Commentaria in Numeros
Chapter the Twenty-eighth. Synopsis of the Chapter
God prescribes the fixed victims to be offered on the feasts: first, that every day one lamb be sacrificed in the morning and another in the evening; this was the continual sacrifice. Secondly, verse 9, that on the sabbath two lambs be sacrificed in the morning. Thirdly, verse 11, that on the new moons two calves, one ram, and seven lambs be sacrificed in holocaust; but for sin one buck goat. He commands the same victims to be offered on the feast of the Pasch, verse 16, and on the feast of Pentecost, verse 26.
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Command the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: Offer my oblation and my bread, and the burnt offering of most sweet savour, in due season. 3. These are the sacrifices which you ought to offer: Two lambs of a year old without blemish every day, for a perpetual holocaust; 4. one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other in the evening: 5. the tenth part of an ephi of flour, which shall be sprinkled with the purest oil, and have the fourth part of a hin. 6. It is a continual holocaust, which you offered in mount Sinai for a sweet savour of an offering by fire to the Lord, 7. and you shall pour out wine, the fourth part of a hin, for every lamb, in the sanctuary of the Lord. 8. And the other lamb you shall offer in like manner in the evening, according to all the rite of the morning sacrifice, and of the libations thereof, an oblation of most sweet savour to the Lord. 9. And on the sabbath day you shall offer two lambs of a year old without blemish, and two tenths of flour sprinkled with oil for a sacrifice, and the drink offerings, 10. which are duly poured out every sabbath, for a perpetual holocaust. 11. And on the first days of your months you shall offer a holocaust to the Lord: two calves of the herd, one ram, seven lambs of a year old without blemish, 12. and three tenths of flour sprinkled with oil for a sacrifice for every calf, and two tenths of flour sprinkled with oil for every ram, 13. and the tenth of a tenth of flour out of oil for a sacrifice for every lamb: it is a holocaust of most sweet savour and of an offering by fire to the Lord. 14. And the libations of wine, which are to be poured out for every victim, shall be these: half a hin for every calf, a third for a ram, a fourth for a lamb; this shall be the holocaust for all the months that succeed one another in the course of the year. 15. A buck goat also shall be offered to the Lord for sins, for a perpetual holocaust, with its libations. 16. And in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, shall be the Phase of the Lord, 17. and on the fifteenth day the solemnity: seven days shall they eat unleavened bread. 18. The first day of them shall be venerable and holy: you shall do no servile work therein. 19. And you shall offer a burnt offering by fire to the Lord, two calves of the herd, one ram, seven lambs of a year old without blemish; 20. and for their sacrifices, of flour sprinkled with oil, three tenths for every calf, and two tenths for a ram, 21. and a tenth of a tenth for every lamb, that is, for the seven lambs; 22. and one buck goat for sin, that atonement may be made for you, 23. besides the morning holocaust which you shall always offer. 24. So shall you do every day of the seven days, for the fuel of the fire, and for a most sweet savour to the Lord, which shall rise from the holocaust and from the libations of each. 25. The seventh day also shall be most solemn and holy to you: you shall do no servile work therein. 26. The day of the firstfruits also, when you shall offer new fruits to the Lord, when the weeks are accomplished, shall be venerable and holy: you shall do no servile work therein, 27. and you shall offer a holocaust for a most sweet savour to the Lord: two calves of the herd, one ram, and seven lambs of a year old without blemish, 28. and in their sacrifices, of flour sprinkled with oil, three tenths for every calf, for the rams two, 29. for the lambs a tenth of a tenth, which together are seven lambs: a buck goat also, 30. which is slain for expiation, besides the perpetual holocaust and its drink offerings. 31. You shall offer all without blemish, with their libations.
Note: In this and the following chapter, by sacrifice is commonly understood the meal offering, namely the mincha; and by incense is meant, not thymiama, but the victim burned and consumed by fire for God: finally the perpetual holocaust is the name for the continual sacrifice of the lamb.
1. THE LORD SAID ALSO TO MOSES.—It is not certain when and where God said these things: yet it is likely that the order of time and narration is here observed (for nothing prevents its being observed, and hence these things were said to Moses a little before his death, in the fortieth year of the going out of Egypt, at the last encampment). So Abulensis.
2. OFFER MY OBLATION, AND MY BREAD, AND THE BURNT OFFERING OF MOST SWEET SAVOUR.—By oblation, bread and incense he understands not the loaves of proposition, nor the thymiama, but only the victims offered to God and burned. For these are the bread, that is the food, of God; this is plain from the Hebrew, which reads thus: Offer my oblation (namely) my bread (that is, my victims) by my burnings (by which, namely, these victims are burned and consumed to God by fire) for a savour of sweetness.
3. TWO LAMBS OF A YEAR OLD WITHOUT BLEMISH EVERY DAY.—Here is described the sacrifice to be offered twice daily, namely once in the morning, secondly in the evening, which therefore was called continual. The victim to be offered was not a calf, nor a kid (which could be offered at the pasch), but a lamb. For this only the Hebrew kebes signifies.
Note first: This lamb had to be burned whole to God, as supreme Lord of all, and made a holocaust. Secondly, one was burned in the morning, the other in the evening, that both at the beginning and at the end of the day they might worship God with this latria, and as they began with Him, so also end the day. What Christian, then, would neglect morning and evening prayer, wherein he gives thanks to God in the evening for the benefits of the day, in the morning for those of the night, and commends himself and all his things to Him? Thirdly, the lamb had to be a yearling, that is, not exceed a year: Abulensis thinks that it is called a yearling, or of one year, even if it were only 8 days old; for after eight days lambs, kids and calves could be sacrificed to God, as is plain from Exodus xxii, 30. Fourthly, it had to be unspotted, that is, whole and without blemish of body; yet it might be white, black, and have white or black spots. Fifthly, to each lamb, in place of a libation, there had to be added the tenth part, or assaron, of flour sprinkled with oil, which had the measure of the fourth part of a hin; also the fourth part of a hin of wine, which likewise was to be poured out, over the lamb and the flour, to be offered in the evening and burned with fire: understand this of part of the wine and of a handful of meal or mincha. For this alone was burned with the lamb; the remainder of the flour and wine fell to the priest who offered, as I said in chapter xv, verse 5, and Abulensis teaches here. An assaron of flour is about four pounds; the fourth part of a hin is three cups of thirteen ounces of water or wine.