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Numbers

About this book
Chapter 28

1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Command the Israelites: ‘With regard to my offering, be sure to offer my food for my offering made by fire,⁠ as a pleasing aroma to me⁠ at its appointed time.’ 3 You will say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire that you must offer to the Lord: two unblemished lambs one year old each day for a continual burnt offering. 4 The first lamb you must offer in the morning, and the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon,⁠ 5 with one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour as a grain offering mixed with one-quarter of a hin of pressed olive oil. 6 It is a continual burnt offering that was instituted on Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 7 “‘And its drink offering must be one-quarter of a hin for each lamb. You must pour out the strong drink as a drink offering to the Lord in the Holy Place. 8 And the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon; just as you offered the grain offering and drink offering in the morning, you must offer it as an offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 9 “‘On the Sabbath day, you must offer two unblemished lambs a year old, and two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour as a grain offering, mixed with olive oil, along with its drink offering. 10 This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath, besides the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. 11 “‘On the first day of each month you must offer as a burnt offering to the Lord two young bulls, one ram, and seven unblemished lambs a year old, 12 with three-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each bull, and two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for the ram, 13 and one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil as a grain offering for each lamb, as a burnt offering for a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 14 For their drink offerings, include half a hin of wine with each bull, one-third of a hin for the ram, and one-fourth of a hin for each lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year. 15 And one male goat must be offered to the Lord as a purification offering,⁠ in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. 16 “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord’s Passover. 17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the festival. For seven days bread made without yeast must be eaten. 18 And on the first day there is to be a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work on it. 19 “‘But you must offer to the Lord an offering made by fire, a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs one year old; they must all be unblemished. 20 And their grain offering is to be of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil. For each bull you must offer three-tenths of an ephah, and two-tenths for the ram. 21 For each of the seven lambs you are to offer one-tenth of an ephah, 22 as well as one goat for a purification offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You must offer these in addition to the burnt offering in the morning that is for a continual burnt offering. 24 In this manner you must offer daily throughout the seven days the food of the sacrifice made by fire as a sweet aroma to the Lord. It is to be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 On the seventh day you are to have a holy assembly, you must do no regular work. 26 “‘Also, on the day of the firstfruits, when you bring a new grain offering to the Lord during your Feast of Weeks, you are to have a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work. 27 But you must offer as the burnt offering, as a sweet aroma to the Lord, two young bulls, one ram, seven lambs one year old, 28 with their grain offering of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil: three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 29 with one-tenth for each of the seven lambs, 30 as well as one male goat to make an atonement for you. 31 You are to offer them with their drink offerings in addition to the continual burnt offering and its grain offering—they must be unblemished.

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 28:2 and Ezekiel 44:7

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Numbers 28 and Ezekiel 44, God speaks of my food for offerings, language found nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Both sources follow an ancient Near Eastern tradition that offerings were divine food.

Passages

Numbers 28:2

Hebrew Bible
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Command the Israelites: ‘With regard to my offering, be sure to offer my food for my offering made by fire, as a pleasing aroma to me at its appointed time.’ 3 You will say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire that you must offer to the Lord: two unblemished lambs one year old each day for a continual burnt offering. 4 The first lamb you must offer in the morning, and the second lamb you must offer in the late afternoon,
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Ezekiel 44:7

Hebrew Bible
6 Say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Enough of all your abominable practices, O house of Israel! 7 When you bring foreigners, those uncircumcised in heart and in flesh, into my sanctuary, you desecrate it—even my house—when you offer my food, the fat and the blood. You have broken my covenant by all your abominable practices. 8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but you have assigned foreigners to keep charge of my sanctuary for you. 9 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No foreigner who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel will enter into my sanctuary.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Ezekiel

References

"... H continues the P tradition as opposed to avoiding the earlier formulations. H does differ from P in a) its use of לחם with a first common singular pronominal suffix referring to YHWH, “my food” (Numbers 28:2); b) its use of the phrase אלהים לחם “food of your god” (Leviticus 21:6, 8, 17, 21, 22; 22:25); c) and the description of the priestly prebend as “food” for the priests and their families (Leviticus 22:7, 11, 13). Knohl argues that the absence of usages (a) and (b) in P reflect P’s desire to avoid identifying the sacrifices as food for the deity. His claim cannot be sustained. First, his argument that P consciously avoids “my food” to describe YHWH’s sacrifices is misleading. It is true that this form never appears in P, but it appears only once in H. (Numbers 28:2. Also, used once in Ezekiel 44:7. These are in fact the only two instances of this formulation in the entire Hebrew Bible with YHWH as the possessor) That is hardly convincing proof that either H embraced this formulation or that P rejects it. Second, as I will argue below, the instances of לחם in construct with a form of אלהים are found in H in only Leviticus 21-22. This suggests that this formulation reflects a specific contextual purpose and not a broad agenda promoting divine anthropomorphism ... Knohl’s argument confuses difference for polemic. While P’s language may be indirect it never eschews the idea that sacrifices are a type of food for the deity ..."
Anne Katherine Knafl, “Forms of God, Forming God: A Typology of Divine Anthropomorphism in the Pentateuch” (PhD diss., University of Chicago, 2011), 116.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 28:2 and Ezekiel 44:7

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