Numbers 29:12-19 “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month
you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, and you
shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days.
(13) And you shall offer a burnt
offering, a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD, thirteen bulls
from the herd, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old; they shall be without
blemish; (14) and their grain offering of fine flour mixed
with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two tenths
for each of the two rams, (15) and a tenth for each of the fourteen
lambs; (16) also one male goat for a sin offering,
besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink
offering. (17) "On the second day twelve bulls from the
herd, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, (18)
with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the
rams, and for the lambs, in the prescribed quantities; (19)
also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt
offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.”
Verses 12-40
record for us the sacrifices that were to be offered during the feast of
tabernacles/booths, which followed shortly after the Day of Atonement. The list
of animals required is staggering, over the eight days a total of 71 bulls, 15
rams, 105 lambs and 8 goats were to be sacrificed. In a society where a person’s
wealth was determined by the number of livestock they owned, with bulls being
the most valuable, this would have been considered to be a huge, extremely costly
sacrifice. Furthermore, it was one that had to be made every year, along with
all the other sacrifices required during the other feasts, as well as the
morning and evening sacrifices.
Why does God
require so many sacrifices during this particular feast? The feast of
tabernacles, or booths, was a feast that commemorated the time of the Exodus
and the journey to the Promised Land. During this journey, the people of Israel
lived in tabernacles, booths, tents. They did not have fixed dwellings, nor did
they have a land of their own. This brought with it a number of challenges;
they were vulnerable and open to attack, and they could not farm the land in order
to grow food and sustain themselves. There was no city wall to protect them,
and their homes could be easily destroyed by an invading army. There was no
city market where they could bring their produce to sell, or could buy food in
order to feed their families. The people of Israel had to resolutely trust God
to both protect them and provide for them on a daily basis.
Here in Numbers
29, the new, second generation can look back over the past 40 years and see
that God had never failed them. He had provided food and water for them in
truly miraculous ways, and had protected them throughout the journey. It is
remarkable, God feeding a nation numbering close to 2 million people, not for
just one day but for 14 600 days! God had protected them from fierce and blood
thirsty nations, mighty armies and from the natural elements. Every day and
every night God watched over, protected and kept His people, and when they came
under threat, He was their shield and defender, He fought for them.
The feast of
tabernacles, was established by God in order to remind the Israelites of the
manner in which God rescued them from Egypt, protected and provided for them
during the forty year journey and fulfilled all His promises by bringing them
into the Promised Land. This reminder, though an expensive one, is small by comparison,
when the people considered just how much God gave to them over those forty
years. Had God not preserved the nation or provided for them, they would have
never made it to the Promised Land, and the nation of Israel would be no more.
Therefore, the people needed to constantly remember and give thanks to God for
His wonderful faithfulness.
As with many of
the feasts and sacrifices, these outward, physical actions and deeds, served as
symbols, representations, pictures pointing to deeper, eternal, spiritual
truths that would one day become reality.
The Exodus,
Mount Sinai, the Law, the Tabernacle, God’s provision and protecting during the
forty years, and God’s fulfilment of the promises He made, all pointed to
Christ. In fact, John records for us Jesus’ words during the feast of
tabernacles, in John 7:37-38, “On the
last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone
thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believers in me, as the
Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’””
The feast of
tabernacles points us to Christ, for He alone is able to bring us out of
slavery to sin, through the wilderness of this life, and into God’s true, eternal
and holy kingdom. Although the people of Israel had been brought out of Egypt,
given God’s law and had been fed and protected by God, and brought safely into
the Promised Land, they were still not a part of God’s true kingdom. All that
God had done from them was designed to show them that they needed a Saviour who
could truly make them children of God, for all the sacrifices and laws were
unable to do this. Something, someone greater was needed, and that was the Lord
Jesus Christ.
For us who are
true believers in Jesus Christ, we don’t need to celebrate these feasts or
offer up so many animal sacrifices. However, we should celebrate our salvation
on a daily basis, taking time to remember all that which God has done for us
through the Lord Jesus Christ. As we celebrate and give thanks to God for our
salvation, we should willing make a sacrifice, one worth more than a bull, we
should daily sacrifice our lives to God and the glory of His name. We should
give everything to Him, in fact we should give to Him, what we regard as of
most importance and greatest value, ourselves.
Do you remember,
celebrate and give thanks to God every day for your salvation through Jesus
Christ? Do you willingly, freely, joyfully offer up your life to God as a
sacrifice, for God to use you for His name and glory each and every day?
Our generous and ever-giving God, You have lavished
Your grace and love upon us, bestowing gift upon gift, all the blessings of
Christ, the riches of Christ in Your kingdom. All this we have received from
Your good and gracious hand, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank You
for these rich and undeserved blessings. Forgive us for being so quick to
forget, or to place others things as being greater, more valuable or desirable
than what You have done for us in Christ. Enable us through Your Spirit to
remember, to celebrate our salvation every day, and help us to make that choice
to willingly and joyfully surrender, sacrifice our lives to You, for You to use
them as You please. Amen.
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