Numbers 29:25, commentary and pictures

The verse appoints a single young goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular daily burnt offering with its accompanying grain offering and drink offering. It stands among the directions for the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, the national thanksgiving feast commemorating pilgrim life in the wilderness whose first and last days were annual sabbaths with holy convocations, while it is also placed among the offerings for the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. It shows an added offering beyond the morning and evening sacrifice, belonging to the appointed additional services for annual sabbaths and feasts that formed part of the regular ongoing ministration of the sanctuary through the year. That added work belonged to the continual daily ministration in the holy place carried on by the Levitical priesthood with the regular burnt offering, the incense, the Sabbaths and the individual offerings, distinct from the once-a-year work of the high priest in the most holy place for the sins of the people and for the cleansing of the sanctuary. These feast-day sacrifices were typical of Christ, but their occurrence on a Sabbath did not make the weekly seventh-day Sabbath a type or shadow, since they also occurred on ordinary days, and unlike that Sabbath instituted at creation when God rested and blessed and sanctified the day, the annual sabbaths were instituted after the fall and were not so blessed and sanctified.

Feast Setting and Wording

The verse prescribes one kid of the goats for a sin offering, beside the continual burnt offering with its meat or grain offering and its drink offering. It stands among the laws and ceremonies recorded in chapters 27 to 30. It belongs to the instructions for Israel's seven-day Feast of Tabernacles, the national thanksgiving feast beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month and commemorating life as pilgrims in the wilderness.

The offerings of the feast were brought to the Lord on its first and last days and on the days between them. Those first and last days fell on the fifteenth and twenty-second days of the seventh month and were annual sabbaths with holy convocations on which servile work was forbidden. Unlike the weekly seventh-day Sabbath instituted at creation before the fall, these annual sabbaths were instituted after the fall at the time of the exodus.

The verse is also described as part of the list of offerings prescribed for the tenth day of the seventh month, the Day of Atonement. It is one of the great number of burnt offerings in Numbers 29 each with its drink offering, which explains why wine is mentioned so often with the sanctuary service. The drink offering was strong wine of over a quart in measure that was always poured out upon the burnt offering, not drunk freely by priests and worshipers.

Sanctuary Ministration and Typology

The kid of the goats for a sin offering stands beside and additional to the regular daily burnt offering with its grain offering and drink offering, as one of the appointed additional services for annual sabbaths and feasts. Those added feast services belonged to the regular, ongoing ministration of the sanctuary, going forward alongside the daily morning and evening offerings and the offerings brought by individuals.

It is one of the general sacrifices, distinct from the individual offerings brought for pardon. Together with the regular morning and evening sacrifice and the morning and evening incense, and with the special offerings for the weekly Sabbath, the annual sabbaths, new moons and feasts, it went forward continuously through the year in the court and the tabernacle. That additional work belonged to the daily or continual ministration in the holy place or first apartment of the earthly sanctuary through the year. It was carried on by the Levitical order of priesthood with the regular morning and evening burnt offering, the morning and evening burning of sweet incense on the golden altar, the Lord's Sabbaths, and the individual offerings, distinct from the once-a-year work of the high priest in the most holy place for the sins of the people and for the cleansing of the sanctuary. By the individual sin offerings sin was transferred through blood into the sanctuary, so building up the defilement that made the yearly cleansing necessary.

The morning and evening sacrifice offered for the whole congregation every day of the year is called the continual burnt offering and was never omitted because of any other offering. It is so named in about sixteen places in Numbers 28 and 29, beside other sin offerings, meat offerings and drink offerings. The continual covers the whole God-ordained service of the earthly sanctuary, including showbread, lamps, incense and the high priest's work. Because the earthly sanctuary in all its appointments and services is the example and shadow, figure and pattern of the heavenly sanctuary, the term applies with equal force to the like work in heaven above.

These feast-day sacrifices were typical of Christ, but their presence on a Sabbath did not make the weekly Sabbath a type or shadow, since they also occurred on ordinary days. Unlike the weekly seventh-day Sabbath instituted at creation before the fall when God rested and blessed and sanctified the day, these annual sabbaths were instituted after the fall at the time of the exodus, and God did not rest upon them nor bless and sanctify them as He did the weekly Sabbath. The verse does not say whether these offerings were made before or after the high priest's work in the Most Holy Place, so it cannot establish that they preceded that work. Even if such offerings were preliminary, they would not prevent the central event of the day from beginning at its appointed time, for the antitype of the Day of Atonement must begin on the day represented by the type, though it may continue beyond it.