28:1–8 Verse 2 is a superscription for chapters 28–29. For “my food offerings . . . pleasing aroma” cf. comment on 15:1–21 (at vv. 3, 10). For “appointed time” cf. comment on 15:1–21 (at v. 3, “appointed feasts”). The “food offering” in Numbers 28:3 is named as the “burnt offering” (v. 6), qualified here as “regular” (Hb. tamid, cf. Mishnah, Tamid 1:1–6:3) because it is offered “day by day,” in the “morning” and at “twilight” (Num. 28:3–4; cf. comment on 9:1–14 [at v. 3]). In rabbinic tradition all the other offerings on special days are “additional” (musaf) since they are made “besides [ʿal] the regular burnt offering” (28:10). The burnt offering involves “two male lambs a year old without blemish” (v. 3), each lamb offered with a “grain offering” consisting of a “tenth of an ephah of fine flour,” mixed with a “quarter of a hin of beaten oil,” and a “drink offering” (vv. 5, 7, 8). “Beaten oil” (katit) is that from the olive press,213 like the oil for the light in the Holy Place (Lev. 24:2). “Strong drink” (shekar; Num. 28:7; cf. 6:3), fermented from fruit or grain, is only once in these laws specified as “wine” (yayin; 28:14; cf. 15:5), the substance of the drink offering. A “drink offering” (nesek) is “pour[ed] out” (from nasak; 28:7; cf. 2 Tim. 4:6), not drunk.

“Mount Sinai” (Num. 28:6) is mentioned only once elsewhere in Numbers (3:1). “In the Holy Place” (28:7) is literally “in the holy”; the expression itself could refer to the holy vessel with which the drink offering is poured, since it is forbidden to pour drink offerings on the incense altar in the Holy Place (Ex. 30:9), where the vessels to pour them are kept (Ex. 25:29). But here “the Holy Place” probably describes the court (Lev. 6:16; cf. Num. 18:10), since drink offerings are apparently “pour[ed] out” (28:7) on the bronze altar there (cf. 2 Kings 16:13–14).

28:9–10 Sabbath burnt offerings are unique to Numbers. “On the Sabbath day” (v. 9) all ordinary work is forbidden (Ex. 31:15; 35:2; Num. 15:32) except by the priests, given their ritual duties (Matt. 12:5). “Two male lambs” are offered with their corresponding “two tenths” measure of flour for a “grain offering” and “drink offering” (Num. 28:9). Made “besides the regular burnt offering” (v. 10), the Sabbath offering is made after the morning burnt offering, which applies to the other occasions, except at Passover, when the offering is made at twilight (Lev. 23:5).214

28:11–15 “At the beginnings of your months” (v. 11) is the first day of each month. “Two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs” (v. 11) are the same in species and quantity as that for the burnt offerings specified at Passover (v. 19) and the Feast of Weeks (v. 27). The proportions of the corresponding grain and drink offerings depend on the animal. “For each bull” the grain offering fine flour requirement is “three tenths of an ephah,” but “two tenths . . . for the one ram” (v. 12). “For every lamb” the requirement remains the same as the daily offering, “one tenth” (v. 13; cf. v. 5). As for drink offerings, the quantities follow the same animal size and value principle: “Half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and a quarter of a hin for a lamb” (v. 14).

In a list, the “sin offering” (vv. 15, 22, 30; 29:5, 11, 16, 19, 22, 25, 28, 31, 34, 38) follows the burnt offering. Given its goal “to make atonement” (28:30), the sin (atoning purification) offering is made first. Before the burnt offering can be “a pleasing aroma” (e.g., 28:2; 29:2), atonement must be made (cf. comments on 6:13–21 [at v. 16]; 15:22–31 [at v. 24]). It is not offered on the Sabbath, since purification is not made on that day. For “Besides the regular burnt offering” (28:15) cf. verses 6, 10.

28:16–25 The Passover calendar is reiterated as beginning on the evening of the “fourteenth day of the first month” (v. 16), when the Passover lamb is slaughtered and eaten in homes (Ex. 12:6; Josh. 5:10). The burnt offerings now specified show that Passover/Unleavened Bread observance has become community wide rather than a family commemoration (cf. Lev. 23:4–8). On the fifteenth day of this first month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread (Ex. 12:17; Num. 28:17). One of the three annual pilgrimage feasts (Deut. 16:16; 2 Chron. 8:13), this feast continues “seven days” (Num. 28:17) until the evening of the twenty-first day (Ex. 12:18; 13:6). A “feast” (Hb. hag) is more than a time of making food offerings and eating. “On the first day” (Num. 28:18) and “on the seventh day” (v. 25) there is “a holy convocation” (miqraʾ qodesh). This “convocation” is a mandatory assembly, “holy” because it is done at the sanctuary. Thus hag implies a pilgrimage.215 It is a time of fellowship and joyful worship (2 Chron. 30:13, 21; Ezra 6:22). The “ordinary work” (melaʾket ʿabodah; Num. 28:18) that is forbidden refers to routine occupational labor. Other activities are permitted during the feasts. Occupational “work” (melaʾkah) is forbidden on the Sabbath (Ex. 20:10; Deut. 5:14) and on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:28; Num. 29:7).

“Food offering” (28:19) has been, until now, the only qualification concerning the community wide Passover offering (Lev. 23:8). It is “a burnt offering” and involves the same animals and their numbers as the new moon burnt offering, with their same measured “grain” and “drink” complements (Num. 28:19–20, 24; cf. vv. 11–13). Nor has the “goat for a sin offering” (v. 22; cf. comment on 28:11–15) been mentioned before in connection with the Passover. Blood from the sin offering is applied to the altar to cleanse the impurities, thus making “atonement” for it (cf. comment on 15:22–31 [at v. 25]; cf. Lev. 8:15), upon which basis the people are forgiven for having contaminated it and for that which has caused the impurity (cf. Lev. 4:30; 17:11; 2 Chron. 29:24). For “Besides the regular burnt offering” (Num. 28:24) cf. comments on 28:1–8; 28:9–10.

28:26–31 “The day of the firstfruits” (v. 26) does not specify a particular day or month. Here alone it is simply called “firstfruits” (bikkurim; cf. comment on 18:8–19 [at v. 12]) and abbreviated to “your weeks” (v. 26; ESV: “Your Feast of Weeks”); elsewhere with “feast” (hag) it is called the Feast of Harvest (Ex. 23:16) or the Feast of Weeks (shabuʿoth; Ex. 34:22; Deut. 16:10, 16; 2 Chron. 8:13). “New grain” (Num. 28:26) refers to wheat (Ex. 34:22) harvested sometime in the third month (May/June). Barley harvest is in the first month (March/April). Since harvest times vary, the feast is set seven weeks after the beginning of the barley harvest (Deut. 16:9) or fifty days after the grain presentation (Lev. 23:15–16); for that reason it is called Pentecost (meaning “fiftieth”; Acts 2:1), a first day of the week (cf. Response section).

The “burnt offering” and the accompanying “grain” and “drink offering” (Num. 28:27, 28, 31) are the same as those for the monthly and Passover offerings. “One male goat” (v. 30) is for the unmentioned sin offering (vv. 15, 22). Although not indicated here, the peace offering is required in the Feast of Weeks (Lev. 23:19–20; cf. comment on 15:1–21 [at v. 3]).