Numbers 29:11, commentary and pictures

Numbers 29:11 appoints for the tenth day of the seventh month an added kid of the goats for a sin offering, besides the special sin offering of atonement and the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offerings. The yearly service was added to the ordinary offerings rather than taking their place, so the regular daily ministration in the holy place continued that day. The sins of the year transferred into the sanctuary through sin offerings were there to receive a yearly final atonement that cleansed the sanctuary, while the people fasted and prayed with attention fixed on the work of atonement. The blood of the Lord's goat represented Christ's work of removing confessed sins from the sanctuary and finally blotting the sins of the righteous from the books of heaven. The slain animals typified Christ's death once for all, so these offerings cannot each have separate future fulfillments requiring Him to die again.

Offerings Appointed for Day

The tenth day of the seventh month required an added kid of the goats for a sin offering, beside the special sin offering of atonement and beside the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offerings. That added goat addressed sins beyond those already represented in the sanctuary through the regular daily offerings. It stood among the appointed additional services for annual sabbaths and feasts, specified alongside the atonement offering and the continual burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings.

The yearly service was added to the ordinary offerings rather than performed instead of them, and the regular daily ministration continued that day. The morning and evening burnt offering, the morning and evening burning of sweet incense on the golden altar when the lamps were dressed and lighted, and the additional work appointed for the Sabbaths of the Lord and for annual sabbaths, new moons and feasts belonged to the daily ministration in the holy place of the earthly sanctuary by the Levitical priesthood. The daily general sacrifices therefore continued alongside the special offerings of the day, while ordinary individual offerings at the sanctuary entrance were not to be made during the performing of the atonement, the people being represented by the priest's offering and keeping attention fixed on the work of atonement.

The continual offering continued that day with a lamb offered in the morning and a lamb in the evening, together with seven additional lambs and a ram. The continual offering and the ram were burned while the high priest offered the goat's blood, and the other offerings were made after he came out, with lower priests also officiating in the day's offerings. In this way sacrifices continued at the altar while the atonement service proceeded inside the sanctuary.

The Bible does not state whether these added burnt offerings with their sin offering, grain offerings and drink offerings were made before the high priest entered the most holy place or after he came out. They could have been made after, at the point described in Leviticus 16:23-24. Each burnt offering in Numbers 29 had its drink offering with it, consisting of strong fermented wine, over a quart with each lamb, which was always poured out upon the burnt offering and not drunk freely. The great number of such burnt offerings with their drink offerings explains why wine is mentioned so often in connection with the sanctuary service.

Type Fulfillment and Application

The sin offerings brought on that day represented confessed sins, just as on other days, and the sins of the year transferred into the sanctuary through sin offerings stood there to receive a yearly final atonement that cleansed the sanctuary, while the people fasted and prayed with attention fixed on the work of atonement. While the atonement was being performed ordinary individual offerings at the sanctuary entrance were not to be made, for the people were represented by the priest's offering in the most holy place. The day's offerings addressed sins beyond those already represented in the sanctuary through the regular daily offerings. Alongside the high priest's work of cleansing, the ongoing services continued, showing the day included provision for sinners, and the offerings made for the penitent placed them where the goat's blood could avail to cancel transgressions.

The blood of the Lord's goat represented Christ's work of removing confessed sins from the sanctuary and finally blotting the righteous' sins from heaven's books. The corresponding offering is the precious Lamb of God, whose blood gives victory over sin and besetting temptations. A person with unconfessed sin could still bring a sin offering on that day and be forgiven, illustrating that repentant sinners may be forgiven through Christ while He ministers as High Priest. The slain animals typified Christ's death, and since Christ was to die once for all, these offerings cannot each have separate future fulfillments requiring Him to die again, the Passover sacrifice alone matching the time of His death.

The daily ministration, with confession of sin, blood as life taken for sin, and mediation transferring guilt from sinner to victim to sanctuary, made the sanctuary the receptacle of sin through the year as example and shadow of Christ's ministry in the true tabernacle. The additional services for annual sabbaths and feasts belonged to that regular ministration of the earthly sanctuary, which foreshadowed Christ's ministration in the heavenly sanctuary, and the yearly cycle culminated in the day of atonement. The continual comprehends that entire divinely ordained service, with showbread, lamps, incense and priestly intercession likewise continual, the morning and evening sacrifice offered for the whole congregation every day of the year and never omitted because of any other offering, and as type of the heavenly sanctuary applies with equal force above.

The Bible does not state whether the added burnt offerings, sin offering, grain and drink offerings were made before the high priest entered the most holy place or after he came out, and they could have been made after at the point described in Leviticus 16:23-24. Even if preliminary offerings belonged to the days of firstfruits and Pentecost, the great events of Passover, firstfruits and Pentecost still met their antitypes on their exact typical days, so preliminary offerings do not prevent the grand work of the day from meeting its antitype on its day while the antitype beginning on that day may extend far forward. Therefore these offerings give no basis for inserting years of preliminary work between the end of the 2300 days and the cleansing of the sanctuary, any preliminary work must fall before the 2300 days ended, and the cleansing now proceeds. Their details do not establish a prolonged antitypical day or preliminary period before the sanctuary-cleansing work, do not show that the offerings preceded that work, and reject the claim that the heavenly cleansing must be delayed while people first present corresponding prayers and confessions.