And one goat for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you.
The verse appoints one goat for a sin offering to make atonement on the fifteenth day of the first month, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath and holy convocation kept the day after the Passover. It is a special sin offering appointed besides the regular daily burnt offering of morning and evening lambs and besides offerings for individual sins, to be presented through the tribe of Levi set apart for sanctuary service with the priest acting as mediator and representative of the people before God. It belongs to the daily ministration in the holy place of the earthly sanctuary, distinct from the yearly cleansing work in the most holy place, and serves as example and shadow of the like work carried on in the heavenly sanctuary by Christ of the Melchisedec priesthood in His more excellent ministry. The repeated goat offering with the continual sanctuary services kept the remembrance of sin before the sanctuary and expressed faith in the Redeemer to come, pointing forward to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice by which the sanctified are perfected and these sacrifices have ended. These were mere preliminary and circumstantial offerings that did not determine when the feast met its antitype, for the antitype begins on the appointed day as Christ was sacrificed at Passover and rose at firstfruits, and as law given to Israel as a separate people this service is not binding now though its great underlying principles remain.
Feast Setting and Details
One goat was appointed as a sin offering to make atonement for Israel on the fifteenth day of the first month, Nisan, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That day was an annual Sabbath and holy convocation, held the day after the Passover had been eaten the previous night. The goat belonged to the special offerings commanded for that fifteenth day, as part of the daily offerings of the feast listed in Numbers 28:17-24 and specified in Numbers 28:16-23. Those special offerings included the obligatory festive offering called the Chagigah.
The same additional burnt offerings and sin offering were prescribed for each of the five ordinary days between the 15th and the 21st of Nisan during the week of unleavened bread. Those intervening days were otherwise undistinguished from other days except as feast days marked by those extra offerings. They were kept with all care laid aside and with cheerfulness prevailing, bounded by holy convocations and cessation from work on the 15th and on the 21st.
The goat for a sin offering to make atonement belongs to the later Passover observances, among additional instructions not found in the original Passover directions and not readily carried out in the wilderness. As part of the prescribed service in Numbers 28:18-25, it shows that the Sabbath included holy convocations and not merely rest from work. The priests had to remain ceremonially clean to attend to the fat, blood, and offerings of that feast day, which explains why they would not enter the judgment hall in John 18:28.
Sanctuary Service and Meaning
The verse belongs to the appointed additional and special offerings for the Lord's Sabbaths, annual Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts. It is one part of the stated offerings for the spring festivals described in Numbers 28:16-31, a goat for a sin offering to make atonement joined with burnt offerings and other offerings on the Passover, the day of firstfruits, and the feast of weeks. This offering is part of the sanctuary's recurring service, distinct from both the daily sacrifices and the yearly work of cleansing the sanctuary. Besides the regular daily burnt offering of two lambs offered morning and evening and besides offerings for individual sins, God appointed this special sin offering to make atonement, presented through the tribe of Levi set apart for sanctuary service with the priesthood restricted to the family of Aaron, the priest acting as mediator and representative of the people in things pertaining to God.
The offering belongs to the daily ministration in the holy place of the earthly sanctuary accomplished by the Levitical priesthood. It stands alongside the regular morning and evening burnt offering and the morning and evening burning of sweet incense on the golden altar. It stands alongside the particular work for individuals as they presented their offerings through the year, and it is distinct from the yearly cleansing work in the most holy place.
As part of that earthly ministration, the first grand division of the sanctuary service, it serves unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. It reveals the like work carried on in the heavenly sanctuary and true tabernacle in the person of Christ of the Melchisedec priesthood in His more excellent ministry. These earthly services with their offerings for the whole congregation were figures of the heavenly sanctuary and its service.
The goat sin offering represents a general sacrificial provision for the whole congregation alongside the continual sanctuary services. Those daily sacrifices were called the continual burnt offering and were not set aside when other offerings were presented. Through sacrifice sin was addressed, its cleansing sought, and the remembrance of sin kept before the sanctuary. These repeated sacrifices expressed the worshipers' faith in the Redeemer to come and pointed forward to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. They were part of the ceremony of the morning and evening sacrifices through which priests interceded for Israel while the people prayed.
Prophetic Fulfillment and Application
The goat for a sin offering accompanied the feast of unleavened bread but did not determine when its central event was fulfilled, for a type's antitype begins on the appointed day even if its effects continue afterward. The stated offerings for the spring festivals in Numbers 28:16-31, the goat for a sin offering joined with burnt offerings and other offerings on the Passover, the day of firstfruits, and the feast of weeks, were mere preliminary and circumstantial offerings. They did not prevent the grand event of each day from meeting its antitype on the very day of the type, as Christ was sacrificed at Passover, rose at firstfruits, and the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. The same kind of work of burnt offerings and sin offering appointed for those days was also appointed for the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of atonement, and such offerings cannot require years of preliminary work before the cleansing of the sanctuary. That antitype must commence on the tenth day of the seventh month at the end of the 2300 days, though it may then extend forward a great distance.
As part of the church laws in Numbers 28 that regulated Israel's assembling and worship, the ordinance grew out of God's moral law but was given to Israel as a separate people and as a church and was limited to that nation as law. As law it is not binding now, any more than Israel's civil, sanitary, social, building, agricultural, garment, beard, Sabbath, and financial laws, but the great underlying principles remain the same. It belonged to the ceremony of the morning and evening sacrifices, through which priests interceded for Israel while the people prayed. These sacrifices have ended because Christ's one offering has perfected the sanctified, and Christian households may instead gather morning and evening in prayer and praise before God.
The verse appoints one goat for a sin offering to make atonement on the fifteenth day of the first month, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, an annual Sabbath and holy convocation kept the day after the Passover. It is a special sin offering appointed besides the regular daily burnt offering of morning and evening lambs and besides offerings for individual sins, to be presented through the tribe of Levi set apart for sanctuary service with the priest acting as mediator and representative of the people before God. It belongs to the daily ministration in the holy place of the earthly sanctuary, distinct from the yearly cleansing work in the most holy place, and serves as example and shadow of the like work carried on in the heavenly sanctuary by Christ of the Melchisedec priesthood in His more excellent ministry. The repeated goat offering with the continual sanctuary services kept the remembrance of sin before the sanctuary and expressed faith in the Redeemer to come, pointing forward to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice by which the sanctified are perfected and these sacrifices have ended. These were mere preliminary and circumstantial offerings that did not determine when the feast met its antitype, for the antitype begins on the appointed day as Christ was sacrificed at Passover and rose at firstfruits, and as law given to Israel as a separate people this service is not binding now though its great underlying principles remain.
Feast Setting and Details
One goat was appointed as a sin offering to make atonement for Israel on the fifteenth day of the first month, Nisan, the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. That day was an annual Sabbath and holy convocation, held the day after the Passover had been eaten the previous night. The goat belonged to the special offerings commanded for that fifteenth day, as part of the daily offerings of the feast listed in Numbers 28:17-24 and specified in Numbers 28:16-23. Those special offerings included the obligatory festive offering called the Chagigah.
The same additional burnt offerings and sin offering were prescribed for each of the five ordinary days between the 15th and the 21st of Nisan during the week of unleavened bread. Those intervening days were otherwise undistinguished from other days except as feast days marked by those extra offerings. They were kept with all care laid aside and with cheerfulness prevailing, bounded by holy convocations and cessation from work on the 15th and on the 21st.
The goat for a sin offering to make atonement belongs to the later Passover observances, among additional instructions not found in the original Passover directions and not readily carried out in the wilderness. As part of the prescribed service in Numbers 28:18-25, it shows that the Sabbath included holy convocations and not merely rest from work. The priests had to remain ceremonially clean to attend to the fat, blood, and offerings of that feast day, which explains why they would not enter the judgment hall in John 18:28.
Sanctuary Service and Meaning
The verse belongs to the appointed additional and special offerings for the Lord's Sabbaths, annual Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts. It is one part of the stated offerings for the spring festivals described in Numbers 28:16-31, a goat for a sin offering to make atonement joined with burnt offerings and other offerings on the Passover, the day of firstfruits, and the feast of weeks. This offering is part of the sanctuary's recurring service, distinct from both the daily sacrifices and the yearly work of cleansing the sanctuary. Besides the regular daily burnt offering of two lambs offered morning and evening and besides offerings for individual sins, God appointed this special sin offering to make atonement, presented through the tribe of Levi set apart for sanctuary service with the priesthood restricted to the family of Aaron, the priest acting as mediator and representative of the people in things pertaining to God.
The offering belongs to the daily ministration in the holy place of the earthly sanctuary accomplished by the Levitical priesthood. It stands alongside the regular morning and evening burnt offering and the morning and evening burning of sweet incense on the golden altar. It stands alongside the particular work for individuals as they presented their offerings through the year, and it is distinct from the yearly cleansing work in the most holy place.
As part of that earthly ministration, the first grand division of the sanctuary service, it serves unto the example and shadow of heavenly things. It reveals the like work carried on in the heavenly sanctuary and true tabernacle in the person of Christ of the Melchisedec priesthood in His more excellent ministry. These earthly services with their offerings for the whole congregation were figures of the heavenly sanctuary and its service.
The goat sin offering represents a general sacrificial provision for the whole congregation alongside the continual sanctuary services. Those daily sacrifices were called the continual burnt offering and were not set aside when other offerings were presented. Through sacrifice sin was addressed, its cleansing sought, and the remembrance of sin kept before the sanctuary. These repeated sacrifices expressed the worshipers' faith in the Redeemer to come and pointed forward to Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. They were part of the ceremony of the morning and evening sacrifices through which priests interceded for Israel while the people prayed.
Prophetic Fulfillment and Application
The goat for a sin offering accompanied the feast of unleavened bread but did not determine when its central event was fulfilled, for a type's antitype begins on the appointed day even if its effects continue afterward. The stated offerings for the spring festivals in Numbers 28:16-31, the goat for a sin offering joined with burnt offerings and other offerings on the Passover, the day of firstfruits, and the feast of weeks, were mere preliminary and circumstantial offerings. They did not prevent the grand event of each day from meeting its antitype on the very day of the type, as Christ was sacrificed at Passover, rose at firstfruits, and the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost. The same kind of work of burnt offerings and sin offering appointed for those days was also appointed for the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of atonement, and such offerings cannot require years of preliminary work before the cleansing of the sanctuary. That antitype must commence on the tenth day of the seventh month at the end of the 2300 days, though it may then extend forward a great distance.
As part of the church laws in Numbers 28 that regulated Israel's assembling and worship, the ordinance grew out of God's moral law but was given to Israel as a separate people and as a church and was limited to that nation as law. As law it is not binding now, any more than Israel's civil, sanitary, social, building, agricultural, garment, beard, Sabbath, and financial laws, but the great underlying principles remain the same. It belonged to the ceremony of the morning and evening sacrifices, through which priests interceded for Israel while the people prayed. These sacrifices have ended because Christ's one offering has perfected the sanctified, and Christian households may instead gather morning and evening in prayer and praise before God.