Números 28

Números 28

Meyer - Our Daily Homily - Numbers 28:2 My food. (R.V.) God speaks as though He fed, through the sacrificial flame, on the offerings of his people. There can be no doubt that the obedience of the blessed Lord to the death of the cross was very satisfying to the hunger of the Father’s heart (Ephesians 5:2); and there is a sense in which our prayers and praises, the offering of ourselves in consecration, the gifts we lay before Him, are, when laid upon the altar of Christ, very pleasing to God. They are his food (Hebrews 13:15–16). We often speak of ourselves as hungering for God. Do we sufficiently realize that He hungers for our love, our whole-hearted devotion, our fellowship with Him? May it not sometimes act as an incentive to prayer, to reflect that we may be passing from our chamber in the morning leaving God’s desire unsatisfied? He was longing for the uplifting of our soul in devotion and praise which was not forthcoming. Still, as of old, in the morning the hungry Lord comes to seek fruit on his trees. Too often there is nothing but leaves. Too seldom does He have the opportunity of saying: “I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey.” If we really loved Jesus, we should be eager to give Him food in our prayers, and yearnings, and activities; and we should long with intense desire for Him to be satisfied, though we were not primarily concerned in spreading his banqueting table. It were enough for us to know that his hunger was feeding on the love of saints, or on the joy of new converts, though we were not the medium of the one or the other. Oh for this unselfish love for Jesus, which looks at things from his standpoint, altogether irrespective of ourselves! Numbers 28:3 "You shall say to them, 'This is the offering by fire which you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs one year old without defect as a continual burnt offering every day. two male lambs: Ex 29:38-39 Lev 6:9 Eze 46:13-15 Joh 1:29 1Pe 1:19,20 Rev 13:8 every day: Da 8:13 11:31 12:11 Numbers 28 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries Related Passages: Exodus 29:38-39+ “Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. 39 “The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; Leviticus 6:9+ “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the law for the burnt offering: the burnt offering itself shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire on the altar is to be kept burning on it. DAILY SACRIFICE BURNT OFFERINGS Allen points out that all these sacrifices (daily, weekly, etc) "will overlap and intertwine—no matter, they are to be so much a part of the life of the people that one would find it quite impossible to think of the worship of God apart from sacrifice. The Hebrew Scriptures are quite clear that sacrifice that is done apart from obedience is valueless; indeed, sacrifice apart from obedience is an affront to God. It is always true that to obey is better than to sacrifice (see 1 Sam 15:22). Indeed, there are significant texts in Scripture that call sacrifice into question when one is apart from the will of God (see Isa 1:1–18) or when one has lost a sense of purpose in sacrifice (see Ps 40:6–8; Mic 6:6–8). But these various passages were never intended by the Spirit of God to destroy sacrificial worship or to replace it. They have one intent: to keep those who are engaging in sacrificial worship thinking rightly about their service to the Lord." As we, the modern readers of Numbers, think scripturally, this overwhelming emphasis on sacrificial worship has one intent: to cause each reader to think of the enormity of the offense of our sin against the holiness of God, thus driving the repentant sinner to the foot of the Cross. All sacrifices—whether of the morning or evening, of Sabbath or New Moon—have their ultimate meaning in the death the Savior died. Apart from his death, these sacrifices were just the killing of animals and the burning of their flesh with attendant ceremonies. After his death, sacrifices such as these are redundant—indeed, offensive—for they would suggest that something was needed in addition to the Savior’s death. But before his death, these sacrifices were the very means God gave his people in love to help them face the enormity of their sin, the reality of their need for his grace, and—in some mysterious way—to point them to the coming cross of Savior Jesus. (EBC) Bell - So the burnt offering is Christ towards God; the sin offering is Christ towards us Note that burnt offering (see word study on 'olah) is a key word in Numbers 28, occurring 14x in 12v - Num 28:3 Num 28:6 Num 28:10 Num 28:11 Num 28:13 Num 28:14 Num 28:15 Num 28:19 Num 28:23 Num 28:24 Num 28:27 Num 28:31. The idea of this offering is (1) "what ascends" in smoke to God, and (2) being wholly consumed. This is aspect (wholly consumed) is distinct from other offerings where part of every offering was burnt in the sacred fire, the fire symbolizes God's presence (and wrath against sin) (Fausset's Bible Dictionary) TECHNICAL NOTE: The Septuagint (Lxx) translates burnt offering with the Greek word holokautoma (from verb holokautóo = to burn whole). This word is used only 3x in the NT (Mk 12:33+, Heb 10:6+, Heb 10:8+) Holokautoma refers to a wholly-consumed sacrifice, whole burnt offering, whole victim burned. Holokautoma gives us our English word "holocaust" (Webster says holocaust is derived from Gk holokauston, from neuter of holokaustos = burnt whole, from hol- = whole + kaustos = burnt). It is a whole burnt offering for the whole victim was burned. BDAG summary of holokautoma = (1) a cultic sacrifice in which the animal was entirely consumed by fire - whole burnt offering, literally holocaust (See Jewish Holocaust) (2) a person punished with death by fire because of personal conviction, whole burnt offering, holocaust figurative extension of (1) - used of Polycarp (who was martyred by burning at the stake) Holokautoma is used 175x in the Septuagint (Lxx) - You shall say to them, 'This is the offering by fire (see ishsheh) which you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs one year old without defect (see tamim) as a continual burnt offering ('olah) every day - Lambs without defect obviously point to the sinless (without defect) Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world (Jn 1:29+; see also Hebrews passage below). The continual (see tamid) burnt offering ('olah) pointed to the "one sacrifice for sins for all time" by Christ when He died on the Cross (cf Col 2:17+) to secure atonement, for as John said "He Himself is the propitiation ("atoning sacrifice" =NET) for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world." (1 Jn 2:2+) The writer of Hebrews alludes to this daily sacrifice by the priests in a passage describing Messiah... Hebrews 10:10-14 By this will (Heb 10:8-9) we have been sanctified (hagiazo in perfect tense = past completed event with ongoing/enduring effect = supports eternal security - cf Jude 1:24+) through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all (cf Jn 19:30+). 11 Every priest stands DAILY ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; 12 but (GLORIOUS TERM OF CONTRAST) He (MESSIAH), having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, 13 waiting from that time onward UNTIL HIS ENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET (Ps 110:1+). 14 For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. Jensen comments that continual burnt-offering every day emphasizes "the basic truth that fellowship with God was not to be a spasmodic thing, but a continuous reality. Even on the days of Sabbath and festal offerings, the daily offerings were to be observed. The fundamental type was the burnt offering, which symbolically represented the yielding of the person to God."