39 These shall ye offer to Jehovah in your set feasts, besides your vows, and your voluntary-offerings, for your burnt-offerings, and for your oblations, and for your drink-offerings, and for your peace-offerings.
And if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or voluntary, it shall be eaten the same day that he presented his sacrifice; on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten; and the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire. And if [any] of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, it shall not be reckoned to him that hath presented it; it shall be an unclean thing, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity. And the flesh that toucheth anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. And as to the flesh, all that are clean may eat [the] flesh. But the soul that eateth the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offering which is for Jehovah, having his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples. And if any one touch anything unclean, the uncleanness of man, or unclean beast, or any unclean abomination, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace-offering, which is for Jehovah, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, No fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat shall ye eat. But the fat of a dead carcase, and the fat of that which is torn, may be used in any other use; but ye shall in no wise eat it. For whoever eateth the fat of the beast of which men present an offering by fire to Jehovah, the soul that hath eaten shall be cut off from his peoples. And no blood shall ye eat in any of your dwellings, whether it be of fowl or of cattle. Whatever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, that soul shall be cut off from his peoples. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, He that presenteth the sacrifice of his peace-offering to Jehovah shall bring his offering to Jehovah of the sacrifice of his peace-offering. His own hands shall bring Jehovah's offerings by fire, the fat with the breast shall he bring: the breast, that it may be waved as a wave-offering before Jehovah. And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar; and the breast shall be Aaron's and his sons'. And the right shoulder of the sacrifices of your peace-offerings shall ye give as a heave-offering unto the priest. He of the sons of Aaron that presenteth the blood of the peace-offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for [his] part. For the breast of the wave-offering, and the shoulder of the heave-offering, have I taken of the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons from the children of Israel by an everlasting statute. This is [the portion] of the anointing of Aaron and of the anointing of his sons, from Jehovah's offerings by fire, in the day [when] he presented them to serve Jehovah as priests, which Jehovah commanded to be given them by the children of Israel in the day that he anointed them: [it is] an everlasting statute, throughout their generations. This is the law of the burnt-offering, of the oblation, and of the sin-offering, and of the trespass-offering, and of the consecration-offering, and of the sacrifice of peace-offering, which Jehovah commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to present their offerings to Jehovah, in the wilderness of Sinai.
And if any present a sacrifice of peace-offering to Jehovah to accomplish a vow, or a voluntary offering of oxen or small cattle, it shall be without blemish to be accepted: there shall be no defect therein. Blind, or broken, or maimed, or ulcerous, or with itch, or scabbed -- ye shall not present these to Jehovah, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to Jehovah. A bullock and a sheep that hath a member too long or too short, that mayest thou offer as a voluntary offering; but as a vow it shall not be accepted.
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Commentary on Numbers 29 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 29
Nu 29:1-40. The Offering at the Feast of Trumpets.
1. in the seventh month—of the ecclesiastical year, but the first month of the civil year, corresponding to our September. It was, in fact, the New Year's Day, which had been celebrated among the Hebrews and other contemporary nations with great festivity and joy and ushered in by a flourish of trumpets. This ordinance was designed to give a religious character to the occasion by associating it with some solemn observances. (Compare Ex 12:2; Le 23:24).
it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you—This made it a solemn preparation for the sacred feasts—a greater number of which were held during this month than at any other season of the year. Although the institution of this feast was described before, there is more particularity here as to what the burnt offering should consist of; and, in addition to it, a sin offering is prescribed. The special offerings, appointed for certain days, were not to interfere with the offerings usually requisite on these days, for in Nu 29:6 it is said that the daily offerings, as well as those for the first day of the month, were to take place in their ordinary course.
7-11. ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation—This was the great day of atonement. Its institution, together with the observance to which that day was devoted, was described (Le 16:29, 30). But additional offerings seem to be noticed, namely, the large animal sacrifice for a general expiation, which was a sweet savor unto the Lord, and the sin offering to atone for the sins that mingled with that day's services. The prescriptions in this passage appear supplementary to the former statement in Leviticus.
12-34. on the fifteenth day—was to be held the feast of booths or tabernacles. (See Le 23:34, 35). The feast was to last seven days, the first and last of which were to be kept as Sabbaths, and a particular offering was prescribed for each day, the details of which are given with a minuteness suited to the infant state of the church. Two things are deserving of notice: First, that this feast was distinguished by a greater amount and variety of sacrifices than any other—partly because, occurring at the end of the year, it might be intended to supply any past deficiencies—partly because, being immediately after the ingathering of the fruits, it ought to be a liberal acknowledgment—and partly, perhaps, because God consulted the weakness of mankind, who naturally grow weary both of the charge and labor of such services when they are long-continued, and made them every day less toilsome and expensive [Patrick]. Secondly, it will be remarked that the sacrifices varied in a progressive ratio of decrease every day.
18. after the manner—according to the ritual order appointed by divine authority—that for meat offerings (Nu 29:3-10), and drink offerings (Nu 28:7, 14).
35-40. On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly—The feast of tabernacles was brought to a close on the eighth day, which was the great day (Joh 7:37). Besides the common routine sacrifices, there were special offerings appointed for that day though these were fewer than on any of the preceding days; and there were also, as was natural on that occasion when vast multitudes were convened for a solemn religious purpose, many spontaneous gifts and services, so that there was full scope for the exercise of a devout spirit in the people, both for their obedience to the statutory offerings, and by the presentation of those which were made by free will or in consequence of vows.
39. These things ye shall do unto the Lord in your set feasts—From the statements made in this and the preceding chapter, it appears that the yearly offerings made to the altar at the public expense, without taking into account a vast number of voluntary vow and trespass offerings, were calculated at the following amount:—goats, fifteen; kids, twenty-one; rams, seventy-two; bullocks, one hundred thirty-two; lambs, 1,101; sum-total of animals sacrificed at public cost, 1,241. This, of course, is exclusive of the prodigious addition of lambs slain at the passover, which in later times, according to Josephus, amounted in a single year to the immense number of 255,600.