May 31, 2023

What is a careful offering?

Numbers 28

Allison Kim
Wednesday's Devo

May 31, 2023

Wednesday's Devo

May 31, 2023

Wednesday's Devo

May 31, 2023

Wednesday's Devo

May 31, 2023

Big Idea

God's instruction can always be trusted.

Key Verse | Numbers 28:1-2

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, "Command the people of Israel and say to them, 'My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.'"

Numbers 28

Daily Offerings

1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ 3 And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 5 also a tenth of an ephah 1 28:5 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin 2 28:5 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters of beaten oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. 7 Its drink offering shall be a quarter of a hin for each lamb. In the Holy Place you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the LORD. 8 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Like the grain offering of the morning, and like its drink offering, you shall offer it as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

Sabbath Offerings

9 On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: 10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

Monthly Offerings

11 At the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 12 also three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull, and two tenths of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and a tenth of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for every lamb; for a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. 14 Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and a quarter of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of each month throughout the months of the year. 15 Also one male goat for a sin offering to the LORD; it shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.

Passover Offerings

16 On the fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD's Passover, 17 and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 19 but offer a food offering, a burnt offering to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish; 20 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two tenths for a ram; 21 a tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs; 22 also one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. 24 In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. It shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.

Offerings for the Feast of Weeks

26 On the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 27 but offer a burnt offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old; 28 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths for one ram, 29 a tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 with one male goat, to make atonement for you. 31 Besides the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. See that they are without blemish.

Footnotes

[1] 28:5 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
[2] 28:5 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters

S2:103 Numbers 28

Listen Now

Dive Deeper | Numbers 28

113 bulls, 1,086 lambs, 1,000 bottles of oil and wine, and to top it all off, over a ton of flour. That is what is required for one year of sacrifices as outlined in Numbers 28!

Why does God command Moses to share with the people of Israel how they are to make such offerings?

  1. There is importance and clarity in the sacrificial system. The Israelites began their relationship with God by their faith in Him and His words. The first Passover and the crossing of the Red Sea are pictures of their faith in Jehovah. Through the sacrificial system, the Israelites could maintain a right relationship with God, and they were reminded daily of their need to maintain that right relationship with God. God makes it clear how this can be done so that the people would be able to execute on the command.
     
  2. There is an assurance of abundance. The act of worship through offerings was lavish and would require a lot from the land and its harvest. The Lord has led the Israelites from the wilderness to a land that is flowing with milk and honey.
     
  3. There is importance in Sabbath. On the Sabbath day, the Israelites were not to work but to trust that the Lord would provide for them. What a challenge then to give even more on a day when one could not work!

The offerings invite the Israelites into worship and point them to God—that God makes a way, God provides, and God calls us to rest in Him.

This month's memory verse

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

– Philippians 2:3–4

Discussion Questions

1. When and how did you learn about having a right relationship with God? Who can you share this with today?

2. What are some promises from the Lord that you can remind yourself of today to trust that God is our provider?

3. We see the importance of Sabbath in this chapter with a specific Sabbath offering. Are you prioritizing Sabbath rest? If not, what can you start doing to prioritize Sabbath rest?

Respond to Today's Passage

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Hugh Stephenson

Good morning, Allison! Love your focus on the foundation being to seek a right relationship with God. Since He doesn’t change it’s clear that all my pain and anguish is from “heart disease”, (Proverbs 4:23, Jeremiah 17:9). Q1. I never understood the idea of a personal relationship with God until I was deep into re:gen, Prodigal and the equipping classes. When I began to get a better understanding it was mind blowing. Q2. Isaiah 41:10 is a life verse. Also Matthew 11:28-30 and Philippians 4:6-7. Q3. The best that I can say is that I have gone from “less worse” to “not bad”.
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Hugh Stephenson

In many ways these passages of offerings, census, genealogies etc can be tough reads. Part of me wants to get back to the actual events. Even so, I know that 2 Timothy 3:16 is true. This message was for the Israelites in that particular time and place and for a particular purpose. Yet, like “All Scripture”, it useful to me. The big picture question for me when I read the Pentateuch for the first time several years ago was in trying to grasp what the big picture was. What I have come to understand is that almost everything links back to Eden and forward to the return of Jesus to take me home. Larry Crabb says this in 66 love letters- “The Bible is a love story that begins with a divorce. Everything from the third chapter of Genesis through the end of Revelation is the story of a betrayed lover wooing us back into His arms so we can enjoy the love of family forever.” At a recent retreat Amy and I heard this statement, “We need to let go of images that get in the way of a grown-up relationship with God, who is both far beyond us yet so close to us.” Kevin O’Brien The Eden Project guys note this- ————————————————————— “Eden was man’s first home. It was the place God created in order to dwell with and enjoy his people.” We’re all trying to get back to a home we’ve never been to. A relational habitat where we experience a deep connection with God, ourselves, and others. This is Eden. This is what we were made for. There are fundamental features that must be experienced if we are to encounter life aligned with our design. If we are to fully live. We were created in the image of a Triune God who is love. This means the quality of our lives is the quality of our relationships.” ————————————————————— I see the Israelites as desperately grasping at the Promise, a land of their own full of milk and honey with every thing they need. Yet it seems so far away. Me too. All the temptations that lure me into sin are there for them, albeit in a different form.
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Hugh Stephenson

Some great comments from the notes- "The real key to successful conquest of Canaan and happy living within its borders was continual fellowship with God. Hence it was that God at this time presented to the new generation by way of Moses a finalized and complete set of regulations for offerings, most of which had already been given at Sinai. Their observance would encourage an intimate worship of God by the people in the land "As we, the modern readers of Numbers, think scripturally, this overwhelming emphasis on sacrificial worship has one intent: to cause each reader to think of the enormity of the offense of our sin against the holiness of God, thus driving the repentant sinner to the foot of the Cross. All sacrifices—whether of the morning or evening, of Sabbath or New Moon—have their ultimate meaning in the death the Savior died. https://www.gotquestions.org/Old-Testament-sacrifices.html
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Michael Sisson

Re: Num 28:1-31 The offerings detailed in this chapter are still a part of daily synagogue life to this day. However, in the absence of the Temple in Jerusalem (the only place sacrifices may be offered; Lev 17:1-7), these offerings presently take the form of morning, afternoon (Acts 3:1), and evening prayers and special synagogue observances. (Jer 33:18) “TAMID - The daily sacrifice. Every morning the kohanim had to offer a lamb as an olah offering on the mizbe'ach (altar). This offering must be followed by a minchah (flour) and nesekh (drink) offering. Note that there were actually two tamid offerings: a morning offering and an afternoon offering. Tamid offerings were also made on Shabbat (despite the melakhah [work] involved). Today Tamid refers to daily prayer services said in the synagogue. “MUSAF - Additional offerings made on Shabbat, Rosh Chodesh, and on each Jewish holiday (the mo'edim). Today Musaf refers to an additional service associated with special Shabbats and festivals. Normally, an addition is made to the Shemoneh Esrei [i.e. the Amidah; second only to the Shema in its importance to Jewish prayer, its most basic form is attributed to Ezra the Scribe] that includes reference to the particular holy day or its rituals.” — Hebrew For Christians https://www.hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Parashah/Summaries/Pinchas/pinchas.html
SB

Sue Bohlin

Ooooooh, good one Allison!! Bless you! One of the repeated phrases in this chapter is "pleasing aroma," and what a joy to have the New Testament where we see WHY the Lord planted this ritual and this concept into His people's experience in the Old Testament--because the ultimate "pleasing aroma" would be His Son. "For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing." (2 Cor. 2:15) And WE get to BE the pleasing aroma!! (Or the stench, which is how it is perceived by those who are perishing. Which explains a lot of the hostility Christians encounter.)
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Michael Scaman

The offerings were like clockwork at sunrise and sunset and sabbath, monthly and yearly. All done on holy ground by the ashes oft the red heffer. A drink offering (of strong drink) completes the offering. Was it alchohol and was it flamable? I'm wondering why Paul calls himself a drink offering poured out and offering to God over the sacrifice of the gentile believer's faith in 2 Tim 4:6-8 and also in Philippians 2:17 Ligonier ministries says "He is being “poured out as a drink offering” (v. 6), which is an allusion to the offerings of wine that had to accompany every sacrifice under the old covenant (Num. 15:1–16). An offering was not complete until the drink offering was given. Here, Paul is using this terminology to show that his ministry is complete."
AL

Amy Lowther

1. From early childhood, I knew it was important to honor God and Jesus but I did not know how. I did not grow up in a Christian home nor did I grow up with healthy parental guidance. Once I graduated from college and moved out on my own, I attended a church local to my apartment in Cincinnati, Ohio, began honoring God through studying His word, attending service regularly, and learned to serve others unselfishly. I continue to work at having a right relationship with God everyday because there is something new everyday. The value of a right relationship with God is good to share with anyone and everyone whenever possible. 2. A few verses which remind me God is our provider are: Isaiah 40:31, Proverbs 3:5-6, and Psalm 139:7-12. 3. Yes.