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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.