Numbers
chapter 29 continues the detailed instruction for the remaining
feasts for the nation of Israel. Remember, Leviticus chapter 23 gave
the sequence of these feasts on the annual calendar, and we saw how
each related to specific events in the ministry of Jesus Christ. And
again here the break between chapters comes during the gap between
the prophetic first coming of Christ, and His second coming when He
will snatch up His church before the judgment. Here we are given
more details particularly about the numbers of offerings that
correspond to each feast. The chapter begins with the Feast of
Trumpets. “On
the first day of the seventh month… do no regular work… sound the
trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord prepare a burnt offering…
one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old, all without
defect… a grain offering … mixed with oil… a male goat as a sin
offering… in addition to the monthly and daily offerings.”
In all the offerings, notice the grain is always mixed with oil in
order to be received. Since grain is a symbol for life and oil is a
symbol for God’s Holy Spirit, it seems to indicate our lives need
to be filled with the Spirit to be useful to God.
Next
is the Day of Atonement. “On
the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must
deny yourselves and do no work… present as an aroma pleasing to the
Lord… one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs… grain offering…
mixed with oil… one male goat as a sin offering…“.
We also see repeated the one male goat as a sin offering. With the
sin offering, after the priest lays his hands on its head, it is
slaughtered and its blood is sprinkled on the altar. Then, according
to Leviticus 4, it was burned outside the camp on the ash heap. If
you have lived a life that was filled with sin before accepting
Christ, it is important that you get rid of that sin completely.
Dump that junk in the ash heap and leave it there.
Finally
the last feast is the Feast of Tabernacles. “On
the fifteenth day of the seventh month… do no regular work…
celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days.”
For seven straight days they were to offer bulls and rams and lambs.
On the first day, thirteen bulls, and fourteen male lambs, on the
second day twelve bulls and fourteen lambs and so on, each day one
less bull. Finally on the eighth day, “Present
an offering made by fire as an aroma pleasing to the Lord… one
bull, one ram, seven male lambs… grain offering and drink offering…
one male goat as a sin offering.”
What a huge cost all of these offerings and feasts take! For
Israel to obey what God commanded in Numbers 28 and 29, it meant that
every year, the priests sacrificed 1,086 lambs, 113 bulls, 32 rams,
more than a ton of flour, and some 1,000 bottles of oil and wine on
behalf of the nation. And that is in additional to all of the
Passover lambs the individual families sacrificed. The message of
the coming Messiah was that important! At the Last Supper Jesus
made a promise to all believers: “I
will not drink the fruit of the vine from now until the day when I
drink it anew with you in My Father’s kingdom“.
Folks,
in the end there will be a great feast prepared for us as well.