What is the meaning of Exodus 29:41? And offer the second lamb at twilight - Exodus 29:38-39 sets the daily rhythm: “This is what you are to offer regularly on the altar: two lambs a year old each day, continually. Offer one lamb in the morning and the other at twilight.” The verse in focus simply picks up the second half of that command. - Twilight marked the close of the Hebrew day (cf. Genesis 1:5). By bracketing the day with sacrifice—morning and evening—Israel lived in constant reminder that atonement and fellowship with God cover every hour (Numbers 28:3-4). - The faithful repetition reflects God’s desire for consistency, not mere ceremony (Psalm 141:2 compares evening sacrifice with prayer). with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning - Exodus 29:40 details the morning portion: “with one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a quarter hin of beaten oil of pressed olives, and a drink offering of a quarter hin of wine.” The evening lamb received the identical accompaniments. • Fine flour: symbol of the best produce (Leviticus 2:1-2). • Oil: picture of blessing and the Spirit’s empowering (Psalm 23:5b). • Wine: sign of joy and covenant fellowship (Judges 9:13). - The matching offerings show God’s standards don’t fluctuate with time of day or human mood; His holiness and grace remain steady (Malachi 3:6). - Numbers 28:5-8 repeats the recipe and adds, “an aroma pleasing to the LORD,” underscoring that obedience, not innovation, pleases Him. as a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the LORD. - “Pleasing aroma” (Genesis 8:21) reveals God’s favorable acceptance. While He doesn’t need food, He delights in the heart of surrender pictured by the smoke ascending (Leviticus 1:9, 13). - “Food offering” conveys that the altar was God’s table, and Israel’s sacrifice signified communion with Him (Leviticus 3:11). - The pattern anticipates the ultimate pleasing aroma: “Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (Ephesians 5:2). Believers now present their bodies “as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1), echoing the continual devotion modeled in Exodus 29:41. - Paul alludes to this fragrance language when he calls the Philippians’ gift “a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18), showing the principle still functions in Christian stewardship and worship. summary Exodus 29:41 instructs Israel to mirror the morning burnt offering with an identical evening sacrifice—lamb, grain, oil, and wine—so the entire day is wrapped in atonement and fellowship. The unchanging recipe underlines God’s constancy and the necessity of wholehearted, ongoing devotion. Ultimately, these daily offerings prefigure Christ’s once-for-all sacrifice, the true fragrant aroma that enables believers to live each moment in surrendered worship. |
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