And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the passover to Jehovah.
Numbers 28 has already set out the daily, weekly and monthly offerings. Now Israel's yearly feasts begin, and they begin with the passover, on a date God Himself fixes. Why does the year's worship begin at this point, and what does the day mean?
God opens this chapter with a claim. The offerings belong to Him, and their calendar is not a suggestion.
In Numbers 28 and Numbers 29, we have very full instructions about the various sacrifices Israel had to offer. They came 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. In verse 2 they are spoken of as "My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices." So God claimed them as His right. They were not optional but compulsory.
These two chapters look toward God first, not toward us. What Israel brought was food set before God.
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 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 fragrance of His life, and in the devotedness of His death, going up to God.
Here the sacrifices for each feast are spelled out in full. That detail teaches a lesson about how we come to God.
Nothing was left to the choice or feelings of the people. They were to acknowledge and honour God according to His pleasure. In this we see a principle of importance. We draw near to God today and worship Him in another order of things... Today, those who worship God "must worship Him in spirit and truth" (John 4:24). And 1 Corinthians 12–14 prescribes the way to offer spiritual worship in public. It is not left for us to prescribe for ourselves.
The passover recalls the night in Egypt when a lamb died and the destroying angel passed over Israel's houses. Its place at the head of the year is no accident.
Here, then, we have the first of the seven regular solemn occasions: the offering of that passover lamb. Its blood screened the Israel of God from the sword of the destroying angel, on that terrible night when Egypt's firstborn died. This is the acknowledged type of the death of Christ; and so its place in this chapter is divinely fitting. It forms the foundation of all. We can know nothing of rest, nothing of holiness, nothing of fellowship, except on the ground of the death of Christ.
The day that opened Israel's year has a wider reach.
The Passover pointed to the very start of Israel's relationship with the Lord. They could have no true relationship with Him apart from the blood of the lamb, shed and sprinkled on their doorposts. Just as it took place at the beginning of Israel's year, so the sacrifice of Christ is the beginning of all true blessing for mankind.
Verse 16 names the passover. The next verse names a seven-day feast that follows it. Commentators differ on how closely the two belong together.
Get it clear in your minds that the passover and the feast of unleavened bread are two distinct things. The passover is Christ's work. The unleavened bread is connected with your walk. The two things are as distinct as possible, though they are coupled and go together. "On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD's Passover. And on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten" (Num. 28:16-17). And in the New Testament we have "Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us therefore celebrate the festival" (1 Cor. 5:7-8).
Others read the pairing as one combined feast with two sides to its meaning.
It is considered one feast, for sometimes it is called "the feast of the Passover" (Ex. 34:25; Luke 2:41; John 13:1). Unleavened bread was to be eaten for seven days. The Passover speaks of two things: sins forgiven by the blood of the sacrifice, and sin condemned by the death of Christ. For leaven is a symbol of sin, and the seven days speak of its complete judgment by the death of the Lord Jesus.
Across the whole run of feasts, one kind of offering dominates the lists — and the proportions themselves preach.
In a word, throughout the entire range of feasts, the leading idea is Christ as a sweet savour. The sin offering is never lacking; but the sweet savour offerings get the prominent place... The former is only spoken of as "one kid of the goats," while the latter comes before us as "fourteen lambs," "thirteen bullocks" and such like.
- Foundation — The passover stands first because it pictures the death of Christ. Rest, holiness and fellowship stand on nothing else.
- Beginning — It opens Israel's year. So the sacrifice of Christ opens all true blessing.
- God's portion — God calls these offerings His own bread. They set out what Christ is to God, not first what He is for us.
- God's terms — God fixed the day, the date and every sacrifice. Worship today is still prescribed, not invented.
- Then the walk — The fourteenth day is Christ's work. The seven days that follow are the walk that answers to it — the feast kept without leaven.
And on the fifteenth day of this month is the feast; seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.