Numbers (29-30)
“And now, behold, I go unto my people. Come therefore, and I will warn thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days,” Numbers 24:14;
— these Words “in the latter days,” especially in regards to the house of Jacob, are prophecies for our times!
Numbers 29
1 “‘And in the seventh month, on the first day of the month, ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work: it is a day of blowing the trumpets unto you. — the ordinance of the Feast of Trumpets was to be observed on the opening day of that month within which the Day of the Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles fell, Leviticus 23:23;
— the sixth national sacrifice, which is also annual, is to be performed on the festival of trumpets, upon the first day of the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, the month of Tishri, being the first month of the civil year, answering to our September or October;
— it is to be kept in the manner of a sabbath, with great rejoicings, solemn worship, and abstinence from all common labour, in order to usher in the new year.
2 And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savor unto the Lord: one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish. — seven lambs; the additional sacrifices for the feast day consisted of one bullock, one ram, and seven lambs: seven lambs could symbolise seven eras of God’s Church of Revelation 2 and 3;
3 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: three tenths part for a bullock, and two tenths part for a ram,
4 and one tenth part for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs;
5 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering, to make an atonement for you,
6 besides the burnt offering of the month and his meat offering, and the daily burnt offering, and his meat offering, and their drink offerings, according unto their manner, for a sweet savor, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord.
7 “‘And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month a holy convocation. And ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein. — on the tenth day of the seventh month, the month Tisri, as before; an holy convocation; the day of atonement, and ye shall afflict your souls; or persons; their bodies by fasting, and their souls by repentance and humiliation;
8 But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord for a sweet savor: one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish. — again, seven lambs; the additional sacrifices consisted of oneyoung bullock, one ram, and seven lambs: seven lambs could symbolise seven eras of God’s Church of Revelation 2 and 3;
9 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: three tenths part to a bullock, and two tenths part to one ram,
10 a separate tenth part for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs;
11 one kid of the goats for a sin offering, besides the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering of it, and their drink offerings.
12 “‘And on the fifteenth day of the seventh month ye shall have a holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days. — the feast of Tabernacles; which began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month; and was to last seven days,
13 And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord: thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish.
— thirteen young bullocks for feast of Tabernacle; thus they continued to be offered seven days successively, with the decrease only of one bullock every day, till on the seventh day only seven bullocks were offered, which in all made seventy bullocks;
— and fourteen lambs; which is double that of the Feast of Pentecost (Numbers 28:27), Trumpet (Numbers 29:2); and Atonement (Numbers 29:8): all seven lambs; but Tabernacle (Numbers 29:13) fourteen lambs; further back: First Day of Unleavened Bread, seven lambs (Numbers 28:19), Last Day of Unleavened Bread (Numbers 28:24 seven lamb each day, implied, not stated explicitely)
14 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil: threetenths part unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenths part to each ram of the two rams,
15 and a separate tenth part to each lamb of the fourteen lambs; — thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year, they shall be without blemish;
— a very large sacrifice indeed, for these were offered besides one kid of the goats, for a sin offering, and the two lambs of the daily sacrifice, which were not omitted on account of this extraordinary offering; so that there were no less than thirty two animals sacrificed on this day;
16 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
17 “‘And on the second day ye shall offer twelve young bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without spot. — on the second day, twelve bullocks;
18 And their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner;
19 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and the meat offering thereof, and their drink offerings.
20 “‘And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish, — on the third day, eleven bullocks;
21 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner;
22 and one goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
23 “‘And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish. — on the fourth day, ten bullocks;
24 Their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner;
25 and one kid of the goats for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
26 “‘And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without spot; — on the fifth day, nine bullocks;
27 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner;
28 and one goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
29 “‘And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish; — on the sixth day, eight bullocks;
30 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner;
31 and one goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
32 “‘And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year without blemish; — on the seventh day, seven bullocks; so for seven days, totalling 70 bullocks, symboling seventy nations worldwide;
— and whilst the number of rams and lambs was double the number offered at the Passover and feast of Pentecost, the number of oxen was fivefold; for, instead of fourteen, there were seventy offered during the seven days.
— this multiplication of the oxen was distributed in such a way, that instead of there being ten offered every day, there were thirteen on the first day, twelve on the second, and so on, deducting one every day, so that on the seventh day there were exactly seven offered;
— the arrangement being probably made for the purpose of securing the holy number seven for this last day, and indicating at the same time, through the gradual diminution in the number of sacrificial oxen, the gradual decrease in the festal character of the seven festal days; but why?
— but on the Last Day, which is also called the Great Day, same fourteen lambs for each of the previous day of Tabernacles (Numbers 29:13);
33 and their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullocks, for the rams and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner;
34 and one goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, his meat offering, and his drink offering.
35 “‘On the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly. Ye shall do no servile work therein; — on the eighth day ye shall have a solemn assembly; the feast of tabernacles was brought to a close on the seventh day, but now is the eighth day, or Last Day, which is called the Great Day (John 7:37).
36 but ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish; — only one bullock and seven lambs (but fourteen lambs during the Feast of Tabernacles);
37 their meat offering and their drink offerings for the bullock, for the ram and for the lambs, shall be according to their number, after the manner;
38 and one goat for a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, and his meat offering, and his drink offering.
39 “‘These things ye shall do unto the Lord in your set feasts, besides your vows and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your meat offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.’”
40 And Moses told the children of Israel according to all that the Lord commanded Moses. — according to all that the Lord commanded Moses; being a faithful servant to the Lord in all his house, and in all things appertaining to it.
Numbers 30
1 And Moses spoke unto the heads of the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, “This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded: — saying, this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded; relating to vows.
2 If a man vow a vow unto the Lord, or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth.
— if a man vow a vow, concerning something lawful, and in his power to perform. Unto the Lord; to the honour and service of God. Or swear an oath; confirm his vow by an oath. To bind his soul with a bond; to restrain himself from something otherwise lawful;
3 “If a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord, and bind herself by a bond, being in her father’s house in her youth, — if a woman also vow a vow unto the Lord; who has not passed thirteen years, as the Targum of Jonathan says;
4 and her father hear her vow and her bond wherewith she hath bound her soul, and her father shall hold his peace with her, then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand. — and her father shall hold his peace; his silence being an interpretative consent, and much more if he declares his approval of her vow.
5 But if her father disallow her in the day that he heareth, not any of her vows or of her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul shall stand; and the Lord shall forgive her, because her father disallowed her. — shall forgive her; or, will forgive either her rashness of making such vows,
— or rather her not performing the vow; but this is to be understood only of such vows which could not be performed without invading the father’s or superior’s right;
6 And if she had a husband, when she vowed or uttered aught out of her lips wherewith she bound her soul, — or uttered ought out of her lips, wherewith she bound her soul; uttered anything, either with or without premeditation, either with thought and deliberation, or rashly and imprudently, as the word signifies, yet in such a manner that it was binding upon her;
7 and her husband heard it and held his peace with her in the day that he heard it, then her vows shall stand, and her bonds wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. — and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her in the day that he heard it; the vow she made, and by his silence consented to it;
8 But if her husband disallowed her on the day that he heard it, then he shall make her vow which she vowed, and that which she uttered with her lips wherewith she bound her soul, of no effect; and the Lord shall forgive her. — and the Lord shall forgive her; excuse her performance of the vow, and not impute sin to her on that account, nor punish for the breach of it, she being under the cover of her husband, and obliged to submit to his will.
9 But every vow of a widow and of her that is divorced, wherewith they have bound their souls, shall stand against her. — the vows wherewith they have bound her soul shall stand against her; of a widow from marriage, against either of them, they having none over them to disapprove of, contradict, and make void their vows.
10 And if she vowed in her husband’s house, or bound her soul by a bond with an oath, — in her husband’s house; which is here granted, in case her husband then disallowed it, but denied, in case by silence or otherwise he consented to it;
11 and her husband heard it and held his peace with her and disallowed her not, then all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she bound her soul shall stand. — and her husband heard it, and held his peace at her, and disallowed her not; heard her make her vow, and bind it with an oath, and was silent at it, which was consenting to it, and did not contradict her, nor show any displeasure or resentment at her on account of it;
12 But if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them, then whatsoever proceeded out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning the bond of her soul, shall not stand. Her husband hath made them void, and the Lord shall forgive her. — but if her husband hath utterly made them void on the day he heard them; declaring they were contrary to his mind and will, he disapproved of them, and forbid the carrying them into execution;
13 Every vow and every binding oath to afflict the soul, her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void. — her husband may establish it, or her husband may make it void, just as he pleased; and this power an husband had, to prevent confusion and trouble in family affairs;
14 But if her husband altogether hold his peace with her from day to day, then he establisheth all her vows or all her bonds which are upon her; he confirmeth them, because he held his peace with her in the day that he heard them. — he confirmeth them, because he held his peace at her, in the day that he heard them; for not to contradict them was to confirm them.
15 But if he shall any way make them void after he hath heard them, then he shall bear her iniquity.” — then he shall bear his iniquity: be accountable for the breach of her vow, her sin shall be reckoned to him, and he shall bear her punishment, because he ought to have declared is disapproval sooner;
16 These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses, between a man and his wife, and between the father and his daughter, being yet in her youth in her father’s house. — these are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses between a man and his wife; relating to vows made by the wife, and confirmed or disannulled by the husband.
Japheth
The Mystery of Esau and Ephraim 