Numbers 29:12

12.And on the fifteenth, day. Amongst their festivals this last was the chief (240) in which they dwelt in tabernacles for seven days; for whereas in the Passover they commemorated the night in which they came forth free from the plagues of Egypt, by dwelling in tabernacles they embraced the whole forty years in which their fathers in the desert experienced the constant and consummate bounty of God. That solemn convention, too, availed for another present purpose, i.e., of thanksgiving to God for the ingathering of the harvest. Hence it was that they offered sacrifices every day and in greater number: on the first day, thirteen bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs; on the second, twelve bullocks; on the third, eleven; on the fourth, ten; on the fifth, nine; on the sixth, eight; finally, on the seventh, seven; and on the eighth, one. Nor is it carelessly that Moses expends so many words on the recital; first, that nothing might be done except at God’s command; secondly, lest it should be disagreeable or onerous to be at such great expense, which they would have gladly avoided. Wherefore, that they might cheerfully obey God’s command, he diligently inculcates what victims God would have daily offered to Him. But why the distribution was so unequal, I confess, is not clear to me, and it is better to confess my ignorance than by too subtle speculations to vanish into mere smoke. (241) This notion, indeed, is neither curious nor to be rejected, i.e., that, by daily diminishing the number, they came at last on the seventh day to the number seven, which is the symbol of perfection; for the eighth was superadded, merely as a conclusion. Finally, Moses subjoins that in the continual sacrifice, as well as these extraordinary ones, they should hold fast to what God prescribes, so that nothing should be altered according to man’s fancy. The sacrifices which depend on the Commandments of the Second Table, I have designedly postponed to their proper place.