Numbers 28 explained: A Calendar of Regular Offerings

Offerings at set times (vv. 1-2)

The twice daily offering repeats a rule already given at Mount Sinai, but the extra Sabbath offerings and the offerings for each day of Passover week are not spelled out anywhere earlier. One traditional explanation for gathering everything here is that a new generation, mostly born in the desert, was about to enter the land.

Every morning and evening (vv. 3-8)

Each day began and ended with a flawless year-old lamb burned whole on the altar, along with flour mixed with olive oil and wine poured out at the sanctuary rather than drunk. The offerings are called God's "food" and a "pleasing aroma," old sacrificial language that many read as picturing gifts God gladly accepts, not a meal God needed.

Every Sabbath (vv. 9-10)

On the weekly day of rest, two more lambs were added on top of the daily ones. The rest day was marked by more worship, not less.

The start of each month (vv. 11-15)

The first day of each month, at the new moon, was marked with a much larger offering of bulls, a ram and lambs, plus a goat as a sin offering, meant to deal with the people's wrongs and set things right with God. Neighbouring peoples honoured the moon itself, and some suggest part of the point was to direct this moment toward the LORD instead.

Passover and Unleavened Bread (vv. 16-25)

Passover remembered Israel's escape from slavery in Egypt, and the following week of eating bread without yeast recalled how quickly they had to leave, with large offerings made on all seven days. Christians later read this feast in light of Jesus, whose death took place at Passover.

Festival of Weeks (vv. 26-31)

About seven weeks later, people brought grain from the new harvest to give thanks, with a day of rest, a gathering for worship and its own set of offerings. This feast is later known as Pentecost.

Key verse: Numbers 28:2

Something to think about

What regular rhythms, daily, weekly or yearly, shape your life, and what do they show about what you treat as most important?