Read Numbers 28
Daily Offerings
28 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my foodofferings, as an aroma pleasing to me.’ 3 Say to them: ‘This is the food offering you are to present to the Lord: two lambs a year old without defect,as a regular burnt offering each day. 4 Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight, 5 together with a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil from pressed olives. 6 This is the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. 7 The accompanying drink offering is to be a quarter of a hin of fermented drink with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the Lord at the sanctuary. 8 Offer the second lamb at twilight,along with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering that you offer in the morning. This is a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
Sabbath Offerings
9 “‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil. 10 This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
Monthly Offerings
11 “‘On the first of every month, present to the Lord a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect.12 With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephahof the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, a grain offering of two-tenthsof an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; 13 and with each lamb, a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil. This is for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord.14 With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year.15 Besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering, one male goat is to be presented to the Lord as a sin offering.
The Passover
16 “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month the Lord’s Passover is to be held. 17 On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. 18 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 19 Present to the Lord a food offeringconsisting of a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 20 With each bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 21 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 22 Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 23 Offer these in addition to the regular morning burnt offering. 24 In this way present the food offering every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to the Lord; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.
The Festival of Weeks
26 “‘On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 27 Present a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 28 With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 29 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 30 Include one male goat to make atonement for you.31 Offer these together with their drink offerings, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. Be sure the animals are without defect.
Go Deeper
In today’s reading Moses receives a clear picture of the consequences of sin. He was commanded by the Lord to carefully and constantly make the proper offering for sin. Picture this for a second: all the Israelites, enduring the heat of the wilderness all while constantly sacrificing animals to atone for their sin. Blood surrounded them and there seemed to be no end to this way of atonement. This was a messy site and God was making it abundantly clear to them that all sin requires blood. Every sin must be atoned for. They are to offer daily, Sabbath, monthly, Passover, and feast of weeks offerings. Yet even with the high demand for offerings being made, there were clear requirements for the lambs. They were all to be male lambs, a year old, and without blemish. Symbolically, the one with no blemish would die to cleanse the blemished.
On the 14th day of the first month, they were to remember the Lord’s deliverance of Passover. In Exodus 12 the Lord struck down all the firstborn of Egypt. However, for those who were marked by the blood, He would pass over and not destroy them. In light of God’s deliverance, they were to remember forever that the Lord saves those who are marked by the blood.
The Israelites longed for a day when the daily sacrifice would end and they could be made right with God forever. Years later, as John the Baptist saw Jesus approaching him, he takes us back to Numbers 28. Upon seeing Jesus, John said, “Behold, the perfect Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). Jesus did, once and for all, what the sacrificial system could not. He would be hung on a tree He created to atone for the sins of the world and His blood shed. However, on the 3rd day, He rose to life and defeated death. Would we offer our bodies as a living sacrifice which is our spiritual worship (Romans 12:1) to the One who loves us and frees us from our sins by His blood (Revelation 1:5)?
Questions
- What do you think was the purpose of the different offerings for different occasions?
- How can you make a practice of keeping God’s deliverance at the forefront of your mind today?
- What is a way to offer yourself to God today as a “living sacrifice”?
A Quote
“That’s who Jesus Christ is. He became the final Priest and the final Sacrifice. Sinless, he did not offer sacrifices for himself. Immortal, he never has to be replaced. Human, he could bear human sins. Therefore he did not offer sacrifices for himself; he offered himself as the final sacrifice. There will never be the need for another. There is one mediator between us and God. One priest. We need no other. Oh, how happy are those who draw near to God through Christ alone.” – John Piper
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7 thoughts on “Numbers 28”
When I read narratives in scripture, I often times picture myself as one present in that specific time and circumstance. What a sensory experience the whole process of giving offerings must have been. Fire, bleating of animals slaughtered, the smell of blood and fermented drink, throngs of people—never ending rituals to be made right with God. Where were their hearts in all of this? Did it change them? Were they grateful God had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt? Fast forward to the perfect sacrifice of Christ who was offered once and for all to redeem the sin of man, and we see parallels—One who cried, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me”, his blood spilled out, sour wine that was offered for his thirst, and masses of people who witnessed his brutal death. May his perfect sacrifice leave us forever changed and marked with the deepest gratitude that he took our sins upon his shoulders and paid our debt.
After processing this chapter this hymn came to mind:
I stand amazed in the presence
Of Jesus the Nazarene,
And wonder how He could love me,
A sinner condemned, unclean.
How marvelous! How wonderful!
And my song shall ever be:
How marvelous! How wonderful!
Is my Savior’s love for me!
For me it was in the garden,
He prayed: “Not my will, but Thine.”
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat-drops of blood for mine.
In pity angels beheld Him,
And came from the world of light
To strengthen Him in the sorrows
He bore for my soul that night.
He took my sins and my sorrows,
He made them His very own;
He bore the burden to Calv’ry,
And suffered, and died alone.
When with the ransomed in glory
His face I at last shall see,
’Twill be my joy through the ages
To sing of His love for me.
I love that beautiful reminder of that hymn, Ella!
One thing that caught my attention was that the sacrifice was to be a “soothing aroma” to God (vv. 2,6,8,13,24,27) and it reminded me that now WE are to be the soothing sweet fragrance/aroma of Christ unto God, and among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing all around us in the world (2 Corinthians 2:15).
Oh how marvelous, how wonderful and my song shall ever be!!! I love that song Ella!
Convicted is how this passaged makes me feel. The Israelites had been through so much but all these rituals were in place to help them with their hearts. They did not have Christ’s atonement but even though we do, are our hearts right when we come before God in pray, on Sunday’s to worship, driving down the road to work? Our hearts should be singing of the wonderous works of Jesus that died on Calvary for you and me. We do not have to do all those things listed but we DO have to make our hearts right minutely. All of those rituals were to make them remember why they were where they were. Do we remember how broken we were/are and how God gave us His only begotten son so that we can just play church sometimes. God forbid. God forgive me.
God forgive me for making worshipping You any kind of trivialness. You are magnanimously, worthy of all praise, glory and honor every second of every minute. God thank You for all helping me to refresh, renew and replenish myself constantly to be worthy of offering YOU praise. God I desire give You a pleasing aroma of praise by my life. God thank You for helping bring my focus back to You in these minutes of this day. Thank You for Your words to speak to others, for Your love goggles to see them through and Your joy overflowing to encourage those I engage with today in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!
2 “Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my foodofferings, as an aroma pleasing to me.’
Over the years, l have found that the practice of making offerings on a regular basis is a very helpful discipline of reminding me that 1) God is God and 2) I am not.
I can only imagine the time it took to prepare these offerings and think, am I taking time to prepare my heart for Jesus in worship on the Sabbath or any other day. Lord, forgive me on the days when I’m going through the motions.
I don’t wanna go through the motions
I don’t wanna go one more day
Without Your all consuming passion inside of me
I don’t wanna spend my whole life asking
What if I had given everything
Instead of going through the motions?
Lyrics by Matthew West