Numbers 29 Study Notes

29:1-38 The beginning of the agricultural year, in the seventh month, on the first day, was the beginning of the penitential season. The tenth day of the month was considered the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement. Five days later the Festival of Shelters began and lasted for a week. In early Israelite history, the seventh month was known as Ethanim, but when the Jews adopted the Babylonian calendar during the exile, the month was called Tishri.

29:1-6 The collective offerings presented on the day of trumpet blasts were three bulls, two rams, sixteen male lambs, one and one-half bushels of fine flour, and six gallons each of oil and wine. Traditionally, the first of Tishri was called the “day for blowing trumpets” in which the ram’s horn (Hb shophar) was sounded rather than the silver trumpets of 10:1-10. The sounding of the ram’s horn was a call to repentance. The designation of this day as Rosh Hashanah, “the head of the year,” was a late postexilic development in emerging Judaism.

29:7-11 The holiest day of the year required a sacred assembly of self-denial, and Sabbath restrictions against work as described in Lv 23:16-32. A full description of the activities for the Day of Atonement (Hb yom kippur) is found in Lv 16:1-34, where the focus is upon the unique purification rituals required. The holy of holies was cleansed because of the sins of the people, and azazel (the scapegoat) was led into the wilderness, symbolically carrying the sins of the people away from the camp. Two sin offerings were sacrificed on this day, one parallel to the sin offering at the New Moon Festival, and the other on behalf of the people, the blood of which was then used to purify the holy place (Lv 16:15-20).

The acts of self-denial included fasting, leading to the day being called “The Fast” in later Judaism. Other restrictions included any activities that brought comfort and pleasure. The work of Christ on the cross brought fulfillment to the ritual of the Day of Atonement. Functioning as a high priest of a superior order—of Melchizedek (Heb 7:17-28)—Christ offered himself as a once-for-all, eternal sacrifice (Heb 9:11-28). His work accomplished redemption from sin and cleansed our guilty consciences (Heb 10:19-22).

29:12-38 The longest section of these two chapters is devoted to a description of the daily offerings of the Festival of Shelters (or Tabernacles or Booths; Hb sukkoth). The first day of the festival and the appended eighth day were considered Sabbaths for sacred assembly. The sukkah was a hut or tent constructed in imitation of the dwellings of early Israelites during the wilderness period, when God provided what was needed for protection. In Lv 23:39-43 the Israelites were instructed to erect huts in future generations as a reminder of God’s protection and provision in the wilderness. First called the Festival of Ingathering (Ex 23:16), the celebration commemorated God’s provision in the fall harvest of the vegetable crops, the vineyards, and finally the olive orchards. The association of Shelters with the exodus from Egypt provided a continuation of the salvation/redemption/providence/preservation motifs of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Pentecost.

29:39-40 Moses faithfully accomplished the task assigned to him by God as he instructed the Israelite priests on the proper procedure for commemorating and celebrating God’s goodness in the holy days of the calendar.