Bird's-eye view
This passage details the prescribed sacrifices for the sixth day of the Feast of Booths, or Tabernacles. This feast was the grand finale of the Israelite liturgical year, a week-long celebration of God's provision in the wilderness and the joy of the completed harvest. The sheer scale of the sacrifices throughout this week is staggering, far exceeding any other festival. The central theme is exuberant, grateful, and lavish worship. Yet, even in this high point of celebration, we see the constant, underlying need for atonement. The burnt offerings ascend as a picture of total consecration, the grain and drink offerings represent the dedication of the fruit of their labors, and the daily sin offering is a stark reminder that even Israel's best worship is stained with sin and requires a covering. This entire system is a magnificent but shadowy picture that finds its substance and fulfillment in the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who is both our tabernacle and our atoning lamb.
The specific instructions for the sixth day are part of a larger, decreasing pattern of bull offerings throughout the week, which points typologically to the "winding down" of the old covenant sacrificial system. It was a system that, for all its glory and abundance, was designed to be temporary and to create a profound longing for the final sacrifice that would deal with sin once and for all. This passage, therefore, is not a dry list for accountants but a rich theological portrait of worship under the old covenant, shot through with gospel light.
Outline
- 1. The Sacrifices of the Sixth Day (Num 29:29-31)
- a. The Ascension Offerings: Consecration and Dedication (Num 29:29)
- b. The Accompanying Offerings: Worshipful Tribute (Num 29:30)
- c. The Atoning Offering: The Constant Need for Grace (Num 29:31)
Context In Numbers
Numbers 28 and 29 form a cohesive unit, a sort of liturgical calendar for the nation of Israel. After the narratives of wilderness wandering, rebellion, and judgment, these chapters recenter the nation on the foundation of its life: the worship of Yahweh. God is prescribing the rhythm of their lives, which is to be punctuated by daily, weekly, monthly, and annual sacrifices. Chapter 29 focuses on the climactic seventh month, which included the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and finally, the Feast of Booths. The instructions for the Feast of Booths (29:12-38) are the most extensive, detailing an enormous number of sacrifices. This section serves as a reminder that even as the old generation has died in the wilderness, God's covenant and His requirements for worship remain constant for the new generation poised to enter the Promised Land. Their national life, their prosperity, and their identity were to be rooted in this constant, blood-soaked, celebratory communion with their covenant Lord.
Key Issues
- The Theology of the Feast of Booths
- The Typology of the Sacrificial Numbers
- The Relationship Between Burnt Offerings and Sin Offerings
- The Nature of Old Covenant Worship
- The Fulfillment of the Feasts in Christ
Worship on Overload
When we moderns read a passage like this, our eyes tend to glaze over. We see a list of bulls, rams, and lambs, and we think we have stumbled into the ledger of an ancient stockyard. But we must resist this impulse. This is not about accounting; it is about worship. And the kind of worship described here is lavish, extravagant, and overwhelming. The Feast of Booths was the greatest party of the year. The harvest was in, the people were dwelling in temporary shelters as a reminder of God's faithfulness during their wanderings, and the joy was palpable. God commands this joy to be expressed with an avalanche of sacrifices.
This is a picture of a people whose God is not a distant abstraction but a living reality at the center of their lives. Their worship cost them something significant. It was a tangible expression of their dependence and gratitude. The smell of the smoke, the blood on the altar, the feasting on the peace offerings, all of it was designed to engage the whole person in the worship of the whole God. This is a rebuke to all forms of anemic, sterile, and cheap worship. God is worthy of our best, our most, and our all. The sheer number of animals here is meant to teach us that true worship is never stingy.
Verse by Verse Commentary
29 ‘Then on the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish;
We are nearing the end of the week-long feast. The number of bulls, which began at thirteen on the first day, has been decreasing by one each day. Here on the sixth day, the number is eight. This steady decrease is significant. It is a built-in reminder that this sacrificial system is temporary, that it is winding down and pointing toward something else. It is a countdown to the final sacrifice. The numbers of the other animals, however, remain constant: two rams and fourteen lambs each day. The rams often represent leadership and consecration, while the lambs, numbering a multiple of seven (two times seven), point to the perfection of the sacrifice. The requirement that they be without blemish is a constant refrain, a picture of the moral and physical perfection required by a holy God. This was a standard no animal could truly meet in a spiritual sense, and no sinner could provide for himself. It was a standard designed to create a hunger for the one Lamb of God who was truly without blemish, Jesus Christ (1 Pet. 1:19).
30 and 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;
Worship is never just about atonement for sin; it is also about consecrating the whole of life to God. The grain and drink offerings, which accompanied the burnt offerings, were a representation of this. The grain offering (flour and oil) symbolized the dedication of their labor and sustenance to God. The drink offering (wine) symbolized the pouring out of their joy and life before God. These were not offered randomly but according to the legal judgment, or the prescribed ordinance. God cares about the details of worship. He does not just want us to worship, but to worship in the way He has commanded. This structured worship protected Israel from veering off into pagan practices and constantly reminded them that they approached God on His terms, not their own. They were to bring the fruit of their lives and pour it all out before the Lord, acknowledging that everything they had was a gift from Him.
31 and one male goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offerings.
This is a crucial verse. In the midst of the greatest celebration of the year, with a mountain of burnt offerings ascending to God, they were still required to offer one male goat for a sin offering every single day. Why? Because no amount of celebratory praise or dedication can erase the underlying reality of sin. Our best works, our most zealous worship, our most heartfelt songs are all tainted. The sin offering was the necessary foundation for all other worship. Without atonement, our praise is unacceptable. The goat, a stubborn and rebellious animal, symbolically takes their sin upon itself. Furthermore, this special feast-day sin offering was offered besides the continual burnt offering. The regular, twice-daily sacrifice at the tabernacle was not to be interrupted. This teaches a vital principle: our regular, daily devotion to God must not be set aside for special events. The foundation of a godly life is the daily, consistent pattern of repentance and faith, out of which all our more festive celebrations can rightly flow. The sin offering makes the burnt offering possible. Grace makes gratitude possible.
Application
While we no longer sacrifice bulls and goats, the principles of worship embedded in this text are timeless. First, our worship must be Christ-centered. Every one of these sacrifices was a finger pointing to Jesus. He is the blemish-free lamb, the consecrated ram, the strong bull who bears our burden. He is the grain of wheat fallen to the ground and the wine of the new covenant. He is our sin offering, who dealt with our guilt once and for all. Any worship that is not grounded in the finished work of Christ is an empty ritual.
Second, our worship should be characterized by extravagant joy and generosity. The Israelites were commanded to bring costly and numerous sacrifices, especially when celebrating God's goodness. This rebukes our tendency toward a minimalist, convenient, and cheap Christianity. Does our giving, our serving, our singing reflect the overwhelming goodness of the God who gave us everything in His Son? We are not called to begrudging compliance but to overflowing gratitude.
Finally, we must never forget the foundation of grace. Even in our highest moments of joy, we stand in constant need of the cross. The daily sin offering reminds us that we never outgrow our need for forgiveness. We do not move on from the gospel to deeper things; we move deeper into the gospel. Repentance is not just for unbelievers; it is the daily bread of the Christian. We must continually confess our sins so that the sweet aroma of our praise, offered in Christ's name, might be acceptable to God.