are no longer "without God in the world," and their hearts enthrone their glorious King.
The timing shaped how Israel woke and how Israel slept.
This leads to the ordinance as to the daily sacrifice of two lambs, one each morning and one each evening. So priests and people were to begin their day and end it with a reminder that they only stood in acceptance before God on the ground of sacrifice. Only in this way could God dwell among them, sanctify the tabernacle with His glory, and make His mind known to His people through Moses.
Between the evening lamb and the morning one, the altar was not idle.
But notice what we have here. At night no worshippers were going to the temple, and the priests had stopped their service. Even then, there was still to be evidence of worship on the altar of the burnt offering... The worshippers were asleep, but the flame still rose from the altar. They might be unaware of this silent worship. But the Lord was refreshing Himself with the sweetness, the excellence, the glory, the grace of His blessed Son. The burnt sacrifice pointed to Him.
Feast days added sacrifices; they never subtracted this one.
Every morning and evening the blood of a spotless lamb was to be poured out at the foot of the altar, and all its pieces were to be offered up as a whole burnt offering. The sweet savour of that sacrifice, which made propitiation, went up from the altar to God. No matter how many other sacrifices might be offered on this altar, following the detailed instructions in the book of Leviticus, the daily morning and evening burnt offering was never to be left out... The Sabbath and the other feasts had their own special sacrifices, but these were never to replace or exclude "the continual burnt-offering."
One writer looks ahead to a day when only the morning lamb remains.
In the past an evening lamb was in every way fitting. When the people were awakened to the truth, it comforted them to know that God had provided for that long, long night in which they had slept, forgetting Him who had died for that nation. But now that they are in the light of His day, the evening lamb disappears. Every morning it remains as a continual burnt offering.
- Claimed — God calls the sacrifices His own offering and His own food. The daily lamb was His right, not Israel's choice.
- Continual — The word governs the whole ordinance. Feasts added to it; nothing replaced it; the altar burned on through the night while the camp slept.
- Christ — The lamb was a burnt offering. So the theme is not sin dealt with, but the preciousness of Christ rising to God. The sin offering was still there, but it was not the main point.
- Cadence — Priests and people began and ended each day on the ground of sacrifice. The two lambs were a daily witness from a redeemed people.
- Consummation — In the coming day of light, only the morning lamb remains. The night of forgetfulness is over; the fragrance is not.
and a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for an oblation, mingled with beaten oil, a fourth part of a hin
With each lamb of the daily sacrifice went flour and oil, measured to the exact amount. Why does God ask for a grain gift alongside a burnt offering, and why is the measure so precise?
These offerings run right through the year, day by day and season by season. Their main subject is not sin.
In a word then, the special theme here is God's delight in Christ. Morning and evening, day by day, week after week, from one new moon to the next, from the opening of the year to its close: it is Christ. It is His fragrance and preciousness to God. True — and thanks be to God and to Jesus Christ His Son — our sin is atoned for, judged, and put away for ever. Our trespasses are forgiven and our guilt cancelled. But above and beyond this, Christ feeds, refreshes, and delights the heart of God.
The flour and oil are what the ESV calls a grain offering and the commentators call the meal offering. It never came alone, and the order matters.
Christ in His death and in His life — both were to be brought in remembrance before God. His death as a sacrifice of sweet savour was to be foreshadowed, but His life likewise. The former was not to be pictured without the latter. The order, however, is suggestive. The meal offering accompanied the burnt offering or peace offering. Men can only take up Christ's life before God in connection with His death. They read, as it were, His history in the inverse order.
Another writer traces the same pairing back to an earlier rule in Numbers:
We read in Numbers 15:4, 6, 9 that offerings by fire had to be accompanied by meal-offerings (compare Numbers 28:5). This fact shows that Christ's sacrifice would not have been possible without His perfect life on earth. The two belonged together — so it was, too, with the continual morning and evening burnt-offering.
The flour and the oil each carry meaning, and so does the mixing of the two.
The meal offering... is an emblem of the devotedness of Christ in life, His entire consecration to the will and glory of God. The fine flour was mingled with oil (see also Leviticus 2). This pictures the mysterious truth that in His humanity Christ was begotten of the Holy Spirit. It represented the perfection of His life below — a life of perfect obedience. Every energy of His soul flowed out in this channel. He found His food in doing His Father's will and finishing His work. So Israel stood before God in all the value and acceptance of His life and death.
A tenth of an ephah already had a name and a history in Israel's wilderness diet.
The ordinary measure was the ephah, one tenth of which was an omer, the food of one man (Exodus 16:16, 36). In the meal offering, the fine flour went with the burnt offering in proportion to the size and importance of the animal offered. So a lamb took one tenth deal, that is, one omer. A ram took two tenths, or one fifth. A bullock took three tenths — "three measures of fine flour," which speak of the fulness of Christ.
The same writer reads the fractions — a half, a third, a quarter — as a measure of how much of Christ we take in. The smallest of them stands here, with the lamb.
"One fourth," the smallest number, may suggest a feeble measure by comparison — the earth's estimate of Christ. "One third" points to a fulness when it is once complete. The "half" reminds us of the other half. As the Queen of Sheba said of the glories of Solomon, the half had not been told her. In the same way, we have never yet grasped the half of the glories and blessedness of our Lord.
Worship that is only about our own need falls short of this pattern. Mackintosh presses the point, using the older wording of verse 2:
Why is the tone of our public meetings so often low?... 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 to Him"? We are occupied with self and its surroundings — our wants, our weakness, our trials and difficulties. So we leave God without the bread of His sacrifice.
- Portion. The daily offering is God's food first, not ours. His delight in Christ is the theme running through the whole calendar.
- Pairing. The flour never went up alone. Death and life came before God together, and we learn them in reverse order — first the cross, then the life behind it.
- Parts. Fine flour pictures a perfect human life of obedience. The oil mingled through it points to a humanity begotten of the Holy Spirit.
- Proportion. A tenth of an ephah was one man's daily food. The flour grew with the size of the animal — larger sacrifice, larger grasp of the Person.
- Practice. The quarter of a hin is the smallest fraction of all, and our grasp of Christ is still that small. Worship taken up with our own wants leaves God without the bread of His sacrifice.
[it is] the continual burnt-offering which was ordained on mount Sinai for a sweet odour, an offering by fire to Jehovah.
Numbers 28 opens with God calling the sacrifices "My offering, My bread." Verse 6 then ties the daily lamb back to Mount Sinai. It raises three questions: why God calls this offering continual, what "a pleasing aroma" means, and why He calls a sacrifice His food. (Older translations read "sweet savour" where the ESV has "pleasing aroma"; the writers quoted below use the older wording.)
One writer treats the chapter's opening words as the key to this whole section:
These words give the reader a key to unlock this whole portion of the Book of Numbers. It is as clear and simple as possible. "My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices," "a sweet savour to Me." All of this stands out strongly. We can learn here, without any effort, that the great leading thought is Christ toward God. The point is not so much Christ meeting our need — though He surely does meet it, most blessedly. The point is Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God. It is God's bread — a wonderful expression, and one that few people think about or understand.
The same writer points to a count anyone can check:
There are seventy-one verses in the entire section. Thirteen of them refer to the sin offering. The other fifty-eight deal with sweet savour offerings.
Verse 6 does not add a new sacrifice. It gathers the lamb of verse 4 with the flour and oil of verse 5, and names them as one:
This grain offering speaks of the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus. His whole life on earth expressed that perfection, energized by the Spirit of God (the oil). As we keep Him in affectionate memory before God, we are truly offering the grain offering. Verse 6 speaks of this in total as one offering of a sweet aroma, for there is perfect unity in the sacrifice of Christ.
The verse calls it a food offering. Older translations read "an offering made by fire." One writer asks what the fire and the sweet savour mean:
Is not a sweet savour something we delight in, something that pleases us? These are the words the Holy Spirit uses to tell us God's thoughts about that blessed One and His sacrifice. What does "fire" mean in Scripture? Fire generally signifies God's testing judgment. Fire and the sweet savour go together… He was made sin for us, though He knew no sin. He was there, bearing the whole weight of our judgment. In His infinite grace, what came out? Nothing but infinite perfection, nothing but a sweet savour to God, nothing but what God found infinite delight in. Tested to the utmost, and the more He was tested the more sweet savour came out. The more we are tested, very often, the more our imperfections come out. The more He was tested, the more His perfections came out. In that sweet savour we find ourselves accepted.
Verse 6 traces this offering back to its first command, in Exodus 29. One writer notes that it stood apart even among burnt offerings:
Exodus 29:38 gives the instructions for the continual burnt offering. It was an unusual burnt offering. There was no laying on of hands, and no presentation of atonement for men. It was wholly for God in every way. It shows us the unbroken delight of Christ's sacrifice of Himself to God. The morning lamb and the evening lamb provided this constant sweet fragrance before God. When the night for Israel is over… there will be no need for the evening sacrifice, but only the morning sacrifice.
The word marks an offering that nothing could interrupt or crowd out — not even the great festivals of the year:
The book of Leviticus gives detailed instructions for many different sacrifices on this altar. However many of them were offered, the daily morning and evening burnt offering was never to be left out… The Sabbath and the other feasts had their own special sacrifices. But these were never to replace or exclude "the continual burnt offering."
The same writer asks what all this means for worship:
Why insist on it? Simply to show the Christian reader the true character of the worship God looks for and delights in. God delights in Christ; and it should be our constant aim to present to God that in which He delights. Christ should always be the material of our worship, and He will be, in proportion as the Spirit of God leads us.
- Continual in origin — the daily lamb was no new idea; verse 6 points back to the command given at Sinai, in Exodus 29.
- Continual in character — no feast, however great, could replace or crowd out the morning and evening offering.
- Continual in worth — fire means God's testing judgment; the more Christ was tested, the more sweet savour came out.
- Continual as one whole — verse 6 sums up lamb, flour and oil as one pleasing aroma, because the sacrifice of Christ is one.
- Continual in us — since God delights in Christ, the worship He looks for offers Him the same thing, day after day.
And the drink-offering thereof shall be a fourth part of a hin for one lamb; in the sanctuary shall the drink-offering of strong drink be poured out to Jehovah.
The daily lamb was never offered alone. Strong wine went with it, poured out to the LORD in the Holy Place. Why wine, why there, and why the offerer kept none of it — this short verse raises three questions.
Numbers 28 and 29 are not about how a sinner gets forgiven. They set out what God calls His own food, and the drink offering is part of that provision.
These two chapters (28 and 29) give us what God calls "My bread." They do not present what Christ is for us, or what Christ did for us. It is quite true that in these two chapters the sin offering comes in no less than thirteen times. But it only comes in by the way. The sin offering is not the point here. It is what Christ is to God. It is Christ in all the sweet savour and fragrance of His life, and in the devotedness of His death, going up to God.
This was no occasional extra.
From the day Aaron's priesthood was fully in place, not one day was to pass without a drink offering. It always belonged with the morning and evening burnt offering (Ex. 29:40-42). Every day something was offered up on the bronze altar as a picture, and it could cheer the heart of anyone who understood it at all. And now we are told what the drink offering was to consist of — strong wine, poured out to the Lord (Num. 28:7). For it is wine, as Jotham says in his parable, that "cheers God and man." (Judges 9:13.) And surely there was something on the altar, in picture, well fitted to do this: the lamb of the burnt offering, foreshadowing the perfect surrender of the Lord Jesus Christ to do His Father's will.
"Strong" here rules out dilution. God held the wine to the same standard as every other offering.
The drink offerings were to consist of "strong wine" (Num. 28:7). This matches the animal sacrifices, which had to be without blemish, perfect in every way (Lev. 22:17-25), and the meal offering, which had to be fine flour with no leaven and no honey (Lev. 2:11)... The wine was to be pure, in the sense that no one watered it down. Only perfection can please God.
The choice of liquid carries the meaning here.
Wine is a symbol of joy both to God and to man (Judges 9:13, Ps. 104:15), and this is what marks the drink offering. It does not speak directly of Christ's death. If it did, the offering would consist of blood — the blood poured out in the animal sacrifices, or burned in the fire as a picture of the judgment of God. There is no such command. Indeed, God condemned the practice of offering blood as a drink offering (Ps. 16:4, 106:37-38). The drink offering speaks rather of God's joy at the accomplishment of the work of Christ at Calvary.
Two things carry the meaning: what was poured, and that nothing was kept back.
The wine speaks of joy and the pouring out speaks of utter devotion to God. There was nothing held back. We see this wonderfully in the life of our Lord in Matthew 11. There He speaks of the cities where He had laboured so devotedly for God. He had, it seemed, "laboured in vain" and "spent" His "strength for nothing" (Isa. 49:4). But there was no despair in the heart of Christ, nor indeed could there be. Rather, there was true joy.
One writer sees the same picture in the apostle Paul, who takes the lesser place in it.
Just as a drink offering of wine was poured upon the lamb of the continual burnt offering (Num. 28:7), to signify unselfish joy in the sacrifice, so the apostle attributes to them the sacrifice and service of devoted faith. He takes the lesser place, being simply the drink offering poured out upon their sacrifice, with genuine joy in giving his very life to further their devoted affection to Christ.
- God's food. Numbers 28 is God's own portion, not man's forgiveness. The sin offering appears there, but it is not the point.
- Daily lamb. No day passed without a drink offering. It went with the morning and evening lamb.
- Strong wine. Undiluted, like flour without leaven and animals without blemish — only perfection pleases God.
- Not blood. God asked for wine, the symbol of joy. He condemned blood poured out as a drink offering.
- Poured out. The offerer kept none of it, and Paul took that same place — his life poured out, with joy, on someone else's sacrifice.
And the second lamb thou shalt offer between the two evenings; [with the] like oblation as that of the morning, and the like drink-offering, shalt thou offer it as an offering by fire of a sweet odour to Jehovah.
Israel's daily service did not end at sunrise: as the day closed, a second lamb went up on the altar, matching the first in every detail. Why did God ask for the same offering a second time?
The lamb at twilight is a burnt offering, not a sin offering. The two point in opposite directions.
The character of the offering is as plain as possible. It was Christ toward God. This is the special point in the burnt offering. The sin offering is Christ toward us. In the sin offering, it is a question of the hatefulness of sin. In the burnt offering, it is a question of the preciousness and excellency of Christ.
The evening lamb is not a smaller version of the first. Its grain offering and drink offering match the morning's, measure for measure. That sameness means one thing for Israel and another for us.
The burnt offering comes first in order. It is to be always upon the altar, a lasting testimony to Israel's acceptance with God. Even as a picture, this was only partly reached in their case: they stretched out the morning and evening sacrifice so as to merge them into one, as it were. For us it is simple. The one offering stays before God continually, and we stay in the value of it, with no possibility of change.
The verse names three things together: the lamb, the grain offering, the drink offering. Each one shows God something different about Christ.
The burnt offering is complete in itself, as Leviticus 1 shows. Even so, God wanted all three before Him at once: all that Christ was as seen in the burnt offering, all that the grain offering sets out of Christ, and what the drink offering brings to Him in Christ. Every morning this offering was to be on the altar before God, and also between the two evenings. In this way the precious fragrance of Christ — what He was in His Manhood, and what He was in His death for God — would be always before Him, from morning till evening, and from evening till morning.
The drink offering carries joy — and one writer puts it to the reader directly.
The drink offering speaks of the joy of the offerer in contemplating the perfections of the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice. Such joy surely ought to be true of every Christian life. Can we allow a morning or an evening to pass without some fresh, admiring thoughts of the Lord Jesus and His sacrifice?
In Ezekiel's vision of a future temple, only the morning lamb is left. One writer reads that missing evening lamb as a sign of changed times for Israel.
Another remarkable thing: the daily offering was still the burnt offering of a lamb, prepared morning by morning as of old, but there was no longer an evening lamb… It was the day when the sun of Israel should go down no more. In earlier times an evening lamb was fitting in every way. Once the people were awakened to the truth, it comforted them to know that God had provided for that long, long night in which they had slept, forgetting Him who had died for that nation. But now that they are in the light of His day the evening lamb disappears, while every morning it remains as a continual burnt offering.
The verse ends with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. One writer explains what God found in it, and what it settles for the believer.
All of it was consumed on the altar and went up as a sweet savour to the LORD. That sweet savour showed how acceptable His death was to God — the infinite delight God found in the death of Christ in obedience to His will. The offering before us never stopped. By it God laid a foundation on which Israel could stand, accepted in all its fragrance and savour. So it becomes no small picture of the believer's position, showing the ground of his acceptance in the Beloved. The sweet savour of the continual burnt offering always went up to God on behalf of Israel. In the same way, Christ in all His acceptability is always before His eyes on behalf of His own.
- Continual. The evening lamb is not an extra ritual. It is the second half of one unbroken offering, morning till evening and evening till morning.
- Continual for God. It is a burnt offering, not a sin offering — Christ toward God, not Christ toward us. The question is the preciousness of Christ, not the hatefulness of sin.
- Continual in measure. "Like the grain offering of the morning" means no smaller offering at dusk. The one sacrifice stays before God, with no possibility of change.
- Continual through the night. The evening lamb suits a long night of forgetfulness. In the coming day, only the morning lamb remains.
- Continual for us. That fragrance never fades, so the believer's acceptance rests on it. The fitting answer is fresh, admiring thought of Christ morning and evening.
And on the sabbath day two yearling lambs without blemish, and two tenth parts of fine flour as an oblation, mingled with oil, and the drink-offering thereof
Numbers 28 lists Israel's offerings in order, from the daily lamb to the sabbath. On the sabbath the number of lambs doubles — so why does the day of rest call for more, not less?
The kind of sacrifice named here settles what the day was about:
Again, what were the two lambs for the Sabbath — a sin offering or a burnt offering? "This is the burnt offering of every Sabbath." It was to be double. The reason is that the Sabbath was a picture of the rest that remains for God's people, when there will be a twofold appreciation of Christ. But the character of the offering is as plain as possible. It was Christ toward God. This is the special point in the burnt offering. The sin offering is Christ toward us. In the sin offering the question is the hatefulness of sin. In the burnt offering the question is the preciousness and excellency of Christ.
The lambs do not come alone. Fine flour mixed with oil goes up with them, and each part of that grain offering stands for something.
Made of fine flour, whether dry or cooked, it pictured the Lord as a man. Mixed with oil, and presented with frankincense whenever frankincense was used, it spoke of His conception by the Holy Spirit and of His life on earth, being a sweet savour to God.
The sabbath points to God's rest. So what does the second lamb add?
This clearly goes on to the rest of God, of which the sabbath is always the well-known figure. When it comes, the only difference will be that the testimony to the value of Christ will be more widely spread and fuller… But when the sabbath dawns on the earth, the true sabbath of Jehovah in all its meaning, there will be a public witness of it all over the world that cannot be mistaken. This seems referred to in the doubling of the lamb. It is the idea of the rest of God set against the time of working that comes before it… "So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." The time of the true rest is not yet come. Notice, it does not mean the rest we have got for our souls by faith. Instead, it is the rest of glory for the people of God and for the world, when there will be this widespread testimony.
Read together, the daily and the sabbath offering reach beyond Israel's week:
These two ordinances, then, of the daily and the Sabbath offering, fall into one section. Together they give us the perpetual offering — in picture, the abiding preciousness of Christ for time and for eternity. Eternity only confirms and underlines what every day of time has witnessed to before.
The extra lambs never crowd out the daily sacrifice — called "the continual burnt offering" in older translations and "the regular burnt offering" in the ESV.
No matter how many sacrifices were offered on this altar, following the detailed instructions in the book of Leviticus, the daily morning and evening burnt offering was never to be left out. God appointed special sacrifices for the Sabbath and for the other feasts. But these were never to replace or exclude "the continual burnt offering."
Jesus later drew on this command Himself. The priests kept sacrificing on the very day Israel rested:
The Lord cites from the law itself another witness. The priests did not stop sacrificing on the sabbath. The law even increased the morning and evening sacrifices on that day (Num. 28:9-10). Man's sin was the reason these sacrifices were needed, but so was the grace of God that provided for the sin. This whole sacrificial system was much older than the law. It was the constant, though veiled, witness of the grace running through all earlier ages… Before it, wherever there was conflict, the "sign" of the legal covenant gave way, as here.
- Continual — the daily lamb never stops. Every special sacrifice adds to it and never replaces it.
- Doubled — the sabbath adds a second lamb. Commentators see in it a fuller, more public witness to the worth of Christ when God's rest comes.
- Godward — the day's sacrifice is a burnt offering. The theme is not sin dealt with, but the preciousness of Christ to God.
- Flour and oil — the grain offering pictures the Lord as a man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, His life on earth a sweet savour to God.
- Unbroken — priests sacrificed on the sabbath itself. Grace kept working through the day of rest, and Jesus later drew that witness from the law.
it is the burnt-offering of the sabbath, for each sabbath besides the continual burnt-offering, and its drink-offering.
Numbers 28 lists the offerings Israel owed God through the year. Verse 10 closes the sabbath part, and it raises two questions: why the sabbath lamb is doubled, and why the daily sacrifice still stands alongside it.
The first thing to settle is what kind of offering these two lambs were. One writer asks the question and lets the text answer it.
Again, what were the two lambs for the Sabbath — a sin offering or a burnt offering? "This is the burnt offering of every Sabbath." It was to be double, because the Sabbath was a picture of the rest that remains for God's people. In that rest there will be a twofold appreciation of Christ. But the character of the offering is as plain as possible. It was Christ presented to God. That is the special point in the burnt offering. The sin offering is Christ toward us. With the sin offering, the question is the hatefulness of sin; with the burnt offering, the question is the preciousness and excellence of Christ.
The same writer weighs the two chapters by the line and finds the proportion decisive:
There are seventy-one verses in the entire section; and, out of these, thirteen allude to the sin offering, and the remaining fifty-eight are occupied with sweet savour offerings.
The daily lamb already spoke of Christ. So why two on the sabbath? One writer ties the doubling to God's rest and to a wider witness.
There is the sweet savour of Christ rising continually, in which God regards His people on the earth… This goes on to the rest of God, of which the sabbath is always the well-known figure. When it comes, the only difference will be that the testimony to the value of Christ will be wider and fuller… Christianity has brought it out in its very depths. But it is a thing known only to the believer on the one hand, and to God on the other. But the true sabbath of the Lord will dawn on the earth in all its meaning. Then there will be a public witness of it all over the world that cannot be mistaken. This seems referred to in the doubling of the lamb.
Another writer draws the same line forward to the worshipper's own capacity:
The Sabbath speaks of the eternal rest of God, and in that day our appreciation of the sacrifice of Christ will not diminish, but increase.
The word besides matters. The two sabbath lambs were an addition to a sacrifice that had never stopped — older translations call it the continual burnt offering.
There was a clear command never to let the fire of the altar go out. It was a lasting rule for the children of Israel. The book of Leviticus gives detailed instructions for many other sacrifices on this altar. However many of them were offered, the daily morning and evening burnt offering was never to be left out… Special sacrifices were appointed for the Sabbath and for the other feasts. But these were never to replace or exclude "the continual burnt offering."
A meal offering of grain went with each lamb. One writer shows why the two could never be separated.
Numbers 15:4, 6, 9 shows that meal offerings had to go with offerings by fire (compare Numbers 28:5). This fact shows that Christ's sacrifice would not have been possible without His perfect life on earth. The two belonged together, and the same was true of the continual morning and evening burnt offering.
The verse ends with the drink offering that went with the daily sacrifice. There was a rule about which offerings it could join.
Under the law drink offerings were not to be offered alone… They had to go with the sweet-savour offerings (Numbers 15:1-13), above all with the burnt offering and the meal offering that came with it. They were never to go with the sin or trespass offerings. There could be no joy for God in Christ's sufferings when He was made sin on the cross… But there is always joy for God in the complete obedience of Christ, obedient even to death, in doing the will of God.
One writer turns this straight to how believers worship now.
All this shows 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 always be what our worship is made of… Sadly, it is often otherwise with us… We are taken up with ourselves instead of with Christ.
- Continual — the daily burnt offering never stopped. Feast sacrifices were added to it, never put in its place.
- Doubled — the sabbath lamb is two, not one. God's rest brings a fuller and more public witness to the worth of Christ.
- For God — this is a burnt offering, not a sin offering. It speaks of how precious Christ is, not how hateful sin is.
- Accompanied — the meal offering ties the sacrifice to Christ's perfect life. The drink offering marks God's joy, so it never went with a sin offering.
- Ours — worship is still made of the same material: Christ, not ourselves.
And in the beginnings of your months ye shall present a burnt-offering to Jehovah two young bullocks, and one ram, seven yearling lambs without blemish.
The chapter moves outward in three steps: what was offered daily, what was added weekly, and now what came at the start of each month. This monthly offering is the largest of the three. Why does a new month call for more, and what does each animal stand for?
The chapter works like a calendar before it reaches the yearly feasts. This verse opens its third stage.
First of all you have the general arrangement of what was to be daily (Num. 28:3-8), weekly (Num. 28:9-10), and monthly (Num. 28:11-15). And then come the seven annual feasts of which the passover was the first.
The words "at the beginnings of your months" point to the new moon. One commentator notes that this command appears nowhere else in the first five books of the Bible.
This belongs to Numbers alone; no other book of the first five contains it. The reason seems to be that it is closely bound up with the wilderness pictures of Israel — their experiences and changes as a people on earth. "At the beginnings of your months," that is, at the new moon, when the light that had faded shone out again. Such a picture in no way fits the church, which is called during Israel's darkness, after the light faded and before it shines again.
Commentators differ on how far the picture reaches. Kelly keeps it to Israel. Another writer widens it, because the moon's light is only the sun's light falling on her.
The light of the moon reappears — that is, the light of the sun shines on her again. In the seventh month we find this linked with the feast of trumpets, Israel's recall into the light of God, when the full time of her blessing has come. Of course the church as such cannot be said to be recalled into the light; yet the people in her, and above all the Gentile who had fallen away from God, are now brought back. What is more, her history has shown how dependent she is on God for reviving grace. Like Israel's, it is a record of falling back into darkness over and over, and of revivals through His sovereign goodness, again and again. For each of us too, how deeply we are in debt to God for constant renewal!
The bull, the ram and the lambs are not interchangeable. Each stands for something different, and the numbers matter too.
The bull here presents Christ offered to God in the fullest way, with the thought of energy in devotedness to God, and it does so in the full testimony that "two" stands for. I take the sheep, or the lower forms, to show Christ valued in a smaller measure. The bull is the fullest appreciation of Christ. Those who had despised Him so long will now own Him with all the more warmth because they once slighted Him. The Lord kindly takes notice of this. The ram pictures Christ as an offering of consecration to God; here it is only a weak testimony — "one ram." The "seven lambs" mean the completeness of the pleasing aroma of Christ before God.
If the new moon is God reviving the light, the offering is what comes back the other way. The offering does not stop at what pleases God — a goat for sin comes with it.
So when the testimony is renewed, when God revives the light that produces it — and this is the first feast mentioned here — man's answer is simple and perfect. There are two bulls, just as there were two lambs on the sabbath day. That is the full and complete testimony to man's devotedness, for two made a testimony valid. The ram of consecration is the full estimate of the sacrifice of Christ. Man is still down here, and sin is not out of the question, so the goat was added as an offering for sin.
The flour offered with each animal was not left to choice. It was fixed in a set ratio, and the ratio itself teaches something.
These offerings go with us through the whole double series. The only change is in the number of the first three animals, and the grain offering that goes with them keeps a fixed proportion: one tenth of an ephah of flour for a lamb, two tenths for a ram, three for a bull. So our grasp of Christ's person grows along with our grasp of His work, if that grasp is real.
- Rhythm — The offerings come daily, then weekly, then monthly, and only later yearly. This verse opens the monthly stage.
- Renewal — The new moon is light returning after it faded. It pictures a people recalled into the light of God, kept there by reviving grace.
- Response — Renewed light draws out worship. Two bulls give full testimony to devotedness, the ram speaks of consecration, and the seven lambs of completeness.
- Realism — Man is still on earth, and sin is still an issue, so a goat for sin joins the offerings that please God.
- Ratio — The flour rises with the animal: a larger view of Christ's work goes with a larger grasp of His person.
And three tenth parts of fine flour as an oblation, mingled with oil, for one bullock; and two tenth parts of fine flour as an oblation, mingled with oil, for the ram;
Every animal offered at the new moon came with its own measure of fine flour mixed with oil. A bull took three tenths of an ephah, a ram two. Why does the flour rise with the animal? And what did flour and oil say to Israel?
The grain offering never stood alone. A rule tied it to the animal sacrifice, and that rule covered the whole calendar:
The measures of the required grain offering were fixed. They normally varied with the animal brought from the herd or the flock for a burnt offering or a peace offering... this rule held good for the daily, the weekly, the monthly, and the yearly celebrations. For Christ in His death and in His life were both to be brought to mind before God. His death as a sacrifice of pleasing aroma was to be pictured beforehand, but His life as well. The first was not to be pictured without the second. The order, however, is suggestive. The grain offering came with the burnt offering or the peace offering. Men can only take up Christ's life before God in connection with His death, reading His history, as it were, in reverse order.
The verse names two ingredients: fine flour and oil. One writer takes each as a picture of Christ:
The grain offering is the picture of Christ in His perfect humanity and holy, devoted character. It was not for atonement, just as Christ's holy humanity and devoted life could not atone for sins... The fine flour, sifted and pure, coming from the grain of wheat, is the fitting and beautiful picture of His perfect humanity. The oil, so prominent in this offering, is the picture of the Holy Spirit... The fine flour was mixed with oil. This pictures His conception by the Holy Spirit, His whole being Spirit-filled... Yeast was completely absent... It had to be left out, for yeast is a picture of evil, and no evil was in Him.
The verse names two animals, and each stands for a different measure of how Christ is valued:
The bull represents the largest way of setting Christ forth as offered to God, with the idea of energy of devotion to God... The sheep, or the lower forms, show, I think, Christ valued in a smaller measure. The bull is the fullest appreciation of Christ... The ram is a picture of Christ as an offering of consecration to God; here it is only a weak testimony — "one ram."
The amounts carry meaning of their own. The smallest of them matched what fed one person:
The ordinary measure was the ephah. A tenth of it was an omer, the food of one man (Ex. 16:16, 36). In the grain offering, the amount of fine flour that went with the burnt offering matched the size and importance of the animal offered. So a lamb had one tenth, that is one omer; a ram two tenths, or one fifth; and a bull three tenths, "three measures of fine flour," which speak of the fulness of Christ.
One writer makes that fixed ratio a test of real growth:
These offerings go with us through the whole double series. Only the number of the first three animals changes, and the grain offering that goes with them stays in constant proportion — one tenth of an ephah for a lamb, two tenths for a ram, three for a bull. Our grasp of Christ's person grows with our grasp of His work, if this growth is real.
These offerings show what God enjoys. They also set the pattern for what we bring Him:
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. Sadly, the heart can tell how often it is otherwise with us. Both in the assembly and alone, how often the tone is low, and the spirit dull and heavy. We are occupied with self instead of with Christ.
- Measure attached — The grain offering never came alone. Fixed amounts of flour went with each animal, at every set feast in the year.
- Measure explained — Fine flour pictures a perfect humanity. Oil mixed through it points to the Holy Spirit. Yeast, the picture of evil, is left out.
- Measure graded — One tenth for a lamb, two tenths for a ram, three tenths for a bull. The flour rises with the animal, and three tenths is read as the fulness of Christ.
- Measure tested — The proportion never changes. So a fuller sense of Christ's work should bring a fuller sense of His person. The two grow together, if the growth is real.
- Measure offered — God's delight is the point of the whole section. So Christ, and not ourselves, should be the material of what we bring to God.
and a tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil as an oblation for each lamb [it is] a burnt-offering of a sweet odour, an offering by fire to Jehovah.
This verse belongs to the offerings for the start of each month. Every lamb of the burnt offering came with its own measure of fine flour mixed with oil. Why tie a grain offering to an animal sacrifice? And why does God call what comes of it His own food?
The lambs of this verse belong to the new moon offerings, a set of sacrifices described only in this book. One commentator points out where this feast is found, what the new moon pictures, and what its lambs stand for.
Then comes "the beginnings of your months." This is found only in Numbers, in no other of the first five books of the Bible. The reason seems to be that it is closely bound up with the wilderness pictures of Israel — their experiences and changes as a people on earth. "In the beginnings of your months" means at the new moon, when the light that had faded shone out again… The "seven lambs" mean the completeness of Christ's pleasing aroma before God.
The grain offering of flour and oil pictures the Lord Jesus — not His death, but the life He lived. One writer takes each ingredient in turn, and says why yeast had no place in it.
The meal offering is a picture of Christ in His perfect humanity and holy, devoted character. It was not for atonement, just as the holy humanity of Christ and the devotedness of His life could not atone for sins… The fine flour, sifted and pure, coming from the grain of wheat, is a fitting and beautiful picture of His perfect humanity. The oil, so prominent in this offering, is a picture of the Holy Spirit… The fine flour was mixed with oil. This pictures His coming as man, conceived by the Holy Spirit, His whole being filled with the Spirit… There was no yeast in it at all… Yeast had to be kept out, for yeast is a picture of evil, and no evil was in Him.
The flour never went up alone; it came with the lamb. The pairing is the lesson, and so is the order.
Both Christ's death and Christ's life were to be brought before God as a memorial. His death as a sacrifice of pleasing aroma had to be pictured beforehand, and His life just as much. The one was not to be pictured without the other. The order, however, is telling. The grain offering came with the burnt offering or the peace offering. Men can only take up Christ's life before God in connection with His death. They read His history, as it were, backwards.
The amount was not left to the worshipper. It rose and fell with the animal it accompanied, and a tenth was the smallest of the three.
The ordinary measure was the ephah, and one tenth of it was an omer — the food of one man. In the meal offering, the measure of fine flour that went with the burnt offering matched the size and importance of the animal offered. So for a lamb, one tenth, that is one omer; for a ram, two tenths, or one fifth; while for a bull, three tenths, "three measures of fine flour," which speak of the fullness of Christ.
One writer reads that sliding scale as a spiritual principle.
These offerings go with us right through the series. Only the number of the first three changes, and the meal offering that goes with them stays in constant proportion… Our grasp of Christ's person grows with our grasp of His work, if that grasp is real.
God calls this offering His own food. That settles who the offering is chiefly for.
"My offering," "My food," "My sacrifices," "A pleasing aroma to Me." All of this is clearly marked. We can learn here, without any effort, that the great leading thought is Christ presented to God. It is not so much Christ meeting our need — though He does meet it, richly — as Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God. It is God's food — a wonderful expression, and one few people think about or understand.
If this is what God calls food, then it also settles what He looks for when His people come to Him.
God delights in Christ, and it should be our constant aim to present to God the One in whom He delights. Christ should always be the material of our worship… We are taken up with self instead of with Christ. The Holy Spirit's own proper work is to take the things of Christ and show them to us. Instead, He has to occupy us with ourselves, in self-judgment, because our ways have not been right.
- Setting — At the new moon, light shines again after fading. These offerings track Israel's changing life on earth.
- Flour — Sifted flour without yeast stands for a perfect humanity with no evil in it.
- Oil — Flour mingled with oil points to a life conceived and filled by the Holy Spirit.
- Measure — A tenth for a lamb, two for a ram, three for a bull: grasp of His person grows alongside grasp of His work.
- Aroma — Life and death come to God together, and He calls the result His own food. So Christ, not self, is the true material of worship.
And their drink-offerings half a hin of wine for a bullock, and the third part of a hin for the ram, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb. This is the monthly burnt-offering for each month throughout the months of the year.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And a buck of the goats shall be offered, for a sin-offering to Jehovah, besides the continual burnt-offering, and its drink-offering.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.