NUMBERS: Chapter 29

Chapter 29
Summary:	God declares that on the first day of the seventh month*, this is to be a day of "holy convocation" in which no servile work is to be done. It is instead a day of blowing trumpets and sacrificing animals - which are a "sweet savor" unto God. God demands that during the "Festival of Trumpets", the people are to sacrifice a young bull, one ram, and seven yearling lambs without blemish. Additionally, each of these animals being sacrificed are to be accompanied by a "grain offering" of flour mixed with olive oil - three tenth deals (approx. nine quarts) for the bull; two tenth deals (approx. six quarts) for the ram, and one tenth of a deal (approx. three quarts) for each of the seven lambs. In addition, a male goat needs to be sacrificed as a "sin offering" to make atonement. This sacrifice is to be made in addition to the "continual burnt offering", and the (monthly) "new moon offering" - as it is a "sweet savor" to God. On the tenth day of the seventh month*, the people are to have a "holy convocation", and they are to "afflict their souls" and are not to do any work therein - except for sacrificing a young bull, a ram, and seven yearling lambs without blemishes, which is a "sweet savor" to God. Each of these animals being sacrificed are to be accompanied by a "grain offering" of flour mixed with olive oil - three tenth deals (approx. nine quarts) for the bull; two tenth deals (approx. six quarts) for the ram, and one tenth of a deal (approx. three quarts) for each of the seven lambs. In addition, a male goat needs to be sacrificed as a "sin offering" to make atonement. Again, this sacrifice is to be made in addition to the "continual burnt offering" and the "new moon offering". On the fifteenth day of the seventh month*, the people are to have a "holy convocation", are to do no servile work, and are to celebrate a feast that is to last seven days. Each day of the feast, the following amounts of animals are to be sacrificed (which are a "sweet savor" to God). Each of these animals being sacrificed are to be accompanied by a "grain offering" of flour mixed with olive oil - three tenth deals (approx. nine quarts) for each bull; two tenth deals (approx. six quarts) for each ram, and one tenth of a deal (approx. three quarts) for each lamb. One male goat for a "sin offering" also accompanies each day's sacrifice as well. First day:thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs without blemish. Second day:twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs without blemish. Third day:eleven young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs without blemish. Fourth day:ten young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs without blemish. Fifth day:nine young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs without blemish. Sixth day:eight young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs without blemish. Seventh day:seven young bulls, two rams, and fourteen yearling lambs without blemish. During this week, these sacrifices will be made in addition to the "continual burnt offering" sacrifices. On the eighth day the people are to have another "solemn assembly" and do no servile work - except for sacrificing animals. They are to sacrifice a bull, a ram, and seven yearling lambs without blemish. Their "grain offerings" should be in the typical amounts and must be accompanied by a drink offering. In addition, a male goat is to be sacrificed for a "sin offering" as well. God tells Moses that these sacrifices shall be done alongside the people's vows, "freewill offerings", "burnt offerings", "grain offerings, "drink offerings", and "peace offerings". Moses delivered this message to the people of Israel as God commanded.
Notes:	1.) Roughly corresponds with the fifteenth of September in our modern calendar. 2.) Yet another occurrence of the mystical number seven in the bible. 3.) Roughly corresponds with the twenty fifth of September in our modern calendar. 4.) Roughly corresponds with either the thirtieth of September or the first of October in our modern calendar.
Thoughts:	This chapter serves mostly as a continuation of the previous, but differs in the respect that the number seven seems to play a more dominant and recurring theme. God's first declaration is that on the first day of the seventh month (September 15th by our modern calendar) the people are to celebrate the "Festival of Trumpets" by observing a sabbath and sacrificing more animals - which are a "sweet savor" to God. The basic pattern here, which is repeated from Numbers Chapter 28, is that the people are to sacrifice a certain number of young bulls, rams, and yearling lambs as "burnt offerings", along with a proportioned amnount of grains (nine quarts for each bull, six quarts for each ram, and three quarts for each lamb), and to top it off by sacrificing a goat as a "sin offering". The sacrifices laid out here are also to made alongside the "continual burnt offering" and "new moon offering" as laid out in the previous chapter. For the "Festival of Trumpets", God commands that one bull, one ram, and seven lambs be sacrificed, alongside the proper "grain offerings" and the sacrificial goat for a "sin offering". On the tenth day of the seventh month (roughly September 25th by our modern calendar) the people have to celebrate another sabbath and are to sacrifice one bull, one ram, and seven lambs - alongside the proper "grain offerings" and the sacrificial goat for a "sin offering". Five days later on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (roughly September 30th or October 1st) the people are to celebrate another sabbath and are to celebrate a feast that is to last seven days. Each day of the weeklong feast bulls, rams, and lambs are to be sacrificed alongside the proper "grain offering" amounts, as well as a goat to be sacrificed each day for a "sin offering". Starting with thirteen bulls on the first day, the number of bulls being slaughtered decreases by one each day of the feast until it arrives at seven on the seventh day. Two rams, and fourteen lambs are also to be slaughtered each day of the festival. It's interesting to note that the amount of rams and lambs are doubled during this festival. On the eighth day the people have to observe another sabbath, which of course is capped off with another round of animal sacrifice - one bull, one ram, and seven lambs. In addition to the proper "grain offerings" and sacrificial goat for a "sin offering", a "drink offering" must be offered as well. In my thoughts on the previous chapter I had added up the amount of animals that would be needed annually to perform all of these sacrifices and came up with the following figures: 967 yearling lambs, 40 bulls, 20 rams, and 8 goats. Adding in the additional animals required by this chapter brings our totals to 113 bulls, 37 rams, 1072 yearling lambs without blemish(!), and 16 goats. Every year the people of Israel would have needed to raise 1,072 lambs - providing that they don't have any blemishes - just for these mandatory annual animal sacrifices alone. Obviously, this doesn't even factor in the lambs used in other sacrifices which would raise the numbers of lambs needed to be born each year just to fulfill God's quota. We close this chapter out with Moses delivering these commandments to the people of Israel.