Bible Commentaries
Whedon's Commentary on the Bible
Numbers 28
SACRIFICES REQUIRED BY JEHOVAH, Numbers 28:1-2.
2. My offering — Korban. Leviticus 1:2, note.
My bread — Leviticus 3:11, note.
By fire… sweet savour — Leviticus 1:9, note.
Due season — The festal times of Jehovah, (Leviticus 23:2,) appointed by him as days or times which were to be sanctified to his service, include the sabbath, new moon, the yearly feasts, and the daily sacrifices.
3. Without spot — Perfect and unblemished. This did not include spots or various colours in the wool or skin. The Mishna describes fifty blemishes: five in the ear, three in the eyelid, eight in the eye, three in the nose, six in the mouth, twelve in the genitals, six in the feet, four in any place of the body — as scabs and wens — and three besides over all the body — as trembling with old age, sickness, or foul with excrements. It was unlawful to offer a lamb less than eight days old, a hybrid, a monstrosity, if it had killed a man, or were the price of a dog or a harlot, or had been dedicated to idolatry, or was an hour over a year old when the law required it to be of the first year.
Day by day — The daily burnt offering was a perpetually repeated demonstration of the duty of consecrating body, soul, and spirit to God. It was a reiterated object-lesson, teaching the human side of entire sanctification, entire self-surrender to Jehovah. Leviticus 1:3, note.
A continual burnt offering — That the whole daily life of Israel might be consecrated unto the Lord it was to be offered every morning and evening, for all future time, at the door of the tabernacle, where Jehovah met his people and communed with them. The daily sacrifice ceased at the destruction of Jerusalem. It will not be renewed until the Jews regain possession of Mount Moriah, the last place chosen by the Lord for offering sacrifices. Leviticus 17:2-5, notes; comp. Deuteronomy 12:11-14, and 1 Kings 8:29.
THE DAILY BURNT OFFERING, Numbers 28:3-8.
This had already been instituted at Sinai, (Exodus 29:38-42,) but it could not be performed amid the wilderness wanderings.
5. A tenth part of an ephah — Leviticus 23:13, note.
Flour — Leviticus 2:1, note.
A hin — Leviticus 23:13.
Beaten oil — The olive berries were beaten in a mortar. The best oil was thus made in November or December. When the berry was softer it yielded, by pressing, a larger quantity of inferior oil.
7. The drink offering — Leviticus 23:13, note.
In the holy place — Not in the priests’ apartment, the so called holy place, but, as Josephus says, “about the altar.”
Strong wine — Hebrew, shecar, does not here mean intoxicating drink, but strong drink in distinction from water. Leviticus 10:9, note.
THE SABBATH OFFERING, Numbers 28:9-10.
9. Sabbath day — Greek, in the plural, the day of sabbaths. Thus the New Testament, Luke 4:16 : Acts 13:14; Acts 16:13.
Two lambs — In addition to the regular daily sacrifice. The Sabbath was instituted in memory of the creation, (Exodus 20:11,) of the exode from Egypt, (Deuteronomy 5:15,) as a sign of Israel’s consecration to the Lord, (Ezekiel 20:12,) and as an emblem of soul-rest in Christ here, and of heavenly rest hereafter. Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 4:9. Ezekiel, predicting that service under the Gospel, glad and free in the fulness of the Spirit, says that in the sabbath day the prince shall offer six perfect lambs. Ezekiel 46:4-5.
Tenth deals — Leviticus xxiii, 13, note.
Meat offering — Leviticus 2, notes.
LAW OF OFFERINGS AT THE NEW MOONS, Numbers 28:11-15.
11. Beginnings of… months — The months began with the new moon at the signal of the silver trumpet in the sanctuary. Numbers 10:10, note; 2 Chronicles 2:4. Then Israel gathered to the prophets, or other teachers, to hear the word of God, (2 Kings 4:23,) and kept a religious feast, abstaining from business. 1 Samuel 20:5-6; Amos 8:5. This was “a shadow of Christ.” Colossians 2:16-17. This accords with Isaiah 66:23. The Hebrews say, “As the beginning of the months are sanctified and renewed in this world, so shall Israel be sanctified and renewed in time to come.”
Two young bullocks — A more costly sacrifice than that on the sabbath. Leviticus iv, Concluding Note, (4.) It was an additional offering to the daily sacrifice. All the animals in this verse were for a burnt offering.
15. A sin offering — For an atonement for them, Numbers 28:22. See Leviticus iv, notes. The Hebrews say that this sin-offering was eaten. Leviticus 4:26; Leviticus 4:30.
LAW OF OFFERINGS AT THE PASSOVER, Numbers 28:16-25.
16. The first month — The passover month, answering in part to our March. Leviticus 23:5, note.
17. The feast — Of unleavened cakes, (Leviticus 23:6, note,) prefiguring sincerity and truth, as the passover lamb typified Christ. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8; John 1:29, note.
19-21. Ye shall offer — The same sacrifices, meat and drink offerings, as were required at the new moons. Ezekiel (Ezekiel 45:22-24) predicts a change in these.
22. A sin offering — The rabbins say that it was eaten on the second day of the passover, the sixteenth of Nisan.
23. Beside the burnt offering — The daily sacrifice, Numbers 28:3, note. In addition there was a lamb for a burnt offering accompanied by the wave sheaf. Leviticus 23:12, note.
25. The seventh day — Leviticus 23:8, note. It is called in Exodus 13:6, a feast to Jehovah.
OFFERINGS AT THE FEAST OF FIRSTFRUITS, Numbers 28:26-31.
26. Firstfruits — Called the feast of harvest, Exodus 23:16; of weeks, Exodus 34:22; and day of Pentecost, Acts 2:1. See Leviticus 23:15-21, notes.
A new meat offering — New in respect to the former offered at the passover. Leviticus 23:16, note.
After your weeks — Fifty days after the passover.
27-31. Two… bullocks — These. the ram, and seven lambs were in addition to the one bullock, two rams, and seven lambs offered with the firstfruits, (Leviticus 23:18, note,) and besides the daily sacrifice or continual burnt offering. The parenthesis in Numbers 28:31 seems to apply to the meat offering, which was to be without blemish, or perfect.
Drink offerings — That is, “strong wine, (Numbers 28:7,) not dead, sour, mixed with dregs or lees, or otherwise corrupted.” — Ainsworth.
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