Numbers 29:1-40
1 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you.
2 And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish:
3 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram,
4 And one tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs:
5 And one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you:
6 Beside the burnt offering of the month, and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD.
7 And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein:
8 But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish:
9 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals to a bullock, and two tenth deals to one ram,
10 A several tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs:
11 One kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings.
12 And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days:
13 And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:
14 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams,
15 And a several tenth deal to each lamb of the fourteen lambs:
16 And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
17 And on the second day ye shall offer twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot:
18 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
19 And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering thereof, and their drink offerings.
20 And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish;
21 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
22 And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
23 And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:
24 Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
25 And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
26 And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without spot:
27 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
28 And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
29 And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:
30 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
31 And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
32 And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish:
33 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
34 And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
35 On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly: ye shall do no servile work therein:
36 But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish:
37 Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner:
38 And one goat for a sin offering; beside the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
39 These things ye shall doa unto the LORD in your set feasts, beside your vows, and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.
40 And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the LORD commanded Moses.
OFFERINGS AT THE FEAST OF TRUMPETS
(vs.1-6)
About four months passed by before the Feast of Trumpets took place. This illustrates the long time elapsing following Pentecost which introduced the extended dispensation 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 is noted in Matthew 24:31: "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
His elect here are those elect for earthly blessing. There have already been signs of Israel's return to their land with at least a relatively small number restored there; but when the church of God is raptured to heaven, then this call by angelic power will have great public effect, for the trumpets speak of a clearly declared testimony.
"The last trumpet" in connection with the rapture (1 Corinthians 15:52) will be sounded much before the trumpet to regather Israel; but it is called "the last trumpet" because it will be the last public testimony on earth as to the Church of God. Her being suddenly taken away will be a most striking testimony. But as regards Israel there are other trumpets following this great event.
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. At Pentecost two young bulls were offered, otherwise the offerings were the same, and the grain offering was the same for each animal. A kid of the goats was again included as a sin offering, "to make atonement" rather than "as a sweet aroma." These were all added to the regular monthly offerings, as verse 6 indicates.
OFFERINGS ON THE DAY OF ATONEMENT
(vs.7-11)
The Day of Atonement followed closely the feast of Trumpets, only ten days later, for it symbolizes the great work of God in Israel when, at the end of the tribulation, "they look upon Him whom they pierced" (Zechariah 12:10) and will broken down in profound 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 (v.7).
A burnt offering was to be presented, one young bull, one ram and seven lambs in their first year, without blemish. The grain offering presented as a sin offering (v.11). These were in addition to the main offerings of the Day of Atonement (Compare Leviticus 16:1).
We have considered in chapter 29:7-11 the offerings made on Day of Atonement. These are described in more detail inLeviticus 16:1, when Aaron was to take the blood of the sin offering into the holiest of all, and the bodies of the animals were burned without the camp.
But on that day, though the main focus was on the once yearly sin offering, 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.
OFFERINGS AT THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES
(vs.12-40)
The Feast of Tabernacles is symbolical of the great blessing of God in the millennial age, so that there is much more in the way of offerings prescribed for this feast which was kept up for eight days.
The feast began only five days after the Day of Atonement, for after Israel has been broken down in true repentance before God, God cannot delay to fill their hearts with overflowing adoration of His beloved Son. The first day was to be a holy convocation: on this day the number of rams and lambs was doubled over the other feast days and the number of bulls increased to thirteen. This number falls short of 7x2, the witness of perfection, for the millennium is not eternity; the people of God will still have their sinful natures as well as the new nature, and the tendency of this is toward decline, just as Ephesus left her first love (Revelation 2:4) and the decline of the Church has continued through her history on earth.
On the eighth day was to be a solemn assembly with all work ceasing (v.35), a good reminder that the great blessing of the millennium is not dependent on Israel's work, but altogether on the grace of God. Numbers 8:1 speaks of a new beginning, and the millennium will indeed be a new beginning for Israel, for their joy will be overflowing in contrast to the centuries of sorrow and trouble they have seen. The offerings made every day for the eight days indicate that Israel will not cease to give honor and praise to God in that period of one thousand years. The offerings on the eighth day (vs.36-39) were the same as on the day of the Feast of Trumpets (vs.1-6) and on the Day of Atonement (vs.7-11).