Go to Related Reading
About this book

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 Genesis 8:21 and Numbers 28:2

Hebrew Bible

Share:

Summary

Genesis 8 shows Noah offering sacrifices after the flood and God responding to the smell, and Numbers 28 also describes offerings to God with a pleasing scent. Both follow ancient Near Eastern traditions where gods smell sacrifices as a sign of approval.

Passages

Genesis 8:21

Hebrew Bible
19 Every living creature, every creeping thing, every bird, and everything that moves on the earth went out of the ark in their groups. 20 Noah built an altar to the Lord. He then took some of every kind of clean animal and clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21 And the Lord smelled the soothing aroma and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of humankind, even though the inclination of their minds is evil from childhood on. I will never again destroy everything that lives, as I have just done. 22 “While the earth continues to exist, planting time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, and day and night will not cease.”
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Genesis

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

References

"... Ecstatic behaviour appears often in the Hebrew Bible, but it is not associated only with battle-hungry delirium. Within the Balaam pericope, three expressions suggest that the writer(s) imagined Balaam having an otherworldly or ecstatic experience. First, the verb קרה, which simply denotes an encounter or meeting, is used (four times) to depict Balaam’s encounter with his deity (23:3, 4, 15, 16). Thus, the narrative describes unique, personal encounters between Balaam and Yhwh. The verb takes the Niphal stem also in another human-divine encounter, in Exodus 3:18 when Yhwh instructs Moses to explain to Pharaoh that ‘Yhwh, the god of the Hebrews, has met with us.’ Here in Exodus, the idea seems to be that the divine party initiated the encounter. Rhetorically, Moses’s plea to Pharaoh has force only if Yhwh requires the wilderness offerings, if the three day hiatus is a religious obligation demanded by the deity, on its own initiative. But encounters with supernatural beings may be arranged by a variety of means. In 2 Kings 3:15-16, Elisha requests music and then, the “hand(/power) of Yhwh” comes upon him and he delivers a divine message. Music/percussion induced trances are commonly attested among ethnographic reports of shamans and other intermediaries. The invocation of deities, evidently, can require careful calculation and execution. Balaam expresses uncertainly as to whether or not his deity will show up and the sacrifices seem to serve the function of attracting the divine presence. (Compare Genesis 8:21, Exodus 29:18, 25, 41; Numbers 28:2; Leviticus 1:9, etc...) As Balaam hopes, Elohim “meets” him (23:4) once, and Yhwh a second time (23:16); and in each instance, Balaam receives a message (דבר) ..."
Ryan D. Schroeder, “Memories of Balaam: Translatability of a Religious Specialist in Ancient Israel” (MA diss., Trinity Western University, 2015), 92–93.

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

Tags

Your feedback

Genesis 8:21 and Numbers 28:2

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library