And in the seventh month, on the first of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation no manner of servile work shall ye do; a day of blowing the trumpets shall it be unto you.
The seventh month opens with a day of assembly, of rest from work, and of trumpet blasts. Numbers 29 lists the offerings for that day. Commentators read it both as a real date in Israel's year and as a picture of what God will yet do for that nation.
This day opens a short cluster of feasts in the seventh month.
This happened on the first day of the seventh month. It was to be "a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation." On it they were to do no ordinary work. They were to offer an offering made by fire to the Lord (Leviticus 23:23-25). It indicated a renewal of blessing, and the day of atonement and the feast of tabernacles followed it in the same month. It foreshadowed the future day of Israel's awakening, when the revival of their blessing will be at hand.
One writer reads the ban on work as a statement about who does the work.
So the blowing of trumpets was another "holy convocation." Again, they were to do no customary work, because human energy will have nothing to do with this great regathering of Israel (v. 25). It will be exclusively the work of God.
The kind of trumpet matters here, and so does what it was normally used for.
In Numbers 10:2, God commanded Moses to make two silver trumpets. The trumpets called the assembly together, and they started the camps on their journey... They were also used at their set feasts and at their new moons. God said they "shall be for you a reminder before your God." The silver speaks of redemption. Those notes on the silver trumpets brought to mind God's covenant with His earthly people and His promise to His heavenly people. They also brought to mind the price paid on the cross to buy the redemption of both the heavenly and the earthly people.
A fresh word from God opens this feast, and its call goes out to Israel.
Next a new speaking of Jehovah to Moses is announced. It is a fresh testimony, a memorial of blowing of Trumpets. This new Feast, like those that follow, falls in the seventh month; and this one on its first day. Here Jehovah summons His ancient people from their sleep — from their "graves," as Ezekiel pictures it. Compare Isaiah 26:19, Daniel 12:2. The Christian call is past; the Jewish appeal will then begin and go on. Grace is preparing a people for Jehovah on earth, as now under the gospel for heaven.
The offering asked here is smaller than at other feasts, and one writer finds the difference deliberate.
Here the difference stands out, for God asks only for "one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish." It lacks the fullness of testimony to grace that went out to the Gentile as well as the Jew... There is only one young bull — not the two found in the previous case.
Another writer points out that this day's offering came on top of the regular new-moon offering.
The first day of the seventh month referred to the recall of Israel. That was something special: the renewal of God's connection with the earth, and above all with Israel, according to the value of Christ's work. So besides the regular recognition of grace on the first of the month, they offered one more bull, ram, and seven lambs.
One writer applies the day to a later gathering held on the same date, where Scripture never mentions the trumpets.
The first day of the seventh month was the feast of the blowing of trumpets (Leviticus 23:24; Numbers 29:1), a figure of the restoration of Israel in the last days. It would move the hearts of all true Israelites who understood its meaning. Whether the trumpets were blown on this occasion is not recorded; and the very fact that it is not, is significant... When everything is in confusion because people have neglected the word of God, the first thing to do is not to restore the feasts. It is to restore the authority of the Scriptures over the conscience.
Because trumpets appear elsewhere in Scripture, one writer warns against merging them.
This feast does not foreshadow the coming of the Lord to take up the heavenly saints. It foreshadows the regathering of Israel into the land of promise. And do not confuse the trumpets spoken of here with the resurrection trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15:52, or the "trumpet of God" in 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
- Call. The day opens with a sound, not a task. Silver trumpets are a reminder before God of the price paid for redemption.
- Rest. God allows no ordinary work, because the regathering this day pictures is His work, not human energy.
- Recall. The seventh month begins God's fresh dealing with Israel. It is a summons to a people asleep, even in their graves.
- Measure. One bull, one ram, seven lambs, added to the regular new-moon offering. It is a narrower witness than the offerings that reached Gentile as well as Jew.
- Caution. This trumpet calls Israel home. It is not the trumpet of 1 Thessalonians 4:16. And where people have neglected God's word, Scripture must regain its authority before feasts return.
And ye shall offer a burnt-offering for a sweet odour to Jehovah one young bullock, one ram, seven yearling lambs without blemish;
These offerings belong to the first day of the seventh month, the day trumpets called Israel together. Why does God ask for these animals — one bull, one ram, seven lambs — and why does He call the whole list "a pleasing aroma"?
This feast falls months after the earlier feasts of the year. That gap is part of the picture.
About four months passed before the Feast of Trumpets took place. This pictures the long time that has passed since Pentecost. Pentecost opened the long age of the grace of God, and through it Israel has stayed in unbelief. But the Feast of Trumpets stands for the regathering of Israel to their land, as Matthew 24:31 notes: "And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." When the church of God is caught up to heaven, this call by angelic power will have great public effect, for the trumpets speak of a clearly declared testimony.
One phrase governs the verse: "a pleasing aroma." It turns attention away from what we receive and toward what God enjoys.
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 truly does meet it, and richly — as Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God. We all have a sad tendency to see Christ only as the cause that obtains our salvation — the One through whom we are forgiven and saved from hell, the channel through which all blessing flows to us.
The sin offering is not missing from this chapter. It comes a few verses later. But the two lists differ sharply in size.
The sin offering is never missing. But the sweet savour offerings hold the leading place, as even the quickest reader can see. We do not think anyone can read this remarkable part of Scripture without noticing the contrast between the place of the sin offering and the place of the burnt offering. The first is named only as "one male goat," while the second comes before us as "fourteen male lambs," "thirteen bulls" and the like.
Three kinds of creature appear in one offering. Writers take each one as showing a different side of the same sacrifice.
These speak of the great value of the sacrifice of Christ in itself, as that which glorifies God for eternity. The bull emphasizes the strength of that sacrifice; the ram, its devotion; and the male lamb, its submission.
Seven lambs come back again and again in Israel's calendar of feasts.
The seven male lambs a year old without blemish tell of the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God. At every appointed feast this same number of lambs formed part of the burnt offering set for that feast. The one exception was the first seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles, when the number doubled.
The list for this day is short. Its shortness is part of what it teaches.
This month is the recognised picture of what belongs to Israel in particular — Israel called and brought into the blessing of God. Here the difference is clear. Only "one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish" is asked for. There is but one bull — not the two found in the earlier case. It lacks the full witness to grace that went out to the Gentile as well as to the Jew. It is but a single witness to the grace that God is about to display to His people Israel.
One writer states plainly why this matters for readers today.
Why insist on this? To show 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 the substance of our worship. And He will be, as far as the Spirit of God leads us.
- The day. Trumpets open the seventh month. They picture Israel brought home after a long time of unbelief.
- The aroma. "A pleasing aroma" points upward first: Christ delighting God, not only Christ meeting our need.
- The three. Bull, ram and lamb hold strength, devotion and submission together in one sacrifice.
- The seven. Lambs without blemish return at feast after feast. Perfection stays at the centre.
- The one bull. Where other feasts had two, one marks this day as Israel's own — a narrower witness to the same grace.
- The result. God delights in Christ, so Christ should be the substance of our worship.
and their oblation of fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram,
This verse sets the flour and oil that went up with each animal on the seventh month's day of trumpet blasts. Why did God tie a grain offering to every bull and ram, and what does the rising scale of measures teach?
One writer marks the seventh month out as Israel's own season, and points to how few animals it calls for.
The seventh month is the acknowledged type of what particularly concerns Israel — Israel summoned and brought into the blessing of God. Here the difference stands out sharply. God asks for only one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs a year old without blemish. It lacks the fullness of testimony to grace which went out to the Gentile as well as the Jew. It is but a single witness to the grace that God is about to display to His people Israel.
The grain offering in this verse is not an independent gift. It goes with the animals already named.
The grain offerings formed part of the other offerings ("and its grain offering"). Numbers 15:4, 6, 9 shows that offerings by fire had to have grain offerings with them (compare Numbers 28:5). This shows that Christ's sacrifice could not have happened without His perfect life on earth. The two belonged together.
Yet God names one of the pair first, and the order teaches us something.
First and last they were bound together. So we should honour the Lord Jesus in our faith. We honour not only His devotion in giving Himself up to death as a sacrifice, but also all the holy and obedient acts of His life. In Him the Father found His delight; and so His voice declared. But there is much to learn here: in these divine pictures the burnt offering stands first, not the meal offering. The meal offering always follows as an addition to it. Those who dwell on His coming as man in order to belittle His atoning death speak very differently!
Two ingredients are named in this verse, and neither of them is there for atonement.
The grain offering is a picture of Christ in His perfect humanity and holy, devoted character. It was not for atonement. The holy humanity of Christ and the devotion of His life could not atone for sins. It is called "most holy." The fine flour is sifted and pure, and it comes from the grain of wheat. It 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 coming as man, His conception by the Holy Spirit, His whole being filled with the Spirit.
The three tenths and two tenths are not random amounts. The size of the animal sets the measure.
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 a lamb took one tenth, that is one omer; a ram took two tenths, or one fifth; and a bull took three tenths, "three measures of fine flour," which speak of the fullness of Christ.
One writer sees a rule for the worshipper in that fixed ratio.
These offerings go with us through the whole double series. Only the number of the first three animals changes, and the meal offering that goes with them always keeps the same proportion. Our grasp of Christ's Person grows with our grasp of His work, if that grasp is real.
Notice the words God uses of these offerings in this part of Numbers.
"My offering," "My bread," "My sacrifices," "A pleasing aroma to Me." God marks all this out clearly. We may learn here, without any effort, that the great leading thought is Christ toward 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 bread — a truly wonderful expression, and one little thought of or understood.
- Occasion — The seventh month's trumpet day points to Israel called back into God's blessing. Its single bull makes it a narrower witness than the earlier feasts.
- Pairing — No animal went up alone. The grain offering tied to it says Christ's death could not have happened without His perfect life. Yet God names the burnt offering first, so His life never crowds out His atoning death.
- Substance — Fine flour speaks of His humanity, sifted and pure. Oil mixed right into it speaks of the Holy Spirit filling His whole being.
- Proportion — Three tenths for the bull, two for the ram, one for a lamb. The measure rises with the sacrifice. A real grasp of His work grows into a greater grasp of His Person.
- Purpose — God calls these offerings His own bread. The measure of Christ we bring is food for the heart of God.
and one tenth part for each lamb of the seven lambs;
This verse belongs to the rules for the first day of the seventh month, the day of trumpet blasts. It fixes the exact amount of flour that goes up with each of the seven lambs — so why does God measure worship this closely?
The offerings here belong to one day. They almost match an earlier feast, with one change.
On this day of the blowing of trumpets there was to be a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven lambs in their first year, all without blemish. At Pentecost they offered two young bulls. Otherwise the offerings were the same, and the grain offering was the same for each animal. A young goat was again included as a sin offering, "to make atonement" and not "as a sweet aroma." All of these were added to the regular monthly offerings, as verse 6 shows.
The gap in the calendar before this day carries meaning too.
About four months passed before the Feast of Trumpets. This pictures the long stretch of time after Pentecost, which opened the long age of the grace of God, while Israel has stayed in unbelief. But the Feast of Trumpets stands for the regathering of Israel to their land, as Matthew 24:31 says: "And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
Before asking what the flour means, ask who the meal is for.
We can see 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 wonderfully — as Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God. It is God's bread. That is a wonderful phrase, and one that few people think about or understand. We are all too ready to look at Christ only as the One who obtains our salvation, the One through whom we are forgiven and saved from hell, the channel through which every blessing flows to us.
The seven lambs are not special to this day. The same number comes up at feast after feast, with one exception.
The seven lambs in their first year, without blemish, tell of the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God. At every set feast this number of lambs was part of the appointed burnt offering. The one exception was the first seven days of the feast of Tabernacles, when the number was doubled (Num. 29:13-32). The bull, as the largest animal offered in sacrifice, may stand for energy and devotedness, while the ram speaks of consecration.
The measure named here is a human-sized portion, and the animal decides how much flour goes with it.
The usual measure was the ephah. A tenth of an ephah 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 had two tenths, or one fifth; and a bull had three tenths, "three measures of fine flour," which speak of the fullness of Christ.
The proportion holds steady right through, and one writer admits the measures still hold more than he can explain.
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 keeps a constant proportion. Our grasp of Christ's person grows along with our grasp of His work, if that grasp is real. The measures themselves still need someone to explain them.
The flour never goes up alone. It follows the animal, and that order carries meaning.
Christ in His death and Christ in His life were both to be brought to mind before God. His death as a sacrifice of pleasing aroma was to be pictured in advance, but so was His life. The one was never to be pictured without the other. The order, though, tells us something. The grain offering came with the burnt offering or the peace offering. People can only take up Christ's life before God in connection with His death. They read His story, as it were, in reverse order.
- Trumpet — This verse belongs to the day of trumpet blasts. It pictures Israel gathered back from the four winds after a long silence.
- Bread — The offering is God's own bread. The leading thought is Christ delighting the heart of God, not only meeting our need.
- Lamb — Seven lambs without blemish speak of the perfect sacrifice of the Lamb of God. This was the set number at the feasts.
- Measure — A tenth of an ephah is an omer, one man's food. The flour rises with the animal: a tenth for a lamb, two for a ram, three for a bull.
- Proportion — Our grasp of Christ's person grows with our grasp of His work. The flour never goes up without the blood.
and one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, to make atonement for you,
Numbers 29:5 sits inside a long list of offerings for the first day of the seventh month, and it is the one line that deals with guilt rather than fragrance. One small goat stands beside the bull, the ram and the seven lambs — so why did God keep placing it there?
The offerings of this chapter belong to a day marked out by trumpet blasts. Commentators read that day as a picture of something still ahead for Israel.
It is beautiful to see the significance of these feasts. It shows a wonderful unity: all the people gather together in Jerusalem on the first day of the seventh month. This is exactly the meaning of the feast of trumpets. It foreshadows a time when the people of Israel, now scattered all over the globe, will be gathered together again.
Everything else that day counts as a pleasing aroma to God. The wording changes for the goat, and one writer points to that change.
On this day of blowing of trumpets there was to be a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven lambs in their first year, all unblemished. A kid of the goats was again included as a sin offering, "to make atonement" rather than "as a pleasing aroma." These were all added to the regular monthly offerings, as verse 6 indicates.
The choice of animal carries its own weight.
Only one kid of the goats was given as a sin offering. The goat brings out the substitutionary character of the sacrifice of Christ. As the sin offering He took our place in suffering and death.
A feast day is a day of joy, so the presence of a sin offering can look out of place. It is there because of who is doing the approaching.
Need we say that the sin offering is essential, since man is the one in view, and man is a sinner? You cannot deal with man's approach to God, his worship, or his fellowship with Him, without bringing in the atoning death of Christ as the necessary foundation. The whole heart confesses this with supreme delight. The mystery of Christ's precious sacrifice will be the wellspring of our souls for ever.
Count the animals across these feasts and the balance becomes clear: one goat against whole herds and flocks.
Throughout the entire range of feasts, the leading idea is Christ as a pleasing aroma. The sin offering is never lacking, but the pleasing aroma offerings get the prominent place, and any reader can see it. The first is only spoken of as "one male goat." The second comes before us as "fourteen lambs," "thirteen bulls" and the like.
The difference between the goat and the animals burnt whole is not a difference of value but of direction.
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 excellence of Christ.
There is a difference between what lets us come near to God and what our worship is made of.
Real worship, although there is a sacrifice for sin, is not founded on the presenting of the sin offering. As redeemed people, we cannot draw near to worship without it. It is the door we come in by, but it is not the true character of our worship. Worship assumes the "pleasing aroma" of the burnt offering — coming up to God not only in the value of the blood, but in our acceptance in Jesus, with all the positive fragrance of what He was and did toward God.
- Trumpets. The day this goat belongs to pictures Israel, now scattered, gathered again.
- Substitute. The goat takes the offerer's place, and points to Christ suffering and dying in our place.
- Foundation. Without the atoning death underneath, no approach to God and no worship is possible. So the sin offering appears at every feast.
- Proportion. One goat against fourteen lambs and thirteen bulls. Sin is fully met, but the larger place goes to what delights God in Christ.
- Doorway. Atonement is the entrance, not the destination. Beyond it lies worship offered in the fragrance of Christ.
-- besides the monthly burnt-offering and its oblation, and the continual burnt-offering and its oblation, and their drink-offerings, according to their ordinance, for a sweet odour, an offering by fire to Jehovah.
This verse closes the instructions for the first day of the seventh month, the day of trumpet blasts. It closes them with one governing word: besides. So why does God pile offering on offering, and then call the whole thing His food?
These chapters open with God calling the offerings "My offering" and "My bread" — where the ESV reads "food offering." One writer treats that line as the key to the 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 pleasing aroma to Me." We may learn here, without effort, that the grand leading thought is Christ to Godward. It is not so much Christ as meeting our need — though surely He does most blessedly meet that — 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.
The verse looks back to "the burnt offering of the new moon." That monthly offering carries its own picture of Christ.
"In the beginnings of your months," that is, at the new moon, when there was the shining out again of what had waned away... The bull represents the largest form of setting forth Christ offered to God, with the idea of energy of devotedness to God, and in the adequate testimony that "two" stands for... The ram is a picture of Christ as an offering of consecration to God... The "seven lambs" mean the completeness of the pleasing aroma of Christ before God.
These offerings belong to the Feast of Trumpets. One writer reads that feast as a picture of something still ahead.
About four months passed by before the Feast of Trumpets took place. This illustrates the long time that passes after Pentecost. Pentecost introduced the extended age of the grace of God, while Israel has been in a state of unbelief. But the Feast of Trumpets symbolizes the regathering of Israel to their land, as Matthew 24:31 notes: "And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
Something changes in the seventh month. The new moon offering called for two young bulls; this day calls for one.
The change we find in the seventh month brings the truth out more clearly. This month is the accepted picture of what belongs to Israel in particular — Israel called and brought into the blessing of God. Here the difference is plain, for it asks only for "one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish." It lacks the full testimony to grace that went out to the Gentile as well as the Jew. It is only a single witness to the grace that God is about to show to His people Israel.
The word "besides" carries a rule that runs through both chapters. A special day never cancels the daily sacrifice, which older translations call the continual burnt offering.
There was a firm command never to let the fire of the altar go out... However many sacrifices might be offered on this altar under 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." (Num. 28, 29.)
Trumpet day was also the start of a month. One writer adds up what that put on the altar, and reads meaning in the numbers.
The feast of trumpets has only one bull as its special offering, with the ram and seven lambs. But this day is also the beginning of a month, so these are added to the regular offering, as is explained. So there are, in fact, three bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs. The fourteen lambs, as twice seven, may speak of redemption for Jew and Gentile — separate companies, however, no longer united as in the body of Christ.
The verse also names the drink offering, the wine poured out. It is not a second picture of death.
Wine is a symbol of joy both to God and to man (Jud. 9:13, Ps. 104:15), and this characterises the drink offering. It does not speak directly of Christ's death. If it did, the offering would be made of blood, the blood poured out in the animal sacrifices... The drink offering speaks rather of God's joy at the accomplishment of the work of Christ at Calvary.
- Foundation. The daily burnt offering holds everything up. No feast, however special, could replace it.
- Renewal. The new moon pictures light shining out again after it had waned — the monthly offering this verse builds upon.
- Call. The trumpet is God's summons, gathering Israel back after long unbelief.
- Measure. One bull instead of two marks a blessing aimed at Israel, narrower than the grace that reached the nations.
- Delight. Everything stacked on that altar — burnt, grain and poured wine — rises as one pleasing aroma, Christ as food for the heart of God.
And on the tenth of this seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls; no manner of work shall ye do.
The tenth day of the seventh month was Israel's day of atonement. This verse sets three things on it — a holy gathering, sorrow of soul, and a full stop to work of every kind.
The word for this gathering has a simple meaning, and it never stands without the word "holy":
'A calling together,' and always called 'holy.' Lev. 23 lists the occasions called 'holy convocations' when it records the Feasts; they included the Sabbath, and ended with the Feast of Tabernacles.
The date sits ten days after the feast of Trumpets. One writer reads that order as a picture of something still ahead for Israel:
The Day of Atonement followed the feast of Trumpets by only ten days, because it pictures the great work of God in Israel at the end of the tribulation. Then "they look upon Him whom they pierced" (Zech. 12:10), and they will be broken down in profound repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. This is why verse 7 tells Israel, "You shall afflict your souls," when they gathered in holy convocation, ceasing from any work.
The older wording, "afflict your souls," points to a practice with a plain meaning:
What is called "afflict" was fasting, the outward sign of inward sorrow over sin. If they left this out, the atonement did not profit anything: "anyone who is not afflicted on that same day shall be cut off from among his people." Only true faith shown by repentance gives the sinner a share in the great work of atonement.
Other festivals banned "servile work." This one banned work of any kind, and the reason lies in who was busy that day:
On that day the people were to rest not only from servile work, as in all their great feasts, but from all work of any kind. They rested just as they did on the sabbath. On the sabbath they rested in remembrance of God's rest after His six days' work in making the heavens and the earth. On the tenth day of Tisri they rested for another reason. A work was being done for them in which they could take no active part. Yet they had special and pressing interests in it. Resting from all work, they were not, however, to sit at home listless and unconcerned, while the High Priest was within the sanctuary. They were to afflict their souls.
Seen from outside, the silence over the camp was the most striking thing about the day:
Suppose a foreigner in the camp, who had no part in the privileges and blessings of Israel. Imagine him there on the day of atonement. What a sight must have met his eye! The whole camp at rest. Every member of that privileged nation kept a perfect sabbath. The noise of daily work was quiet. All work of any kind stopped throughout that vast encampment... This resting was most expressive. It spoke of their helplessness in a matter that closely concerned them. The afflicting of their souls showed how deeply they cared about all that was being done.
One writer names the error each command guards against:
The soul that presumes to rest on grace without condemning itself for its sins before God is trifling with Him. It has not yet learned to hate its own unholiness, which stands in complete conflict with God's character. And the soul that presumes to work shows that same presumption. It puts itself, so to speak, on a level with Christ and God Himself. Only one work is enough as a basis for atonement, and it must be done before God by One who is God's own fellow.
One writer applies the same two marks to everyone who rests on the death of Christ:
First, his soul was to be afflicted in that day, not to be merry. Wherever there is genuine faith, there is genuine repentance. Where souls do not feel their sins, it is useless to look for forgiveness. There is no light talk of receiving the word with joy. Instead there is deep self-judgment. It rests on that most solemn, humbling scene, where the Lord Jesus died for us. Second, no one made any claim to work that day. It was to be a sabbath day, and the work was Another's.
- Called — the day opens with a summons; "convocation" means a calling together, and this one is always named holy.
- Afflicted — the affliction was fasting, the outward sign of inward sorrow over sin; leave it out and the atonement profited nothing.
- Still — not merely rest from servile work but from all work, because a work was being done for them in which they could take no active part.
- Guarded — to rest on grace without self-condemnation is trifling with God; to work is to put oneself on a level with Christ.
- Coming — the day looks on to Israel's repentance when they see the One whom they pierced, and meanwhile marks every real faith: genuine repentance, and the work left to Another.
And ye shall present a burnt-offering to Jehovah for a sweet odour one young bullock, one ram, seven yearling lambs (without blemish shall they be unto you);
The eighth verse belongs to the Day of Atonement — the day when Israel humbled themselves, gathered together, and did no work. Yet on that same day God asks for more than a sin offering. He asks for a burnt offering that rises to Him as a pleasing aroma. Why should a day about sin also call for delight?
Writers tie this day to something still future for Israel.
The Day of Atonement came only ten days after the feast of Trumpets. It stands for the great work of God in Israel at the end of the tribulation, when "they look on Him whom they have pierced" (Zech. 12:10). They will be broken down in deep repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. This is why, in verse 7, Israel is told "You shall afflict your souls," when they gathered in holy convocation, ceasing from any work.
Another writer marks what changes in the people: they add nothing of their own.
On the tenth day is the Day of Atonement. Israel will no longer be unbelieving but repentant. They will afflict their souls, and mix nothing of their own works with His work — long despised, now understood and honoured. It is the application of the cross of Christ to their souls, deeply feeling their sins and His grace.
Sorrow over sin does not cancel God's claim to be honoured.
On that day the main focus was on the sin offering, brought once a year. But the burnt offering was not to be forgotten. In every connection God is to be glorified. This is just as true in His great work of judging sin as in the blessing of sinners.
The sin offering comes up again and again in these chapters. One writer counted the verses and found that the weight falls elsewhere.
There are seventy-one verses in the whole section. Thirteen of them refer to the sin offering. The other fifty-eight deal with sweet savour offerings.
The same writer sets the two kinds of offering side by side.
The burnt offering was Christ toward God. That is its special point. 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 excellence of Christ.
One writer explains what each animal stands for. His list has two bulls; this verse names one, with the same ram and lambs.
All are typical of Christ, so they had to be inspected with care to see that they had no blemish. The young bulls speak of the strength of the offering of Christ. The ram speaks of His devotion to God. The lambs picture His lowly obedience to the will of His Father.
Earlier offerings in the year called for two bulls. Here the verse names one, and one writer finds meaning in the drop.
What brings out the truth more clearly is the change we find when we come down to the seventh month. This is the recognised type of what belongs distinctly to Israel — Israel summoned and brought into the blessing of God. Here the difference is very marked; for it asks only for "one bull from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old" without blemish. It lacks the fullness of testimony to grace which went out to the Gentile as well as the Jew. It may include the largest form of appreciation, but it is still only a partial witness of grace. There is only one young bull here — not the two found in the earlier case. So the Day of Atonement has the same figure.
One writer brings this home to the reader's own heart.
The truth is, we need to be taken up more fully and more regularly with Christ as a sweet savour to God. It is not that we should value the sin offering less; far be the thought! But let us remember that there is something more in our precious Lord Jesus Christ than the pardon of our sins and the salvation of our souls. Are we not prone to limit our thoughts of Christ to what He did for us, and so leave out what He is to God?
- Day — The tenth day of the seventh month is the Day of Atonement. Writers read it as a picture of Israel's future repentance, when they look on the One they pierced.
- Delight — Even on the day set apart for judging sin, God asks for a burnt offering. He is to be glorified in judging sin as much as in blessing sinners.
- Direction — The sin offering is Christ toward us. The burnt offering is Christ toward God. Fifty-eight of the section's seventy-one verses are of the second kind.
- Detail — Bull, ram and lambs, each inspected for blemish, picture the strength, devotion and lowly obedience of Christ.
- Degree — One bull instead of two marks a partial witness of grace, given to Israel, not to Jew and Gentile alike.
and their oblation of fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram,
On the tenth day of the seventh month Israel kept the Day of Atonement — no work, and deep sorrow over sin. Why, on such a day, did God still ask for a burnt offering, with flour and oil weighed out beside it?
Commentators read this day as a picture of a repentance Israel has not yet come to.
The Day of Atonement came only ten days after the feast of Trumpets. It pictures the great work of God in Israel at the end of the tribulation. Then "they look on Him whom they have pierced," and they will be broken down in deep repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus. This is why verse 7 tells Israel, "You shall afflict yourselves," when they gathered in holy assembly and stopped all work.
The grain offering never stood on its own. It went up with a slain animal, and the order itself carries meaning.
Christ in His death and in His life were both to be brought to remembrance before God. The offering had to foreshadow His death as a sacrifice of sweet aroma, but His life as well. The order, however, is suggestive. The grain offering went 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, in reverse order. Thank God, we may speak of that holy, spotless life when we own and share in the rich results of His atoning death. In all these appointed grain offerings there was simply a picture of the Lord Jesus as a man, with no reference to His path of trial on earth. So the grain offering on these occasions was dry, not cooked.
Commentators take the verse's two ingredients as two things about the same Person: what He was, and the power in which He lived.
Nothing is softer, more even and less gritty than fine flour. So it is a most fitting picture of the smooth and flawless perfection of the earthly life of "the man Christ Jesus." The oil here, as elsewhere, pictures the Holy Spirit of God. In His power the Lord Jesus went out on His unparalleled path of service.
The amounts were not random figures. The tenth was a known unit, and the scale ran up with the animal.
The ordinary measure was the ephah, one tenth of which was an omer, the food of one man (Ex. 16:16, 36). In the grain offering, the measure of fine flour that went with the burnt offering was in proportion to the size and importance of the animal offered. So a lamb had one tenth, that is one omer. A ram had two tenths, or one fifth. A bull had three tenths, "three measures of fine flour," which speak of the fulness of Christ.
The same proportion runs on through both chapters, and one writer draws a test out of it.
These offerings go with us through the whole double series. Only the number of the first three animals changes. The grain offering that goes with them stays in constant proportion — our grasp of Christ's person growing with our grasp of His work, if that grasp is real. The measures themselves still need an interpreter.
One writer sees more here than the meeting of our need, and points to a count a child could follow.
There is something in Christ and in His precious death beyond the bearing of our sins and the meeting of our needs. Can anyone read Numbers 28 and 29 and not see this? Look at one simple fact that might strike the mind of a child. There are seventy-one verses in the whole section; and out of these, thirteen refer to the sin offering, and the remaining fifty-eight deal with offerings of sweet aroma.
- Day. No work, souls afflicted — the Day of Atonement pictures Israel one day looking on the One they pierced.
- Order. Flour never came alone. We read His history backwards: we own the results of His death, and then we may speak of that spotless life.
- Person. Fine flour, with nothing gritty in it, pictures a flawless human life. The oil pictures the Spirit in whose power He served.
- Measure. One tenth for a lamb, two for a ram, three for a bull. The flour rises with the animal, and the largest measure speaks of His fulness.
- Weight. Our sense of His person should grow with our sense of His work. Across these two chapters, fifty-eight verses of sweet aroma against thirteen of sin offering show where God puts the weight.
one tenth part for each lamb, of the seven lambs;
Numbers 29:10 is one small line in the instructions for the Day of Atonement, fixing the flour that went with each of the seven lambs. Why would God set the amount so exactly, and what did that small measure teach Israel?
A tenth of what? One writer explains the larger unit behind the fraction:
The ordinary measure was the ephah, one tenth of which was an omer, the food of one man (Ex. 16:16, 36)… so for a lamb the measure was one tenth part — that is, one omer.
The tenth was not a flat rate. It rose and fell with the size of the sacrifice it accompanied, and this graded scale runs through every feast in these chapters:
These offerings go with us through the whole double series. The only change is in the number of the first three. With these the accompanying meal-offering stands in constant proportion: one tenth of an ephah for a lamb, two tenths for a ram, three for a bullock. Our grasp of Christ's person grows along with our grasp of His work, if that grasp is real.
This offering was fine flour with oil. One writer takes each as a picture of Christ:
Nothing is softer, more even and less gritty than fine flour. So it is a most fitting picture of the smooth and flawless perfection of the earthly life of "the Man Christ Jesus." The oil here, as elsewhere, pictures the Holy Spirit of God. In His power the Lord Jesus went out on His unmatched path of service, as we see in Luke 3:22 and Luke 4:1, 14.
God never commands this grain offering on its own. It goes with the lambs, and the order of the two carries meaning:
For both Christ in His death and Christ in His life were to be brought to remembrance before God. His death as a sacrifice with a pleasing aroma had to be foreshadowed, and His life just as much. The one was not to be pictured without the other. The order, however, is telling. 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 His history, as it were, in reverse order. Thank God, we may speak of that holy, spotless life when we own and share in the rich results of His atoning death. In all these appointed meal-offerings the Lord Jesus is pictured simply as a man, with no reference to His path of trial on earth. So a dry meal-offering was presented on these occasions, not a cooked one.
Seven lambs, not fourteen. One writer weighs the smaller count:
The day of atonement has other offerings besides those commanded here, and, as we know, it is those others that mark the day. The offerings added here are the same as at the feast of trumpets — one bullock, one ram, seven lambs, besides the goat of the sin-offering. They have decreased in number, and this seems to speak of absolute unity, as even the seven does, in contrast with the fourteen. So the glorious work accomplished is owned in its unique grandeur — alone, unapproachable, ruling in human history. It is one wonderful act of service, one unequalled expression of absolute devotion, one perfect redemption, in Him who stood, the One for the many, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God. The distinction between Jew and Gentile has no place now in the thoughts of the worshipper. It is the same blessed work for all — enough and infinite for all.
Every measure of flour set before God pictured Christ. One writer draws from this the test of true worship:
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 we are led by the Spirit of God.
- Measure. A tenth of an ephah was an omer, the food of one man — a real portion, not a token.
- Proportion. That portion rose with the animal: one tenth for a lamb, two for a ram, three for a bull. Our grasp of Christ's person grows with our grasp of His work.
- Person. The fine flour pictures the even, flawless perfection of Christ's human life, and the oil mixed through it the Holy Spirit in whose power He served.
- Pairing. The flour never stood alone. We take up Christ's life before God only in connection with His death, reading His history in reverse.
- Praise. Seven lambs, each with its own measure, on the day when one perfect redemption stands alone — and that same Christ is meant to be the material of our worship.
[and] one buck of the goats for a sin-offering, -- besides the sin-offering of atonement, and the continual burnt-offering and its oblation, and their drink-offerings.
Numbers 29:11 adds one more goat to the Day of Atonement, then lists what else still had to be offered. Why add offerings to a day already given to atonement, and why does the daily sacrifice still stand?
Three passages describe the Day of Atonement, and this verse belongs to the last of them. A Bible dictionary lines them up:
The rites for the Day of Atonement are given in three places: Leviticus 16; Leviticus 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7-11. The first gives a detailed account of the special work appointed to the high priest on that day. The second spells out what chapter 16 said only briefly: how the people should conduct themselves on that day. The third tells us of certain sacrifices to be offered besides those spoken of in Leviticus 16. Here we learn that the Day of Atonement was a gracious provision, so that the people could keep their relationship with the holy God who lived among them.
So the sin offering of atonement named in this verse is the one commanded in Leviticus 16. The goat here is an addition to it.
The burnt offering here is smaller than at the great feasts. Commentators read that difference in two ways. One takes the smaller number as a mark of who the day belongs to:
The one bullock appointed as part of the burnt offering seems to show that the tenth day of the seventh month concerned Israel in a special way. At the great feasts, whose fulfilment others besides Israel share, God chose two bullocks for the burnt offerings. The feast of trumpets concerns Israel only, and the Day of Atonement in the seventh month has special reference to their history.
Another writer hears in the smaller numbers a note of oneness:
If the offerings have decreased in number, as they have, this seems now to speak of absolute unity... So the glorious work accomplished is owned in its unique grandeur — alone, unapproachable, ruling in human history. It was one wondrous act of service, one unequalled expression of absolute consecration, one perfect redemption, in Him who stood, the One for the many, the Just for the unjust, to bring us to God.
Mackintosh finds one leading thought running through these two chapters, and it is not our sin:
We may learn without an effort that the great leading thought is Christ toward God. It is not mainly Christ meeting our need — though He does most blessedly meet that — but Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God... Throughout these two chapters, and in each separate paragraph, we have the sin offering brought in. Thirteen times over these chapters mention the sin offering of atonement. Yet for all that, it remains true and obvious that sin, or atonement for sin, is not by any means the great prominent subject.
The sin offering is never dropped because of who is approaching:
Need we say that the sin offering is essential since man is in question, and man is a sinner? It would be impossible to treat of the subject of man's approach to God, his worship, or his communion, without introducing the atoning death of Christ as the necessary foundation.
The verse ends with the daily sacrifice and its grain and drink offerings. No special day set it aside:
However 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... Special sacrifices were appointed for the Sabbath and for the other feasts. But these were never to replace or exclude "the continual burnt offering."
The reason lies in what the burnt offering was for:
On that day the main focus was on the once-yearly sin offering. Yet the burnt offering was not to be forgotten, for in every connection God is to be glorified. This is just as true in His great work of judging sin as in the blessing of sinners.
The placing of this day in the calendar carries its own meaning:
The Day of Atonement came only ten days after the feast of Trumpets. It pictures the great work of God in Israel at the end of the tribulation, when "they look on Him whom they have pierced" (Zechariah 12:10) and will be broken down in deep repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus.
- Besides — this goat is an addition to the atonement sin offering of Leviticus 16, not a replacement for it. Numbers supplies what that chapter left unsaid.
- Besides, again — the day's special offerings never displaced the daily burnt offering. Added worship never cancels constant worship.
- Because man — a sin offering appears in every paragraph of these two chapters. The reason is simple: the worshipper is a sinner, and atonement is the floor under every approach to God.
- Yet above all — the sin offering is named thirteen times, and still sin is not the theme. The leading thought is Christ feeding and delighting the heart of God.
- Toward that day — the tenth of the seventh month points on to Israel's repentance at the end. Then they will look on the One they pierced.