Numbers 28

The first day of the lunar month was observed as a holy day. In addition to the daily sacrifice there were offered two young bullocks, a ram, and seven lambs of the first year as a burnt-offering, with the proper meal-offerings and drink-offerings, and a kid as a sin-offering (Nu. 28:11-15). As on the Sabbath, trade and handicraftwork were stopped (Am. 8:5), the temple was opened for public worship (Ez. 46:3; Is. 66:23). The trumpets were blown at the offering of the special sacrifices for the day, as on the solemn festivals (Nu. 10:10; Ps. 81:3). The new moons are generally mentioned so as to show that they were regarded as a peculiar class of holy days, distinguished from the solemn feasts and the Sabbaths. The religious observance of the day of the new moon may plainly be regarded as the consecration of a natural division of time. Dic. B.

The new-moon feast, depending upon no calendar but that of the sky, and more clearly marked in that than any other recurring period, was certain to fix itself deeply in the social and religious habits of a simple pastoral or agricultural people. Accordingly we find it incidentally mentioned as a day of social gathering (1 Sam. 20:5), and as a day for religious instruction (2 Kings 4:23). From the latter passage, and from passages [cited above], it is evident that the feast of the New Moon became to the month exactly what the Sabbath was to the week—a day of rest and of worship. Pal. Com.

Lev. 23 15 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall there be complete: even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meal offering unto the LORD. Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth parts of an ephah: they shall be of fine flour, they shall be baken with leaven, for firstfruits unto the LORD. And ye shall present with the bread seven lambs without blemish of the first year, and one young bullock, and two rams: they shall be a burnt offering unto the LORD, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, even an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. And ye shall offer one he-goat for a sin offering, and two he-lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace offerings. And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits for a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs: they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. And ye shall make proclamation on the selfsame day; there shall be an holy convocation unto you: ye shall do no servile work: it is a statute for ever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

Nu. 28 26 Also in the day of the firstfruits, when ye offer a new meal offering unto the LORD in your feast of weeks, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: but ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; two young bullocks, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year, and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for each bullock, two tenth parts for the one ram, a several tenth part for

30 every lamb of the seven lambs; one he-goat, to make atonement for you. Beside the continual burnt offering, and the meal offering thereof, ye shall offer them (they shall be unto you without blemish), and their drink offerings.

De. 16 9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: from the time thou beginnest to put the sickle to the standing corn shalt thou begin to number seven weeks. And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the LORD thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give, according as the LORD thy God blesseth thee: and thou shalt rejoice before the LORD thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite that is within thy gates, and the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are in the midst of thee, in the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. And thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in Egypt: and thou shalt observe and do these statutes.

Nu. 29 1 And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing of trumpets unto you. And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the LORD; one young bullock, one ram, seven he-lambs of the first year without blemish: and their meal offering, fine flour mingled with oil, three tenth parts for the bullock, two tenth parts for the ram, and one tenth part for every lamb of the seven lambs: and one he-goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you: beside the burnt offering of the new moon, and the meal offering thereof, and the continual burnt offering and the meal offering thereof, and their drink offerings, according unto their ordinance, for a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Lev. 23 23 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall be a solemn rest unto you, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work: and ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

This feast was held at the distance of seven complete weeks, a week of weeks, from the second day of the Passover, when the first ripe barley sheaf was presented—therefore on the fiftieth day after the former. The males were then again to repair to the house of God. And from the Greek word for fifty being Pentecoste, the feast itself in the New Testament came to be designated Pentecost. But its Bible name is rather that of Weeks, being determined by the complete cycle of weeks that followed the waving of the barley sheaf at the time of the Passover. There are two other names applied to it in the Pentateuch. In Ex. 23:16 it is called “the Feast of Harvest,” because it was kept at the close of the whole harvest, wheat as well as barley—the intervening weeks between it and the Passover forming the season of harvest. And in the same passage, as again in Nu. 28:26, it is also called “the Feast of the First-fruits,” because it was the occasion on which the Israelites were to present to God the first-fruits of their crop, as now laid up for use. This was done by the high-priest waving two loaves in the name of the whole congregation. In later times the feast is understood to have been held for an entire week, like the Passover. But no time is specified in Scripture for its continuance, and as a holy solemnity it appears to have been limited to one day, when the same number and kind of offerings were presented as on each day of the Paschal Feast. But as the people were specially required at this feast to invite not only their servants but also the widow, the orphan, the stranger, and the Levite, to share with them in the goodness which the Lord had bestowed on them, it is obvious that a succession of days must have been required for its due celebration. P. F.

The day was one of “holy convocation”—in this respect resembling the first and last days of the feasts of Unleavened Bread and Tabernacles; and the distinguishing feature of its services was the presenting to the Almighty of two loaves of fine flour baked with leaven. These loaves were not laid upon the altar, but were waved before the Lord in token of dedication to his service, and were then given to the priests to eat. Like the first sheaf of barley, they were a national, and not an individual or a family offering. Two loaves only were offered, but for all the families of Israel considered as one whole. With these loaves were associated as a part of the same festal offering seven lambs without blemish of the first year, one young bullock, and two rams for a burnt-offering, with their appropriate meal and drink offerings, one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two lambs of the first year for a sacrifice of peace-offerings (Lev. 23:17-19). Other offerings also were presented. As in the case of the other great feasts, the feast of Pentecost was attended by innumerable crowds. Milligan.

Till the Pentecostal loaves were offered, the produce of the harvest might not be eaten, nor could any other first-fruits be offered. The whole ceremony was the completion of that dedication of the harvest to God as its giver, which was begun by the offering of the wave-sheaf at the Passover. The interval is still regarded as a religious season. P. S.—While the immediate design of this institution seems to have been that they might thankfully acknowledge the goodness of God in giving them the fruits of the earth, and implore his further blessing by offering to him the first-fruits of their harvest, it doubtless had a typical reference to the first-fruits of the Holy Spirit, and of converts to Christ after Peter’s preaching on the day of Pentecost. Jennings.—The period and perfection of this feast was the pouring out of the Spirit upon the apostles on the day of this feast (Acts 2:1), in which the law of faith was given, fifty days after Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. And on that day the apostles, having themselves received the first-fruits of the Spirit, begat three thousand souls through the word of truth, and presented them as the first-fruits of the Christian Church to God and the Lamb. H.

As a feast of joyful thanksgiving over the first-fruits of their principal grain harvest, it was eminently the appropriate occasion for the Pentecostal scene of the first great Christian ingathering. How suggestive of the gratitude due to God for the shedding forth of the Holy Ghost and the glorious fruitage from this Gospel power! H. C.—The Passover represents death; the wave-sheaf and the wave-loaves symbolize life. The Messiah is priest, king, and prophet. As priest he is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. As king, he is the wave-sheaf, the first-fruits from the dead. This has peculiar force when we remember that he rose on the first day of the week and the very day of the wave-sheaf being offered. As prophet, when the day of Pentecost was fully come he sent the promise of the Father, the Spirit of Truth and of utterance upon the disciples, the full harvest of their waiting and praying, the bread of eternal life for their hungering souls. In this brief period of seven times seven days there is a typical epitome of the history of salvation. M.

De. 16:10. To keep this feast they must bring an offering unto God. It is here called a tribute of a free-will offering. It was required of them as a tribute to their sovereign Lord and Owner, under whom they held all they had; and yet because it was left to every man’s generosity to bring what he chose, it is called a free-will offering. H.—What is given under pressure is not given: only that is given which cannot be kept back; only that is accepted which carries with it the blood of the heart. J. P.

Thou shalt give according as the Lord thy God blesseth thee. The goodness of God was conspicuous when in claiming what was his own he did not at all diminish the food of the people; afterward they received as from his hand whatever each individual had stored at home, just as though it had come out of his sanctuary. Paul’s statement, “For if the first-fruit be holy, the lump is also holy” (Rom. 11:16), alludes to this ancient ceremony of the Law. Moses signifies that the fruits of the earth cannot otherwise be eaten with a clear conscience, because they would not feel that God accepted them and looked upon them with paternal affection. The ceremony remains in force as regards its substance; for nothing but the acknowledgment of God’s bounty, which springs from faith and thanksgiving, sanctifies whatever we receive of his hand. Calv.—Receiving should prompt us to a proportionate giving. The gift to be brought to the temple is not specified. It might be a gift of corn, or of wine, or of money. The form of the gift was left to the option of the husbandman; but some tribute was required, and the amount must be proportionate to the abundance of his crops. If plain and imperative law could make the Jews generous-hearted, God did his utmost to cultivate in them this excellence. D. D.

De. 16:11. Thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God. This gives us the joyous aspect of religion. An ancient Jewish annotator has made a beautiful remark upon this verse, to the effect that “thy four, O Israel, and my four shall rejoice together.” Observe how the numbers are divided into fours, and how the one four may be said to be man’s and the second four may be said to be God’s. This is the distinction drawn by Rashi, the Jewish commentator: “Thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant”—let them rejoice; but my four must be there also: the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow; they represent the Divine name, and sit down in seats divinely claimed for them at the festive board. J. P.—They must rejoice before God. Holy joy is the heart and soul of thankful praises, which are as the language and expression of holy joy. They must rejoice in their receivings from God, and in their returns of service and sacrifice to him; our duty must be our delight as well as our enjoyment. H.—It was not intended that we should pass our religious festivals in retirement, shunning human converse. The Jews were bidden to “rejoice” in their feasts “before the Lord their God.” Christians are bidden to “rejoice in the Lord alway.” And a very ancient father, Tertullian, informs us that on a Sunday, for so he calls it, they gave way peculiarly to religious joy; as well they might, since he who “died for our sins then rose for our justification.” Secker.

A greater degree of relative importance seems to have been attached to this festival than appears to be designed by the Law. It was discovered that the date, fifty days after the Passover, coincided with the delivery of the Law from Mount Sinai, which was fifty days after the departure from Egypt, and consequently after the first Passover. Hence, by degrees, instead of resting on the ground on which Moses placed it, the festival was turned into a commemoration of that great event. Bush.