Numbers 29:3, commentary and pictures

The verse prescribes the grain offering to go with the burnt offerings, flour mixed with oil in the measure of three-tenths of an ephah for a bull and two-tenths for a ram. It belongs to the added or special offerings appointed for the Lord's Sabbaths and the annual sabbaths, new moons and feasts, alongside the regular daily ministration and the offerings for individuals. That added work belonged to the daily or continual ministration in the holy place, accomplished by the Levitical priesthood with the morning and evening burnt offering and the burning of sweet incense, and distinct from the work in the most holy place at the end of the year. That whole earthly ministration in its two divisions was ordained as the example and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry in the true tabernacle in heaven, so the work carried on on earth reveals the work carried on in heaven. The morning and evening sacrifices were offered for the whole congregation every day and were never omitted for any other offerings, and being about sixteen times called the continual burnt offering in Numbers 28 and 29, what is continual on earth applies with equal force above and defines the continual taken away in Daniel 8.

Wording and Festival Setting

The grain offering appointed to accompany the burnt offerings was flour mingled or mixed with oil. Its measured portion was three-tenth deals of an ephah of fine flour for a bullock and two-tenth deals for a ram. This prescription belongs to the regulations for offerings and vows in Numbers 28-30, among the special offerings appointed for the annual feasts.

It gives part of the offering for the first day of the seventh month, New Year's Day, a sabbath and holy convocation marked by the blowing of trumpets. It also gives one of the burnt offerings with its meat offering appointed for the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of atonement. Those atonement-day burnt offerings were of the same kind as belonged to the day of firstfruits and to the feast of weeks.

The verse is part of the record showing the great number of burnt offerings sacrificed in the sanctuary service. A drink offering of strong wine was poured out upon each burnt offering. That wine was not drunk freely by priests or worshipers, and the great number of burnt offerings explains why wine is mentioned so often in connection with the sanctuary service.

Sanctuary Ministry and Antitype

The verse belongs to the additional or special offerings and work appointed for the Lord's Sabbaths and the annual sabbaths, new moons, and feasts, standing alongside the regular daily ministration and the offerings for individuals. It prescribes the grain offering of flour mingled with oil to accompany the appointed burnt offerings on those holy times. That special work was performed as part of the continual ministration in the first tabernacle.

That additional work belonged to the daily or continual ministration in the holy place, the first apartment or first tabernacle, accomplished by the Levitical order of priesthood. It was done alongside the regular morning and evening burnt offering and the burning of sweet incense when the lamps were lighted morning and evening, as well as the offerings for individuals. It was distinct from the work in the most holy place at the end of the year, forming the first grand division of the earthly ministration, the daily service in the holy place.

That whole earthly ministration in its two divisions was ordained of God as the example and shadow, type or figure, of Christ's more excellent ministry in the true tabernacle in heaven. The Levitical priesthood served unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, and the entire service in all its appointments reveals the work carried on in heaven. What is continual on earth therefore applies with equal force to the sanctuary above.

The morning and evening sacrifices were offered for the entire congregation every day of the year and were never omitted because of any other offerings. In Numbers 28 and 29 they are about sixteen times called the continual burnt offering. That continual on earth defines the continual taken away in Daniel 8.

The burnt offerings with their grain offering appointed for the tenth day of the seventh month, the day of atonement, were of the same kind as belonged to the day of first fruits and to the feast of weeks. They were preliminary and circumstantial offerings around the grand work in the holiest. The Bible is silent whether these burnt offerings were offered before the high priest entered the most holy place or after that work, and they may have been made after he came out. They do not keep that grand work from meeting its antitype on the day pointed out in the type.