Numbers
Chapter 28
Offerings to Be Presented to the Lord
The Lord spoke to Moses and said:
“Give the Israelites this command: Take care to bring the food offerings, my sweet-smelling offerings at the times I have appointed.
Say to them: These are the burnt offerings you must offer to the Lord:
Every day, two one-year-old lambs without any defects.
The first lamb you must offer in the morning, the second in the evening,
together with a grain offering of two pounds of fine flour mixed with two pints of purest oil.
This is the everlasting burnt offering, which was first offered at Mount Sinai as a sweet-smelling offering for the Lord.
The accompanying wine offering to be poured out at the altar is two pints for each lamb.
The second lamb you must offer in the evening; do this in the same way as the morning offering, together with the wine offering.
On the Sabbath day, you must offer two one-year-old lambs without any defect and four pounds of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil and the accompanying wine offering.
This burnt offering is to be offered every Sabbath in addition to the daily offering with its accompanying wine offering.
At the beginning of each of your months, you must offer a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs without any defect;
for each bull a grain offering of six pounds of fine flour mixed with oil;
for each lamb, four pounds of fine flour mixed with oil. These burnt offerings are sweet-smelling offerings to the Lord.
The accompanying wine offering is four pints of wine for a bull, three for a ram, and two for a lamb. This must be the monthly burnt offering, month after month, every month of the year.
Besides the daily burnt offering, a he-goat must be offered to the Lord as a sacrifice for sin, with its accompanying wine offering.
The fourteenth day of the first month is the Passover of the Lord,
and the fifteenth day of this month is a feast day. For seven days, unleavened bread must be eaten.
On the first day, you shall gather for worship and not do the work of a worker.
You shall offer the Lord a burnt offering: two young bulls, a ram, seven one-year-old sheep without any defect.
The accompanying grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil is to be six pounds for the bull, four pounds for the ram,
and two pounds for each of the seven lambs.
There must also be a he-goat for the sacrifice for sin, for the atonement over you.
This must be done in addition to the daily morning offering.
You must do this every day for seven consecutive days. It is food, a burnt offering, a fragrant offering to the Lord; it is to be offered in addition to the daily offering and its accompanying wine offering.
On the seventh day, you shall gather for worship and not do the work of a worker.
On the first day of the harvest, when you offer new fruits to the Lord at your Feast of Weeks, you are to gather for worship; you must do no work of workers.
You must offer two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs as a burnt offering.
The accompanying grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil is six pounds for each bull,
four pounds for the ram, and two pounds for each of the seven lambs.
There must also be a he-goat for the sacrifice for sin, for the atonement over you.
This must be done in addition to the daily offering and its accompanying wine offering.
Commentaries
Offerings to Be Presented to the Lord.
These two chapters cover nearly everything previously outlined in Leviticus 23 regarding various offerings to the Lord during major festivals. However, we notice a few new features: 28:9f mentions, for the first time in the “legislative corpus of worship,” an offering that must be made on the Sabbath. This practice has no parallel in the Pentateuch but is found in Ezekiel (Ez 46:4f). This suggests that this law originated during the exile and possibly continued until the New Testament period. The second new feature concerns laws about sacrifices on the first day of each month, specifically on the day of the new moon. The feast associated with this day is referenced without detailed instructions in Numbers 10:10; 1 Samuel 20:5; Isaiah 1:13; Psalm 81:4.
Note that, generally, an animal offering is accompanied by a vegetable offering. The purpose of these regulations, from a theological and pastoral perspective, is to ensure that people continually recognize the Lord’s full sovereignty through the act of offering a portion of what the Lord has given them. The Israelites needed to remember that it was not they who provided something to the Lord; rather, it was the Lord who had given to them. In response, they returned a part of what they received. Unfortunately, this understanding was not always clear. Some believed that the Lord needed these offerings or that the Israelites could gain divine favor through them. At least, that can be inferred from Psalm 50.