Drash
Numbers 29:12-19
Blaine Robison, M.A.
Delivered 10 October 2022
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Burnt Offerings for ADONAI
12 "On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy
convocation. You are not to do any kind of ordinary work, and you are to
observe a feast to ADONAI seven
days. 13 You are to present a burnt offering, an offering made by fire,
bringing a fragrant aroma to ADONAI.
It is to consist of thirteen young bulls [Heb. par], two rams, fourteen
male lambs in their first year (they are to be without defect), 14 with
their grain offering — fine flour mixed with olive oil, six quarts for
each of the thirteen bulls, four quarts for each of the two rams, 15 and
two quarts for each of the fourteen lambs; 16 also one male goat as a
sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain
and drink offerings. 17 On the second day you are to present twelve
young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs in their first year, without
defect; 18 with the grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams and
lambs, according to their number, in keeping with the rule; 19 also one
male goat as a sin offering; in addition to the regular burnt offering,
its grain offering and their drink offerings." (Num 29:12-19 CJB)
Chag Sameach!
Today's passage from
Parashah Pinchas concerns instruction for the observance of Sukkot,
the Feast of Booths.
The number of animals God decreed to be sacrificed as burnt offerings during
Sukkot is extraordinary, more than all the other festivals combined.
The sheer extravagance made it the greatest festival of joy. There were a
total of 14 rams, 98 lambs and 70 bulls to be sacrificed as burnt offerings.
The number of rams and lambs was evenly distributed for each of the seven
days.
But, the number of the bulls was
distributed in such a way, that instead of there being ten offered every
day, there were thirteen on the first day, twelve on the second, and so on,
deducting one each day, so that on the seventh day there were exactly seven
offered; perhaps to secure the holy number seven for this last day.
Now a burnt offering is very
special to God. The animal was completely consumed
by fire, except for its hide, and the smoke going up was likened to a
fragrant or pleasant aroma to God. The first burnt offering recorded in
Scripture was offered by Noah after deliverance from the global flood [Gen
8:20]. The next mention of a burnt offering was in God's instruction to
Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering in order to test
Abraham's devotion to God [Gen 22:2, 12].
Fast forward to
the Torah instructions about Sukkot. In the festival instructions
recorded in D'varim (Deuteronomy) 16:14 God specified that resident
sojourners ("Gentiles") were to celebrate the festival with the native Israelites. When
Moses gave his final instructions for Sukkot he specified that at the end of every seven years, during the feast, the Torah
was to be read aloud before all Israel, including the sojourners, so they
might hear God's standards, and "learn to fear ADONAI" [Deut 31:10, 12-13].
When Solomon
dedicated the temple during Sukkot [2Chr 7:10] he offered a prayer in
which he anticipated that Gentiles would come to the temple to pray and he
entreated God to answer their prayers [1Kgs 8:41-43].
Then Zechariah prophesied that after Messiah comes
and establishes his kingdom the nations will come to Jerusalem to celebrate
Sukkot [Zech 14:16-19].
In Scripture numbers often
have a significance beyond merely being the quantity of something. Multiples
of the number seven, which signifies perfection, is prominent in the number
of animals sacrificed for the seven days of Sukkot. Jewish
commentators, beginning in the second century after Yeshua, viewed the
seventy bulls as having special meaning.
Targum
Jonathan and the Talmud Tractate
Sukkah contain a suggestion that
the seventy bulls correspond to the Gentile nations. According to the
book of
Jubilees [44:34]
the seventy male descendants of Noah listed in
Genesis 10 represented the number of Gentile nations.
One Sage even declared that while the Temple was in existence the altar
atoned for the idolatrous nations.
However, typical
of many commandments God did not explain the significance of the 70 bulls,
or even the 98 lambs. Based on precedent and the occasion of Sukkot
the burnt offerings would express two important spiritual principles. First,
the fact that God expected Israel to include Gentiles in the future
Sukkot celebration implies a spiritual responsibility for Israel.
Israel's obligation to the nations is implicit in the covenant
God made with Jacob, "A nation and a company of nations shall come from you"
[Gen 35:11 NASB].
In the time of Isaiah God
declared that the time would come when the nations would stream to Mt. Zion
to learn Torah [Isa 2:2-3]. He expected Israel to be the voice of truth to
the nations about the one true God so that the praise of ADONAI would be
sung to the ends of the earth [Isa 42:6].
Second, the burnt offering
represented devotion, commitment and complete surrender to God. The message
to the festival audience is that God expects both Jews and Gentiles to
devote themselves as living sacrifices, serving God with a commitment to
being obedient to His written commandments. Failure to fulfill God's desires
led to His later criticism of burnt offerings, such as when the prophet
Sh'mu'el rebuked King Sha'ul by saying, "Does ADONAI delight in burnt
offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of ADONAI? Behold, to obey
is better than sacrifice." [1Sam 15:22].
In other words, God did not
delight in burnt offerings performed simply as a religious exercise. God
could only delight in the burnt offering of someone with an obedient spirit.
Consider too that when
Yeshua attended the Sukkot celebration in Jerusalem he prophesied on the
last day that the Holy Spirit would soon be poured out and Acts records that
on Shavuot ("Pentecost") the Holy Spirit was manifested in flames of fire on 120
disciples. Spiritually speaking they became as burnt offerings.
The choice is before us.
Will we devote ourselves to God as burnt offerings, be ignited by the fire
of the Holy Spirit, commit ourselves to living by God's will and so make our
lives pleasing to our Savior? Think on this.
Barukh Hashem.
Copyright © 2022 by
Blaine Robison. All rights reserved. |