Posts Tagged ‘Sacrificial Calendar’

Would Moses have benefitted from a calendar app?

Posted: March 12, 2013 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, March, Numbers
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If Moses had an iPhone calendar app, the alarm would sound often. Today’s reading of Numbers 28-30 caused my head to spin a bit.  I can hardly imagine keeping track of all the offerings required: daily, Sabbath, monthly and special holidays.

Here’s some help from the notes section (Numbers 28-29) of the ESV Study Bible Online version:

Calendar-iconCalendar of Public Sacrifices. Although Moses’ days as mediator of revelation are numbered, he still is God’s chosen vessel to pass on law to Israel. First among his final instructions are laws about public sacrifices (cf. other calendars,Ex. 23:10–19; 34:18–26; Leviticus 23; Deut. 16:1–17; cf. alsoThe Hebrew Calendar). These are the sacrifices offered in the tabernacle on a daily basis by the priests on behalf of the nation. Twice a day lambs are offered as a burnt offering (see Leviticus 1): one in the morning and another in the evening. On holy days, extra sacrifices are added. These chapters explain just what is required on which day. They are summarized in the , chart. To see how many sacrifices the priests would have to offer, one must add together all the offerings that are required for each reason. For example, on a Sabbath falling on the first day of a month, the priests would have to offer: two lambs (the daily offering) plus two lambs (the Sabbath offering) plus two bulls, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat (1st-day-of-the-month offering). Most of the sacrifices were burnt offerings (see Leviticus 1), but all the goats are sin offerings (see Leviticus 4). In addition to the animals being sacrificed, a grain offering of flour and oil, and a drink offering of wine had to be made. The size of the grain offering and drink offering varied with the animal being offered. Here the same quantities are prescribed as in Num. 15:4–10: a lamb must be accompanied by about half a gallon (1.9 liters) of flour, a quart (0.95 liters) of oil, and a quart (0.95 liters) of wine. At least double quantities are needed for a bull.

These regulations make several points.

First, they show the importance of the sacrificial system in Israel (cf. note on 15:1–16). In the limited time before his death, Moses explains what sacrifices must be offered in public worship on behalf of the whole nation. These are over and above the private sacrifices that a layperson may want to bring for personal reasons. 

Second, they are a strong assurance to Joshua that the nation will indeed inherit the land and become a prosperous agricultural community, able to provide for this lavish and expensive worship. It has been calculated that, over the course of a year, these sacrifices involved a total of 113 bulls, 1,086 lambs, over a ton of flour, and 1,000 bottles of oil and wine!

Finally, this list of sacrifices underlines the importance of the sabbatical principle. Every seventh day is a Sabbath and marked by a doubling of the daily sacrifice, while the seventh month is marked by a huge number of extra sacrifices, especially during the Feast of Booths, which is clearly marked out as the biggest celebration of the year.

God’s Calendar and the BIG questions of life

Posted: February 23, 2012 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, February, Leviticus
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We’re almost to the end of our reading through Leviticus.  Coty Pinckney has a very helpful summary,  a look back at where we’ve been reading and some questions to prompt more study:

This chapter (Leviticus 23) has been called God’s calendar, because it describes festivals God planned for the people of Israel.

Most of us turn to calendars to plan or check our agenda for the next few days or months. We don’t often turn to calendars to find the answer to deep questions of life. But I would like to suggest that God’s calendar does answer such questions, as God through these festivals pictures the proper Christian life. God mandates that the people of Israel perform particular rituals on specific dates as a way of acting out truths that you and I need to take to heart.

In the course of this morning, we will see that God uses His calendar to focus our attention on the dangers inherent in one particular form of evil: Self-righteousness. God shows through these pictures that His people are only truly His when they have abandoned self, when they trust fully in him, when they are able to fall at His feet and pray, “Lord, without you I am nothing, but by your grace you have lifted me up.”

In our survey of Leviticus, we have seen that each of the rituals God ordains for the people of Israel contains a picture of New Testament truth. Early in the series we noted that interpreting Leviticus is more akin to interpreting Jesus’ parables than interpreting a letter of Paul. When Jesus talks about a farmer sowing seed, he’s not giving lessons for how to plant crops; he is giving spiritual lessons through the picture of the sower and the seed. Just so, as we read about different requirements for the people of Israel, our job is to learn the spiritual lessons pictured by each. Let’s briefly remind ourselves of some of those lessons:

The first seven chapters of Leviticus describe the five offerings God establishes. Recall that each of these offerings portrays a different provision for God’s people, granted through Jesus’ death on the cross.

Chapters eight through ten describe God’s plan for a priesthood. We saw that, today, God intends each and every Christian to serve as a priest. The clothing, the ordination, and the requirements for the Levitical priests contain rich images that help us to understand our role before God today.

Chapters eleven through fifteen present the laws of cleanness and uncleanness. These show the necessity of preparation prior to entering God’s presence, and His provisions for cleansing after being defiled by the world.

Chapter sixteen describes in detail one of the festivals, the Day of Atonement. This ritual emphasizes the efficacy of Christ’s death not only in satisfying the requirements of God’s justice, but also in doing away with our own guilt.

Then in chapters 17 to 20, God presents His holiness code, a set of laws which answers the question: What does it mean to be holy, to be God’s own sacred possession? We saw that holiness is a result of our relationship to God, not a prerequisite for that relationship. Our obedience, our becoming like Him, is a logical consequence of His choosing us as His people. We also saw that the laws which reveal God’s character still hold for us today — because we are to become like Christ. Those laws, however, which were picturing New Testament truth do not hold for Christians — we fulfill them by living out the pictured truth.

This brings us to Leviticus 23, and the outline of the Israelite festivals. Once again we need to ask the question: As Christians, should we obey the specific requirements listed here? Should we avoid work on the Sabbath? Should we celebrate each of these feasts at different times of the year? Or is all of God’s calendar a picture of the Christian life, and so we fulfill the calendar by living out the Christian truths pictured in the festivals?

To read more about these questions, click here and go to the rest of the sermon:

Sacrificial Calendar

Posted: March 12, 2011 by Pam Larson in Devotionals/Commentaries, March, Numbers
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
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If Moses had an iPhone calendar app, the alarm would sound often. Today’s reading of Numbers 28-30 caused my head to spin a bit.  I can hardly imagine keeping track of all the offerings required: daily, Sabbath, monthly and special holidays.

Here’s some help from the notes section (Numbers 28-29) of the ESV Study Bible Online version:

Calendar of Public Sacrifices. Although Moses’ days as mediator of revelation are numbered, he still is God’s chosen vessel to pass on law to Israel. First among his final instructions are laws about public sacrifices (cf. other calendars,Ex. 23:10–19; 34:18–26; Leviticus 23; Deut. 16:1–17; cf. alsoThe Hebrew Calendar). These are the sacrifices offered in the tabernacle on a daily basis by the priests on behalf of the nation. Twice a day lambs are offered as a burnt offering (see Leviticus 1): one in the morning and another in the evening. On holy days, extra sacrifices are added. These chapters explain just what is required on which day. They are summarized in the , chart. To see how many sacrifices the priests would have to offer, one must add together all the offerings that are required for each reason. For example, on a Sabbath falling on the first day of a month, the priests would have to offer: two lambs (the daily offering) plus two lambs (the Sabbath offering) plus two bulls, one ram, seven lambs, and one goat (1st-day-of-the-month offering). Most of the sacrifices were burnt offerings (see Leviticus 1), but all the goats are sin offerings (see Leviticus 4). In addition to the animals being sacrificed, a grain offering of flour and oil, and a drink offering of wine had to be made. The size of the grain offering and drink offering varied with the animal being offered. Here the same quantities are prescribed as in Num. 15:4–10: a lamb must be accompanied by about half a gallon (1.9 liters) of flour, a quart (0.95 liters) of oil, and a quart (0.95 liters) of wine. At least double quantities are needed for a bull.These regulations make several points. First, they show the importance of the sacrificial system in Israel (cf. note on 15:1–16). In the limited time before his death, Moses explains what sacrifices must be offered in public worship on behalf of the whole nation. These are over and above the private sacrifices that a layperson may want to bring for personal reasons. Second, they are a strong assurance to Joshua that the nation will indeed inherit the land and become a prosperous agricultural community, able to provide for this lavish and expensive worship. It has been calculated that, over the course of a year, these sacrifices involved a total of 113 bulls, 1,086 lambs, over a ton of flour, and 1,000 bottles of oil and wine! Finally, this list of sacrifices underlines the importance of the sabbatical principle. Every seventh day is a Sabbath and marked by a doubling of the daily sacrifice, while the seventh month is marked by a huge number of extra sacrifices, especially during the Feast of Booths, which is clearly marked out as the biggest celebration of the year.