The Calendar

Studies in Numbers

III The Finale

B The Celebrations

1 The Calendar, Text: 28:1-29:40

Title: Sacrifices

INTRODUCTION

In these Scriptures we have a complex delineation of the great multiplicity of offerings prescribed for Israel under God’s law. It is the sheer volume of these offerings that should astound us. In addition to these there were offerings with vows, and free will offerings of thanks. The list is indeed overwhelming. There were daily offerings, and weekly sabbath offerings, and monthly or new moon offerings because Israel had a lunar calendar. Then there were seasonal festival offerings as well. Note also that neither the sabbath, or monthly or seasonal offerings suspended the daily offerings which led to an incredible number of offerings. Initially, when a measurement is used I will indicate its significance in our culture, but then it becomes a challenge for our engineers and math students, when the fractions are given with great frequency. If you had to go to the market place and buy this you could not afford it, but Israel was an agrarian and livestock society. Out of their fields and flocks they gave to the Lord.

I THE BURDEN

So we read in verses 28:1-29:40, I am reading all of these so you can get the force of the legislation and hear again what Israel heard, so please bear with me and for a few minutes go back in time and imagine yourself an Israelite, awaiting instruction on the border of the promised land, who received these words of the living God through the mouth of Moses. The Lord said to Moses,“Give this command to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Make sure that you present to me at the appointed time my food offerings, as an aroma pleasing to me.’ Say to them: ‘This is the food offering you are to present to the Lord: two lambs a year old without defect, as a regular burnt offering each day. Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight, together with a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah (.63 bushel 5.9 dry gallons) of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin (.98 Gallon) of oil from pressed olives. This is the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. The accompanying drink offering is to be a quarter of a hin (approximately a quart) of fermented drink with each lamb. Pour out the drink offering to the Lord at the sanctuary. Offer the second lamb at twilight, along with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering that you offer in the morning. This is a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.“ ‘On the Sabbath day, make an offering of two lambs a year old without defect, together with its drink offering and a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with olive oil. This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.“ ‘On the first of every month, present to the Lord a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephor of the finest flour mixed with oil; and with each lamb, a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil. This is for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, a food offering presented to the Lord. With each bull there is to be a drink offering of half a hin of wine; with the ram, a third of a hin; and with each lamb, a quarter of a hin. This is the monthly burnt offering to be made at each new moon during the year. Besides the regular burnt offering with its drink offering, one male goat is to be presented to the Lord as a sin offering. “ ‘On the fourteenth day of the first month the Lord’s Passover is to be held. On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Present to the Lord a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With each bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. Offer these in addition to the regular morning burnt offering. In this way present the food offering every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to the Lord; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.“ ‘On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Present a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah (3/5 of a bushel.) of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat to make atonement for you. Offer these together with their drink offerings, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. Be sure the animals are without defect. “‘On the first day of the seventh month hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. It is a day for you to sound the trumpets. As an aroma pleasing to the Lord, offer a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah[a] of the finest flour mixed with olive oil; with the ram, two-tenths[b]; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering[d] to make atonement for you. These are in addition to the monthly and daily burnt offerings with their grain offerings and drink offerings as specified. They are food offerings presented to the Lord, a pleasing aroma.“‘On the tenth day of this seventh month hold a sacred assembly. You must deny yourselves[e] and do no work. Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lord a burnt offering of one young bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering for atonement and the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings. ‘‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. Celebrate a festival to the Lord for seven days. Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lord a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of thirteen young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. With each of the thirteen bulls offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with each of the two rams, two-tenths; and with each of the fourteen lambs, one-tenth. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. “‘On the second day offer twelve young bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, and their drink offerings. “‘On the third day offer eleven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. “‘On the fourth day offer ten bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. “‘On the fifth day offer nine bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. “‘On the sixth day offer eight bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering.“‘On the seventh day offer seven bulls, two rams and fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bulls, rams and lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. “‘On the eighth day hold a closing special assembly and do no regular work. Present as an aroma pleasing to the Lord a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of one bull, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. With the bull, the ram and the lambs, offer their grain offerings and drink offerings according to the number specified. Include one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering. “‘In addition to what you vow and your freewill offerings, offer these to the Lord at your appointed festivals: your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings and fellowship offerings.’” Moses told the Israelites all that the Lord commanded him. It’s good these people had no television or other electronic devices to distract them because the rules were overwhelming. The law was indeed a burden and a yoke around their necks. It has been removed by Jesus Christ for as Paul writes in Galatians 3:10-14 y faith.” The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things willFor all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live b live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. To clarify the law has two parts which are the moral and the ceremonial. Jesus fulfilled the moral on our behalf, and he totally abolished the ceremonial, which is what we are looking at in this text. This brings me to the subject of the blood.

II THE BLOOD

Scholars who have studied the sources comment that according to that tradition the base of the altar had two holes, into which the blood of the sacrifices was poured. The holes led to a channel of running water flowing through the court of the Temple down to the Kidron Valley, outside the city. According to the tradition, this water was sold to gardeners, who used it as fertilizer. In this particular case we have a sewer system used to keep the Temple area clean. Some scholars believe that this tradition is historically accurate. We have many witnesses that the Temple had a drainage system used to dispose of the sacrificial blood properly in the Old Testament sanctuary and Temple. Think of the sheer volume of blood from all these sacrifices. It was enormous and flood over many generations. I am strongly reminded of the great hymn of Isaac Watts, “Not all the blood of beasts On Jewish altars slain, Could give the guilty conscience peace, Or wash away the stain. But Christ, the heav’nly Lamb, Takes all our sins away; A sacrifice of nobler name, And richer blood than they. My faith would lay her hand, On that dear head of Thine, While like a penitent I stand, And there confess my sin.”

III THE BEQUEST

A further word about the blood is appropriate. Isaac Watts was right about Jesus’ bloody sacrifice on Calvary. Jesus took our blame. Liberals and modernists have rejected the what they call the bloody element in the gospel as belonging to a savage age They are more sophisticated they claim. There are even poor Bible translations that refuse to use the word “blood” and substitute “death”because they are so offended. In the New Testament, however, there is no such weak, timid, effeminate, ineffectual. namby-pamby, cowardly, pansy attitude towards blood. Here are some of the references, Hebrews 9:22, And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 13:12, Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate.1 John 1:7, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin. Romans 5:9, Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. Revelation 1:5, And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood. Hebrews 9:12-14, Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption. All of these rest on the Old Testament assertion in Leviticus 17:11, For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it the blood makes an atonement for the soul. The Hebrew word translated “life” is “nephesh” and it is translated many ways. Primarily it means the soul or the life force. This is basically what makes us human. In Genesis when God created man it says He fashioned him out of the earth, and breathed into him the breath of life, and he became a living soul, and the word is nephesh, for living soul. The blood carries the life force which God breathed into men made in His image. All the sacrifices of the Old Testament could not pay for our sin because the blood did not contain the essential nephesh. God made the animals but he did not breathe into them. He made them wonderfully and they do reflect back and mimic some of our traits, but that is why taking a human life is a crime and killing an animal in a hunt is not. I agree with punishing cruelty to animals because it is destructive of God’s image in us. It is definitely not the same in God’s sight as shedding human blood. God loves and cares for animals but they do not have the same nephesh. All of the sacrifices here cited pointed to one Lamb of God, Jesus, who took away the sin of His people, and died in their place. Hebrews 12:24 – And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel. Abel was the first martyr and he died for His faith but although he died he could not pay for our sin only the divine man Jesus the Son of God and the Son of Man could do that. Matthew 26:28 – For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. Have you believed in this Savior, Jesus, who made the one and only sacrifice that counts for eternity; the one sacrifice to which all the others pointed?