Numbers 29:8, commentary and pictures

Numbers 29:8 belongs to the special sacrifices appointed for the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month, when final atonement was made in the sanctuary and Israel was to afflict the soul in fasting and prayer. It prescribes a burnt offering to the Lord for a sweet savor of one young unblemished bull, one ram, and seven unblemished lambs of the first year. That burnt offering was additional to the continual daily burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings, to the regular sin offering, and to the specific atonement offering of the day. Like every offering its blood typified Christ's blood, and the many offerings together represented the complete work accomplished through that blood in presenting Christ the precious Lamb of God whose blood gives victory over every sin. The sacrifices whose blood was shed for sin pointed to Christ's death once for all, fulfilled in His death represented in time by the Passover sacrifice, and they could not each have a separate fulfillment after the 2300 days.

Day of Atonement Offerings

The verse belongs to the special sacrifices appointed for the Day of Atonement on the tenth day of the seventh month, when final atonement was made in the sanctuary and Israel was to afflict the soul through fasting and prayer. It prescribes a burnt offering to the Lord for a sweet savor consisting of one young unblemished bull, one ram, and seven unblemished lambs of the first year. The same appointment is described as one young bull, one ram, and seven year-old lambs without blemish presented as a sweet savor to the Lord.

This burnt offering was additional to the continual daily burnt offering with its grain and drink offerings, to the regular sin offering, and to the specific atonement offering of the day. It was part of the special services for the annual feasts performed in addition to the daily sanctuary service. Like the other additional offerings for annual Sabbaths, new moons, and feasts, it belonged to the regular yearly cycle of the earthly sanctuary's daily ministration carried on continually through the year. The same annual Sabbath, new moon, and feast offerings are counted as part of the regular service of the earthly sanctuary.

That regular work was part of the daily service in the first apartment, the holy place, by the Levitical priests, 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 the cleansing of the sanctuary. As part of that earthly ministration in the two holy places, it was the example and shadow of Christ's more excellent ministry in the true tabernacle in heaven. The Bible does not state whether these burnt and other offerings were made before the high priest entered the most holy place or after he came out, so they cannot be assumed to have preceded the cleansing work there. For all that appears they might have been made after the high priest came out of the holiest.

A ram from the burnt offerings was burning while the high priest entered the most holy place with the bull's blood for himself and his household. Burnt offerings were made both while he performed the goat's blood rite and after he came out. Pardon remained available throughout the day in the type, for sinners continued to offer sin offerings on that day as on other days. A person with unconfessed sins could still bring a sin offering on that day and be forgiven.

Every burnt offering had its drink offering poured out upon it and not drunk freely by priests and worshipers, with more than a quart of strong wine for each lamb, so the multitude of burnt offerings explains why wine is mentioned so often with the sanctuary service. The verse does not make these animals a pattern for Christians' prayers and confessions, and treating each animal as a required counterpart to a confession is an arbitrary and absurd comparison. The offerings belong to the ceremonial service while the cleansing of the sanctuary refers to the high priest's entrance into the most holy place and ministry there.

Christ's Work Foreshadowed

Its blood, like the blood of every offering, typified the blood of Christ, and the many offerings together represented the complete work accomplished through that blood. The sacrifices whose blood was shed for sin pointed to the death of Christ once for all, and their meaning was fulfilled in His death, represented in time by the Passover sacrifice. They could not each have a separate fulfillment after the 2300 days, because Christ was to die once for all. The offering points to presenting Christ, the precious Lamb of God, whose blood gives victory over every sin and besetment.

The goat's blood of the day represented the removal of confessed sins from the sanctuary and the final blotting out of the sins of the righteous from the books of heaven. The Day of Atonement also represented a period of years, and its central event, the high priest's work in the most holy place, must begin its antitype at the corresponding time though it may continue for a long period. The timing of the burnt and other offerings does not prevent that central event from beginning on the day of atonement, since it is not stated whether they were made before or after the work in the most holy place. Preliminary and circumstantial offerings do not prevent that grand work from meeting its antitype on the tenth day of the seventh month.

The same work of burnt offerings belonged to the day of first fruits and the feast of weeks, yet the grand events of Passover, first fruits, and Pentecost each met their antitype on the very day of the type. The verse shows one of the morning and evening congregational sacrifices offered for the entire congregation every day of the year and never omitted because of any other offerings, called about sixteen times in Numbers 28 and 29 the continual burnt offering. The continual in Daniel 8 therefore comprehends the entire ordained service of the earthly sanctuary, including sacrifice, showbread, lamps, incense, and the high priest's work. That entire earthly service in all its appointments is a figure of the heavenly sanctuary which is its pattern, so the term continual applies with equal force to the sanctuary above. The entire force of the prophecy applies there because the earthly sanctuary with its priesthood had ended its operations before the power in Daniel 8 began its operations.