What is the meaning of Exodus 29:39?

Offer one lamb

• “Offer one lamb” speaks of a single, whole burnt offering, entirely consumed on the altar (Exodus 29:38).

• A lamb, spotless and without defect, pictures substitutionary atonement—an innocent life given for the guilty (Genesis 22:7-8; Leviticus 1:10-13).

• This daily sacrifice foreshadows “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

• Isaiah 53:7 and 1 Peter 1:18-19 connect the lamb imagery directly to Messiah, underscoring how every Old-Covenant offering points ahead to Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice (Hebrews 7:27).

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in the morning

• “In the morning you hear my voice” (Psalm 5:3). The first sacrifice greeted the new day, dedicating every waking hour to the LORD.

• Morning light exposed the worshiper’s need for daily mercy, reminding Israel that forgiveness and fellowship start with God, not human effort (Lamentations 3:22-23).

• Jesus rose early to pray (Mark 1:35), modeling continual communion that the morning burnt offering symbolized.

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and the other

• A second lamb completed the daily pair (Numbers 28:3-4). Two offerings—one at dawn, one at dusk—bookended life with holiness.

• This rhythm pictured uninterrupted access to God: “Every priest stands daily…offering repeatedly the same sacrifices” (Hebrews 10:11).

• The pattern also hints at completion. Where two or three witnesses establish truth (Deuteronomy 19:15), two daily lambs affirmed God’s constant covenant faithfulness.

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at twilight

• Twilight (roughly 3-6 p.m.) closed the workday, gathering the community as shadows lengthened (Ezra 9:4-5).

• The evening sacrifice invited reflection on sins committed and gratitude for God’s preserving grace (Psalm 141:2).

• It prefigured the hour when “the ninth hour came, and Jesus cried out” (Mark 15:34), showing the true Lamb offered as daylight faded (Exodus 12:6).

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summary

Exodus 29:39 prescribes two daily lambs—one each morning, one each evening—to enfold Israel’s entire day in worship. The continual burnt offering taught unceasing dependence on God, highlighted sin’s cost, and pointed ahead to Christ, the perfect Lamb sacrificed once for all. While the ritual has been fulfilled in Jesus (Hebrews 10:12-14), its rhythm still invites believers to begin and end every day conscious of His atoning grace and faithful presence.