Numbers 29:16, commentary and pictures

The verse appoints a kid of the goats for a sin offering on that feast day, in addition to the regular morning and evening burnt offering of the whole congregation with its grain offering and drink offering, which was never omitted for any special offering. It belongs to the laws prescribing the different offerings for the successive days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the seven-day feast of thanksgiving for the harvest beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, which recalled the wilderness wandering. That feast-day work was part of the continual daily ministration carried on by the priests in the holy place through the year, distinct from the yearly work on the tenth day of the seventh month in the most holy place for cleansing the sanctuary. That continual holy-place ministration transferred sin into the sanctuary and so made its yearly cleansing necessary, and as the example and shadow of the true tabernacle it shadowed forth Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The sacrifices of the feast were typical of Christ, and the Feast of Tabernacles itself was a type of the final ingathering of God's people in the harvest home.

Feast Setting and Offerings

The verse appoints a kid of the goats as a sin offering alongside the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering. It belongs to the schedule of special additional offerings appointed for the annual feasts, part of the regular daily ministration carried on through the year. The offerings listed for the tenth day of the seventh month are not stated to have been made before or after the high priest's work in the Most Holy Place and could have followed that work, so their timing cannot establish a preliminary stage before the sanctuary's cleansing. The other offerings on that day do not prevent the great work of atonement from beginning on the day appointed by the type, while its antitype may then continue beyond that day.

The verse is part of the laws prescribing the varying offerings for the different days of the Feast of Tabernacles, the third annual feast of the Jews. That feast was a seven-day national thanksgiving feast beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, requiring daily sacrifices on both the annual Sabbaths and the intervening days. The sacrifices offered during the feast were typical of Christ, but their presence on those days does not make every day a Sabbath or a type and shadow, since the shadowy significance of the annual Sabbaths came from the events that gave rise to their appointment. The sixth annual Sabbath corresponded to the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, and the seventh annual Sabbath fell on the twenty-second day of the same month and closed the feast. Israel was to hold holy convocations on these days and do no servile work on them.

The feast recalled the wilderness wanderings and gave thanks for the harvest of the earth. The drink offering with the burnt offering and grain offering was strong fermented wine, over a quart for each lamb. It was always poured out upon the burnt offering and never drunk by priests or worshipers. The great number of such burnt offerings explains why wine is mentioned so often in connection with the sanctuary service.

The continual burnt offering is the morning and evening sacrifice offered for the entire congregation every day of the year, so called in about sixteen places in Numbers 28 and 29. The verse means that daily sacrifice was never omitted because of other offerings but continued beside the special sin offering with its grain and drink offering.

Sanctuary Ministry and Type

The kid of the goats stands in the schedule of special additional offerings appointed for annual feasts, annual Sabbaths, Sabbaths and new moons. Those added offerings formed part of the regular daily Levitical ministration, alongside the morning and evening burnt offerings, the incense service and lighting of the lamps, and the individual offerings brought by those who had sinned. That feast-day work belongs to the first division of the earthly sanctuary ministration, the continual service carried on by the Levitical priesthood in the holy place through the year. It is distinct from the yearly work on the tenth day of the seventh month in the most holy place for the sins of the people and for cleansing the sanctuary.

That continual holy-place ministration transferred sin to the sanctuary and so made its yearly cleansing necessary. As the example and shadow of Christ's ministry in the true tabernacle in heaven it shadowed forth the ministration of the heavenly sanctuary. The sacrifices offered during the feast were typical of Christ. Their presence on those days does not make every day a Sabbath or a type and shadow, for the shadowy significance of the annual Sabbaths came from the events that gave rise to their appointment.

The Feast of Tabernacles served as a type of God's final harvest home, when the ingathering of his people would be complete. The offerings listed for the tenth day of the seventh month are not stated to have been made before or after the high priest's work in the Most Holy Place and could have followed that work. Their timing therefore cannot establish a preliminary stage before the sanctuary's cleansing. The other offerings on that day do not prevent the great work of atonement from beginning on the day appointed by the type, while its antitype may then continue beyond that day.

The continual comprehended the entire divinely ordained service of the earthly sanctuary, which in all its appointments and services was a type or figure of the heavenly sanctuary, so the term applies with equal force to the ministry above. Since the earthly sanctuary with its priesthood had ended its operations before the power in Daniel 8 began its operations, the entire force of that prophecy about taking away the continual applies to the heavenly sanctuary.