Numbers 29:36
But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish: But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish:
Numbers 29:36 appoints the burnt offering made by fire for a sweet savour to the LORD on the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles, one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish. The feast was Israel's seven-day national thanksgiving after the ingathering of the harvest, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month with holy convocations and no servile work, and commemorating their pilgrim life dwelling in booths of green branches in the wilderness. The offering belonged to the yearly round of additional public offerings for Sabbaths, new moons and feasts, offered alongside and without omitting the continual morning and evening burnt offering in the daily ministration of the earthly sanctuary which was the example and shadow of the heavenly. These festival offerings were typical of Christ, and the feast itself pointed forward to God's final harvest home when the pilgrims wander no more, while the obligation to observe it ceased when the ceremonial law was nailed to the cross.
Feast Setting and Offering
Numbers 29:36 belongs to the laws for the Feast of Tabernacles, the third annual feast, beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tisri, and ending on the eighth day, the twenty-second day of Tisri, with the days between them. Israel was to hold holy convocations on those annual sabbath days with no servile work done, and to bring various kinds of offerings to the Lord on those days as well as on the intervening days. The verse specifies a burnt offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, and seven unblemished lambs of the first year. It gives the offering for the seventh day of the feast, part of Israel's seven-day national thanksgiving feast that followed the ingathering of the harvest.
It is also given as the burnt offering for the final day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The feast commemorated Israel's pilgrim life in the wilderness, when the people left their houses to dwell in booths formed from green branches of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook. At these yearly assemblies the hearts of old and young were encouraged in the service of God, and association of people from different parts of the land strengthened the ties binding them to God and to one another.
Sanctuary Service and Significance
The verse belongs to the yearly offerings appointed for Israel's feasts, which formed part of the regular cycle of ministration in the earthly sanctuary through the year. They stood as added services alongside the daily sacrifices and the offerings for Sabbaths, new moons and the other appointed feasts. They were among the special offerings for the annual Sabbaths and feasts within the regular work of the holy place.
They belonged with the regular morning and evening burnt offering and the burning of sweet incense to the daily ministration in the holy place. That ministration was accomplished continually through the year by the Levitical priesthood as the example and shadow of a like work in the heavenly sanctuary. The burnt offering here was part of the sanctuary's recurring public worship, distinct from the daily morning and evening offerings and from individual offerings for particular sins.
The many instructions for these services show that the continual burnt offering remained part of Israel's regular worship and was not omitted because other offerings were being made. These earthly services dealt with sin and its cleansing and formed a figure of the heavenly sanctuary and its services. Every burnt offering in the chapter had its drink offering of wine poured out upon it rather than drunk freely by priests and worshipers, so the great number of burnt offerings explains why wine is mentioned so often in connection with the sanctuary service.
These festival offerings were typical of Christ, and their presence on festival Sabbaths did not make the weekly Sabbath a type or shadow, since sacrifices were offered on ordinary days as well. The feast followed the ingathering of the harvest as Israel's seven-day national thanksgiving, and it also pointed to God's final harvest home, when the weary pilgrims to Zion will wander no more and God's ingathering will be complete. The obligation to observe this feast, the third annual feast kept from the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tisri, to the eighth day, the twenty-second of Tisri, in memory of dwelling in booths made of green branches of goodly trees, palm branches, boughs of thick trees and willows of the brook, ceased at the crucifixion of Christ when the law of ceremonies was nailed to the cross. The offerings of the chapter appointed on the Day of Atonement do not establish that the offerings preceded the work of cleansing the sanctuary, for the Bible does not specify whether they were made before or after the high priest's work in the Most Holy Place, and they could have been made after he came out.