Commentary - Numbers 29:23-25

Bird's-eye view

In this portion of Numbers, we find ourselves in the thick of the liturgical calendar of Israel. This is not some dusty appendix; it is the rhythmic heartbeat of a people being taught how to walk with their God. The sheer volume and specificity of the sacrifices, particularly during the Feast of Tabernacles, can be bewildering to the modern reader. Why so much blood? Why these particular animals, and in these precise numbers? The short answer is that God was teaching His people a picture-book lesson, using animals and grain and wine as the illustrations. This entire system was a great audio-visual aid for the gospel. It was designed to instill a deep sense of two realities: the gravity of their sin, which required such a constant stream of death, and the magnificent provision of God, which promised a final and perfect sacrifice. Every bullock, every ram, every lamb was a signpost pointing down the road to Calvary. Paul tells us that the law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and this chapter is one of the more demanding lessons.

The Feast of Tabernacles, or Booths, was a week-long celebration of God's faithfulness to Israel during their forty years in the wilderness. They lived in temporary shelters to remember their pilgrim status and God's provision. But it was also a harvest festival, a time of great joy and abundance. This joy is reflected in the staggering number of offerings required. These verses for the fourth day of the feast are not an anomaly but part of a larger, descending pattern of bullocks offered each day. This meticulous accounting is meant to teach us that our worship is not a slapdash affair. God is a God of order, and our approach to Him must be thoughtful, structured, and, above all, obedient to His Word. He sets the terms of our worship because He is the one being worshiped, and He is the one who provides the very means of that worship.

Outline

Context In Numbers

Numbers 29 comes after the account of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 and the list of holy days in Leviticus 23. This chapter functions as a detailed liturgical guide, specifying the exact sacrifices required for the various feasts in the seventh month. The seventh month was the pinnacle of Israel's religious year, containing the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. This chapter underscores the centrality of the sacrificial system to Israel's covenant life. It is a chapter about worship, and specifically, worship as God has commanded it. This is not a free-for-all. The Israelites were not invited to "bring whatever you feel led to bring." The precision is the point. Their relationship with a holy God was not to be governed by sentiment, but by revelation.

This passage, detailing the offerings for the fourth day of the Feast of Tabernacles, is part of a larger pattern. Over the seven days of the feast, the number of bulls offered decreases by one each day, starting with thirteen and ending with seven. This structured, almost mathematical, approach to worship is foreign to us, but it was intended to shape the Israelite mind. It taught them that God's ways are ordered and that obedience requires careful attention to detail. This is not mindless ritual, but rather a structured liturgy designed to form a particular kind of people, a people who know their God is a God of glorious, beautiful, and demanding order.

Verse by Verse Commentary

Numbers 29:23

‘Then on the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish;

Here we are at the midpoint of the feast, the fourth day of seven. The number of bulls has descended from thirteen on the first day to ten on this day. This is a massive offering. Ten bulls. We must not read this like a grocery list. Each bull was a picture of strength and costly sacrifice. Ten is often a number of completion or order, think of the ten commandments. Here, on the fourth day, a number associated with the earth or creation, we have this testimony of ten bulls. These were burnt offerings, or as the Hebrew indicates, ascension offerings. The entire animal went up in smoke to God. This was not primarily about dealing with sin, though that is never far away. This was an act of total consecration. The people were presenting themselves, through these substitutes, as wholly given over to God. This was worship as surrender.

The two rams speak of substitutionary leadership. A ram was often the sacrifice for a leader or a prince. Here, the two rams might point to the dual leadership of priest and king, both of which find their fulfillment in Christ. And then fourteen male lambs, a year old, without blemish. Double the perfect number seven. Lambs, of course, shout of Passover and the coming Lamb of God. They had to be without blemish, a constant reminder that God requires perfection. This was an impossible standard for the people to meet in themselves, which was precisely the point. The entire system was designed to create a hunger for the one who could be the truly unblemished Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Numbers 29:24

their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams and for the lambs, by their number according to the legal judgment;

Sacrifice in the Old Testament was never just about blood. It was a full meal presented to God. Alongside the burnt offerings, you had the grain and drink offerings. This represents the dedication of the people's labor to God. The grain was the fruit of their work in the fields, and the wine was the fruit of their vineyards. By bringing these, they were acknowledging that all their sustenance, all their prosperity, came from the hand of God. They were giving back to God a portion of what He had already given them. This is a fundamental principle of worship. We do not give to God to enrich Him; He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. We give to acknowledge His ownership of everything, including us.

And notice the crucial phrase: according to the legal judgment. Some translations say "according to the ordinance" or "rule." This is key. Worship is not a creative writing assignment. God laid down the rules. He specified the amounts of flour and oil and wine that were to accompany each animal. Why? Because this guards worship from being corrupted by human sentimentality and self-expression. The central act of worship is not expressing ourselves, but obeying God. This disciplined, rule-based approach trained the Israelites to submit their wills to God's revealed will. It is the same principle that governs New Testament worship. We are to do what the Word commands, not what our fickle hearts desire. The "legal judgment" is God's gracious provision, protecting His people from the idolatry of their own imaginations.

Numbers 29:25

and one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.

Lest anyone get carried away in the joyous celebration and forget the foundation of it all, a sin offering was required each day. One male goat. After all the bulls and rams and lambs of the ascension offering, which spoke of consecration and dedication, this goat was a stark reminder. It was a reminder that even in their best worship, in their most zealous celebration, sin was present. The need for atonement never went away. You cannot consecrate yourself to God until your sin has been dealt with. The sin offering had to be made before the fellowship could be enjoyed. This goat, bearing the sin of the people, reminds us that our access to God is always and only on the basis of a substitutionary atonement.

This sin offering was offered besides the continual burnt offering. The "continual" or "regular" burnt offering was the daily sacrifice of a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the evening. This was the baseline of Israel's worship. The special feast offerings were piled on top of this regular pattern. This teaches us that the Christian life is one of daily, constant dedication to God, punctuated by seasons of high celebration. But the foundation is the daily recognition of our need for a sacrifice. For us, that continual offering is Christ Himself. We look to His finished work every morning and every evening. All our worship, all our celebration, is built upon the bedrock of the one male goat who became the final sin offering for us all, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Application

So what does a passage about sacrificing ten bulls in the middle of the desert have to do with us? Everything. First, it teaches us about the holiness of God and the gravity of our sin. We read these numbers and our eyes glaze over, but we should be staggered. The cost of approaching God was immense. This should drive us to our knees in gratitude for the final, perfect, all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus. He is our ten bulls, our two rams, our fourteen lambs, and our goat for a sin offering. All of it is fulfilled in Him.

Second, this passage is a rebuke to our modern, casual, "do-what-feels-right" approach to worship. God cares about how He is worshiped. He gave Israel a detailed "legal judgment" for their offerings, not to crush them with mindless ritual, but to protect them from false worship. While we are not bound by the ceremonial specifics, the principle remains. Our worship today must be governed by the Word of God. We are not free to invent new forms of worship based on cultural trends or personal preferences. We are called to joyful, heartfelt, Spirit-filled obedience to what Scripture commands.

Finally, the combination of the massive burnt offerings with the daily sin offering shows us the pattern of the Christian life. We are declared righteous and our sins are atoned for by the blood of Christ (the sin offering). On that basis, we are called to present our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service (the burnt offering). The Christian life is one of constant, joyous self-consecration, all of it resting on the finished work of the cross. We are not our own; we were bought with a price. Therefore, let us glorify God in our bodies, according to His legal judgment.