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Numbers 29 lists a descending count of bulls, thirteen down to seven, over the seven days of the autumn feast. Ezekiel 45 uses a different calendar for the same feast, with seven bulls and seven rams each day provided by the prince.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Numbers 29:12
Hebrew Bible
12 “‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you are to have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work, and you must keep a festival to the Lord for seven days. 13 You must offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs each one year old, all of them without blemish. 14 Their grain offerings must be of finely ground flour mixed with olive oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths of an ephah for each of the two rams, 15 and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs, 16 along with one male goat for a purification offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering with its grain offering and its drink offering.
Ezekiel 45:25
Hebrew Bible
23 And during the seven days of the feast he will provide as a burnt offering to the Lord seven bulls and seven rams, all without blemish, on each of the seven days, and a male goat daily for a sin offering. 24 He will provide as a grain offering an ephah for each bull, an ephah for each ram, and a gallon of olive oil for each ephah of grain. 25 In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the feast, he will make the same provisions for the sin offering, burnt offering, and grain offering, and for the olive oil, for the seven days.
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Notes and References
... thirteen bulls decreasing progressively to seven over the seven days of the feast (seven rams and seven bulls in Ezekiel). At other points the offerings are less—for sabbath only two lambs (not six and one ram), and for unleavened bread only two bulls (not seven). With respect to these differences it seems likely that the author of Numbers thinks of his list as additional rather than an alternative. The texts in Ezekiel speak consistently of the sacrificial responsibilities of the 'prince,' who for the author of Numbers would have been the governor. His concern here in Numbers 28–29 is to outline the responsibilities of the people. It may be that responsibility for providing the materials still lay with the civil leadership, as Ezekiel 45:22 suggests, but the laws of Numbers 28–29 are clearly addressed to the community and are for the community. ...
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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