What is the significance of the sacrificial offering in Numbers 28:30? Immediate Literary Context Numbers 28–29 catalog Israel’s daily, weekly, monthly, and festal offerings. Verses 26-31 focus on the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot/Pentecost). Two bulls, one ram, seven male lambs, and assorted grain and drink offerings are prescribed (vv. 27-29). Verse 30 adds a single male goat “to make atonement.” The chapter then closes: “Offer them… in addition to the regular burnt offering… The animals are to be unblemished” (v. 31). Historical Background: The Feast Of Weeks 1. Agricultural milestone: celebrated seven weeks after the first sheaf (Leviticus 23:15-21). 2. Covenant reminder: commemorated the giving of the Law at Sinai in later Jewish tradition (cf. Exodus 19; Jubilees 1). 3. Communal gratitude: “new grain” (Numbers 28:26) acknowledged Yahweh as sustainer. THE MALE GOAT AS SIN (ḥaṭṭāʾt) OFFERING • Species and gender: a “śaʿîr ʿizzîm,” male goat—a standard sin-offering animal (Leviticus 4:23-28; 16:5). • Function: substitutionary atonement (“kippēr ʿalekem,” to cover over for you). Blood was sprinkled on the altar’s horns (Leviticus 4:25), symbolically transferring guilt. • Placement: appended after the pleasing-aroma burnt offerings, underscoring that fellowship with God (sweet aroma) presupposes expiation of sin. Atonement Theology In The Pentateuch 1. Necessity of blood: “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22, echoing Leviticus 17:11). 2. Repetition highlights insufficiency: daily (Numbers 28:3-8) and festival goat offerings pointed toward a greater, final atonement (Hebrews 10:1-4). 3. Corporate scope: goat covers the entire congregation (“for you” plural), teaching communal responsibility for sin. Typological Foreshadowing Of Christ • Sin-bearing substitute: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21). • Unblemished: Christ’s moral perfection mirrors the required physical perfection (Numbers 28:31; 1 Peter 1:19). • Pentecost fulfillment: The Spirit’s descent (Acts 2) coincides with Shavuot, proclaiming that the once-for-all sacrifice has been made and its benefits are now applied (Acts 2:38). • Goat imagery and the cross: Isaiah 53:6—“the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all”—parallels Leviticus 16’s scapegoat; Numbers 28:30 anticipates this logic. Canonical Echoes And Progressive Revelation • Leviticus 23:19 repeats the identical goat command for Weeks, linking the Numbers and Leviticus calendars. • Ezra 6:17; 8:35 record post-exilic compliance, demonstrating continuity. • Hebrews 9–10 argues from that continuity to Christ’s finality. Practical And Devotional Implications 1. Sin is not a peripheral matter; it must be faced before celebration. 2. God Himself provides the means of approach—ultimately His own Son. 3. Corporate worship today likewise centers on Christ’s atonement before offering praise (Hebrews 13:15). 4. Pentecost reminds believers that forgiveness leads to Spirit-empowered mission. Summary Numbers 28:30’s solitary male goat underscores the inescapable need for atonement even amid joyful harvest celebration. It teaches substitution, anticipates the Messiah, and integrates seamlessly with the entire biblical narrative—textually preserved, archaeologically corroborated, theologically consummated in Jesus Christ, and experientially applied at Pentecost. |
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