Numberschapter 28
31 verses · Moses, by tradition · 15th to 13th century BC · The Law
Key verse
“Command the Israelites and say to them: See that you present to Me at its appointed time the food for My offerings by fire, as a pleasing aroma to Me.
It stands in A lamb in the morning, a lamb at dusk, verses 1 to 8.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Daily and festival offerings re-summarised for the new generation. The continual burnt offering. A lamb in the morning, a lamb at even, with meat and drink offering. The Sabbath offering doubled. The new moon: two bullocks, a ram, seven lambs, a kid for sin offering. The Passover; the Feast of Unleavened Bread; the Day of Firstfruits (Pentecost) each with their prescribed offerings. The chapter collects the calendar's liturgy for the people about to enter the land where these feasts will shape the national year. No innovation. The same calendar Leviticus 23 gave. Obedience now, with a cleared horizon ahead.
Context
Law · Moses · Numbers overview
The world behind this chapter
Numbers 28The history
The chapter is the LORD's word through Moses, who by now has handed the army to Joshua and the priesthood to Eleazar. It stands in the fortieth year after the exodus, on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. Numbers 33:48 places the camp there, and Numbers 36:13 says the last laws of the book were given there. The occasion is the settlement now within reach. The second census has counted the generation that will cross, and chapter 27 has appointed the man to lead them. So a nation with no field of its own receives the schedule of harvest offerings it will owe once it has one. Albert Barnes reads the scale of the system as pointing past the desert to the settled land, citing Deuteronomy 12:8 and 12:9. A first hearer knew the measures by sight, since an ephah held about twenty-two litres and a hin about four. He also knew the daily offering of verses 3 to 8 as the fixed point of the sanctuary's day, a lamb at dawn and a lamb at dusk. Every other offering in the chapter is added on top of it and displaces none of it.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
Israel's neighbours ran their year on the fertility of a local god. This calendar fixed Israel's year to the LORD and priced it in the same goods, which were animals, grain and wine. The daily pair of lambs carried the weight. Twice a day, whatever else the nation was doing, something was burning on that altar, so the relationship held steady while the worshippers came and went.
Sources cited
- Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments , 1832 to 1869, on Numbers 28:1
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions , 1961
- Jacob Milgrom, Numbers , The JPS Torah Commentary, 1990
Where the chapter sits
Numbers 28 falls in Second census and preparations (chapters 26–36). A new generation numbered; inheritance laws; Joshua commissioned; cities of refuge and tribal boundaries.
Before it: Approach to Moab, chapters 21–25.
The whole shape of Numbers→The structure of this chapter
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. A lamb in the morning, a lamb at dusk
1. (vv. 1-2)
Numbers 28:1
“The daily offering had been already commanded Exo 29:38, and no doubt additional offerings had become customary on festivals. But no such elaborate system as is here prescribed was or could possibly have been observed in the wilderness: compare Deu 12:8-9. The regulations of this and the next chapter therefore point to the immediate prospect of that settlement in Canaan which alone could enable the Israelites to obey them. Compare the ordinances in Num. 15.”
Numbers 28:2
“It is indeed a hard expression, but the rudeness of His ancient people obliged Him to speak thus grossly, that, on the one hand, they might learn this rite to be acceptable to God, just as food is acceptable to man; and, on the other, that they might study to offer their sacrifices more purely and chastely.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
This calendar arrives after the second census and after Joshua is set over the congregation in chapter 27, so a nation with no field of its own is handed a schedule of harvest offerings. Barnes reads the scale of the system as pointing past the desert to the settled land, since Deuteronomy 12:8-9 says plainly that Israel had not yet come to the rest. The offerings are called my bread, which Calvin treats as a hard expression given to a people who needed the rite made plain, and Psalm 50:12-13 answers that same figure from God's own side, if I were hungry, I would not tell thee.
2. (vv. 3-8)
Numbers 28:3
“But we have said that thus men were reminded always to have God before their eyes in their daily food; and therefore in every way to accustom themselves to cultivate holiness.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 28:3
“And thou shalt say unto them,....”
Numbers 28:4
“The one lamb shalt thou offer in the morning,.... Every morning, to make atonement for the sins of the night, as the Targum of Jonathan: and the other lamb shall thou offer at even; or "between the two evenings", to make atonement for the sins of the day, as the same Targum; in which they prefigured Christ, the Lamb of God, who continually, every day, morning and night, and every moment, takes away the sins of his people, through the virtue and efficacy of his sacrifice, Joh 1:29; see Gill on Exo 29:39.”
Numbers 28:5
“And the tenth part of an ephah of flour for a meat offering,.... Which always went along with the burnt offering: mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil: which in those times and countries was used instead of butter; and fine flour and this mingled together made a "minchah", or bread offering, as it should rather be called; of the measures used; see Gill on Exo 29:40.”
Numbers 28:6
“It is a continual burnt offering,....”
Numbers 28:7
“The original of the word “strong wine” שׁכר shêkār is a term usually employed to describe strong drink other than wine (Lev 10:9 note). The Israelites in the wilderness had, in their lack of wine, substituted shechar made from barley for it. They had thus observed the spirit, though not the letter of the ordinance. The drink-offering was either poured round the foot of the altar; or on the altar, and so upon the flesh of the sacrifice by which the altar was covered (compare Exo 30:9).”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 28:7
“The wine must be strong (says Ainsworth) because it was a figure of the blood of Christ, the memorial of which is still left to the church in wine, and of the blood of the martyrs, which was poured out as a drink-offering upon the sacrifice and service of our faith, Phil. ii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 28:8
“And the other lamb shalt thou offer at even,....”
Verse 6 dates this offering to mount Sinai, where Exodus 29:38-42 had already commanded the two lambs, so the schedule opens by repeating rather than by adding. The word rendered continual is the Hebrew tamid, and it governs the rest of the chapter, because every feast below is measured as something laid on top of it. Verse 7 calls for strong wine poured out in the holy place, and Barnes notes that the term usually names drink other than the grape, with barley drink standing in for wine in the desert. Paul takes up the poured drink offering for himself at Philippians 2:17 and 2 Timothy 4:6.
B. Sabbaths and the beginnings of months
1. (vv. 9-10)
Numbers 28:9
“What was omitted in the former passage is here supplied, i.e., that on the Sabbath the continual sacrifice was to be doubled, and two lambs offered instead of one; for it was reasonable that, as the seventh day was peculiarly dedicated to God, it should be exalted above other days by some extraordinary and distinctive mark.”
John Calvin· Commentaries (1554)reformed
Numbers 28:10
“This is the burnt offering of every sabbath,....”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 28:10
“Though we observe not any feast of new moons, yet we must not forget to give God the glory of all the precious things put forth by the moon which he has established for ever, a faithful witness in heaven, Ps. lxxxix.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
No sabbath burnt offering had been commanded before this verse, a point Barnes and the Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary each make. The seventh day is marked by doubling the daily lambs rather than by an offering of another kind, so it carries the same rite at twice the measure. Ezekiel 46:4-5 gives six lambs and a ram for the sabbath in the temple vision, a larger reckoning than this one, and Matthew Henry reads that increase as sabbath keeping enlarged rather than ended.
2. (vv. 11-15)
Numbers 28:11
“The New-moon offering is here also commanded for the first time. The goat as a sin-offering, though mentioned last, would seem in fact to have been offered first (compare the precedents in Exo. 29; Lev. 5; 8; 9; 14; 16). The sin-offering, which Num 15:22-26 had been contemplated in cases where a sin had been committed ignorantly without the knowledge of the congregation, was henceforth not to be offered merely at discretion, as circumstances might seem to require, but to be regularly repeated, not less frequently than once a month.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 28:11
“The beginning of the month was known, not by astronomical calculations, but, according to Jewish writers, by the testimony of messengers appointed to watch the first visible appearance of the new moon; and then the fact was announced through the whole country by signal-fires kindled on the mountain tops.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Numbers 28:12
“And three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, for one bullock,....”
Numbers 28:15
“For, when we give glory to God by confessing his mercies, we must give glory to him likewise by confessing our own sins; and, when we rejoice in the gifts of common providence, we must make the sacrifice of Christ, that great gift of special grace, the fountain and spring-head of our joy.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The monthly offering is commanded here for the first time in the law, and it is the largest yet in the chapter, two bullocks, a ram and seven lambs. A kid of the goats for a sin offering comes with it, so atonement is written into the calendar month by month instead of waiting on an occasion of known guilt, which is how Numbers 15:22-26 had treated it. Jewish writers report that the start of a month was fixed by witnesses watching for the first sight of the new moon and by fires lit on the hilltops to carry the word, which is later practice and not anything this chapter states. Colossians 2:16 names the new moon alongside the sabbath and the holyday when it tells the church to let no man judge them in these things.
C. Passover and seven days of offerings
1. (vv. 16-19)
Numbers 28:16
“And in the fourteenth day of the first month,.... The month Nisan, as the Targum of Jonathan or Abib, which, upon the Israelites coming out of Egypt, and on that account, was made the first month; otherwise Tisri or September was the first month, see Exo 12:2, is the passover of the Lord; a feast in which a lamb was killed and eaten, in memory of the Lord's passing over the houses of the Israelites, when he slew the firstborn in Egypt; see Exo 12:6.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 28:16
“The Passover offering was the same as that of the New moon, and was repeated on each of the seven days of the festival, thus marking the importance and the solemnity of the occasion. The details of the offering had not been previously prescribed.”
Numbers 28:17
“And in the fifteenth day of this month is the feast,.... Not of the passover, that was the day before, but of unleavened bread, which began on this day, and lasted seven days, Lev 23:6 which is what the Jews call the Chagigah: seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten; see Exo 12:15.”
1 more voice on this verse
Numbers 28:17
“A gospel conversation, in gratitude for Christ our passover who was sacrificed, is called the keeping of this feast ( 1 Cor. v. 8 ); for it is not enough that we purge out the leavened bread of malice and wickedness, but we must offer the bread of our God, even the sacrifice of praise, continually, and continue herein unto the end.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 28:18
“In the first day shall be an holy convocation,.... The first of the seven days, which was kept in a very religious manner: ye shall do no manner of servile work therein; except by preparing food to eat; see Exo 12:16.”
Numbers 28:19
“But ye shall offer a sacrifice made by fire for a burnt offering unto the Lord,.... Which was to be of the creatures next mentioned: two young bullocks, &c. the same with the burnt offering on the first day of the month, Num 28:11.”
The passover is fixed by date and the feast of unleavened bread runs from the following day for seven days, as Exodus 12:6 and Leviticus 23:5-6 had set them. What this chapter adds is the offering at the altar for those days, which Barnes observes had not been prescribed anywhere before. The household lamb of Exodus 12 goes unmentioned here, since the subject is what the nation brings, and the burnt offering named in verse 19 is the same one the new moon received in verse 11.
2. (vv. 20-25)
Numbers 28:20
“And their meat offering,.... The quantity of flour for which is the same for a bullock, a ram, and a lamb, as in Num 28:12.”
Numbers 28:22
“And one goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. For notwithstanding all their services and sacrifices, and though this day was an holy convocation, yet there was need of a sin offering to expiate their guilt, typical of Christ, who takes away the sins of our holy things as well as all other sins: this sin offering also was of that sort which were eaten; for Maimonides says (k), the goat of the sin offering was eaten on the second day of the passover, which was the sixteenth of Nisan. (k) Maimon. Hilchot Tamidin, c. 7. sect.”
Numbers 28:23
“Ye shall offer these beside the burnt offering in the morning,.... The daily morning sacrifice, and also besides the daily evening sacrifices, though it is not expressed: which is for a continual burnt offering; and not to be intermitted on any account, let the sacrifices of the day be ever so numerous; great care is taken to observe this.”
Numbers 28:24
“After this manner ye shall offer daily throughout the seven days,....”
Numbers 28:25
“And on the seventh day ye shall have an holy convocation,.... As on the first: ye shall do no servile work; unless in dressing food.”
Verse 24 orders the same offering on each of the seven days, so the week holds its full measure to the end instead of tapering after the opening convocation. The phrase beside the continual burnt offering falls at verses 10, 15, 24 and 31, with verse 23 saying the same thing in other words, and it settles what a feast might otherwise raise, since the daily lambs go on under everything laid over them. A goat for a sin offering stands in the middle of a week of gladness, which Matthew Henry reads as confession keeping company with joy.
D. The day of the firstfruitsvv. 26-31
This feast carries no date in any month. It is placed by counting, after your weeks be out, which Leviticus 23:15-16 measures as fifty days from the sheaf of the wave offering, and it is the one appointment in the chapter fixed by a tally rather than by a day of the month. Acts 2:1 has the disciples together when that counted day was fully come. The chapter closes here, and the offerings of the seventh month, the trumpets, the day of atonement and the booths, are held over to chapter 29.
Numbers 28:26
“It was at this feast that the Spirit was poured out ( Acts ii. 1 , &c.), and thousands were converted by the preaching of the apostles, and were presented to Christ, to be a kind of first-fruits of his creatures. The sacrifice that was to be offered with the loaves of the first-fruits was appointed, Lev. xxiii.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Numbers 28:27
“But ye shall offer the burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the Lord,....”
Numbers 28:31
“Without blemish - This is to be understood as applying, not only to the animals, but also to the flour, wine, and oil; every thing must be perfect in its kind.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
This page carries no textual note on Numbers 28. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on the Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Form of a Harmony; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.