Numbers 28:11

Num 28:11 And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the LORD; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;

Ver. 11. And in the beginning of your months.] Thus they had their daily, weekly, monthly, yearly addresses unto God, that they might ever be in communion with him, and conformity unto him, by this continual intercourse. On the new moons they rested, {Amo 8:5} feasted, {1Sa 20:5} heard the word, &c.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 28:11. In the beginning of your months — The third stated sacrifice was monthly, to be offered on the first day of every month. This sacrifice to God is thought to have been ordained in opposition to the idolatry of the Gentiles, who were wont to worship the new moon with great rejoicings. Besides the celebration of the new moon by sacrifices, and sound of trumpet, (Num 10:10,) the Jews were wont upon those days to assemble for receiving instruction from their prophets, (2Ki 4:23,) and to feast together, 1Sa 20:5; 1Sa 20:18. And it was customary on those days to shut up their shops, and abstain from ordinary and servile labour, as is hinted Amo 8:5.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

LAW OF OFFERINGS AT THE NEW MOONS, Num_28:11-15.

11. Beginnings of… months — The months began with the new moon at the signal of the silver trumpet in the sanctuary. Num_10:10, note; 2Ch_2:4. Then Israel gathered to the prophets, or other teachers, to hear the word of God, (2Ki_4:23,) and kept a religious feast, abstaining from business. 1Sa_20:5-6; Amo_8:5. This was “a shadow of Christ.” Col_2:16-17. This accords with Isa_66:23. The Hebrews say, “As the beginning of the months are sanctified and renewed in this world, so shall Israel be sanctified and renewed in time to come.”

Two young bullocks — A more costly sacrifice than that on the sabbath. Leviticus iv, Concluding Note, (4.) It was an additional offering to the daily sacrifice. All the animals in this verse were for a burnt offering.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

28:11-15 The offering of the first day of each month—the New Moon—called for the sacrifice of bulls, rams, and lambs as burnt offerings, along with a male goat as a sin offering.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord--These were held as sacred festivals; and though not possessing the character of solemn feasts, they were distinguished by the blowing of trumpets over the sacrifices (Num 10:10), by the suspension of all labor except the domestic occupations of women (Amo 8:5), by the celebration of public worship (Kg2 4:23), and by social or family feasts (Sa1 20:5). These observations are not prescribed in the law though they obtained in the practice of a later time. The beginning of the month was known, not by astronomical calculations, but, according to Jewish writers, by the testimony of messengers appointed to watch the first visible appearance of the new moon; and then the fact was announced through the whole country by signal-fires kindled on the mountain tops. The new-moon festivals having been common among the heathen, it is probable that an important design of their institution in Israel was to give the minds of that people a better direction; and assuming this to have been one of the objects contemplated, it will account for one of the kids being offered unto the Lord (Num 28:15), not unto the moon, as the Egyptians and Syrians did. The Sabbath and the new moon are frequently mentioned together.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(11) In the beginnings of your months . . . —The beginning of the month was announced by the blowing of the silver trumpets (Num_10:10). Increased respect was paid to the beginning of the month in later times. Trade was suspended (Amo_8:5), and religious instruction appears to have been given at this time (2Ki_4:23).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord,.... On the first day of every month, when the new moon appeared; that this was religiously observed appears from the blowing of the trumpets over the sacrifices on this day, from attendance on the word of the Lord, by his prophets, on this day, and from abstinence from worldly business on it, Num 10:10.

two young bullocks, and one ram, seven rams of the first year without spot; this was the burnt offering, and a very large and costly one it was: more creatures were offered on this day than on a sabbath day; not that this was a more holy day than that, but this was but once a month, and therefore the expense might be the more easily bore, whereas that was every week.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The New-moon offering is here also commanded for the first time. The goat as a sin-offering, though mentioned last, would seem in fact to have been offered first (compare the precedents in Exo. 29; Lev. 5; 8; 9; 14; 16). The sin-offering, which Num 15:22-26 had been contemplated in cases where a sin had been committed ignorantly without the knowledge of the congregation, was henceforth not to be offered merely at discretion, as circumstances might seem to require, but to be regularly repeated, not less frequently than once a month.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Month. This is not reckoned among the festivals, Leviticus xxiii. The Rabbins look upon it as a day of devotion, particularly for women. (Buxtorf, Syn. xvii.) Spencer (Rit. iii. 1,) maintains, that the Hebrews began their month when the moon first appeared, and that they imitated the pagans in keeping that day holy. But his proofs on both heads are very unsatisfactory. The Hebrews followed the solar year for many ages after Moses, though they might have adopted the lunar towards the close of the republic; and the pagans themselves ridiculed those as vile imitators of the Jews, who kept the new moons as a festival. (Hor.[Horace,?] Sat. i. 9.) Sabbata Vin tu Curtis Judæis oppedere. --- The Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, Arabs, and Turks, have given in to various superstitious practices in honour of the moon. See Macrobius, Sat. i. 15, &c. (Calmet) --- The devil is commonly the ape of God, and teaches his votaries to adopt the ceremonies of the true religion, either to delude them more easily, or to bring those practices into discredit. Thus Middleton has endeavoured to shew the conformity of Pagan and Papal Rome, as if the ceremonies of the Catholic religion were to be rejected because some of them have been in use among the heathens. By the same argument he may ridicule the revelation of God himself, on this subject, and represent vestments, holy water, &c., as superstitious. He may pull down altars, condemn all forms of prayer, abolish all worship, both of soul and body. For such things have all been prostituted to idols! But those who are not totally infatuated by prejudice, will deplore the abuse of these things, and will not refrain from adoring the true God according to his will, with all the faculties both of their soul and body, on account of the devil and his false prophets having extorted similar acts of worship from their followers. It is no wonder that Protestants should ridicule our holy ceremonies, since they scruple not to assign so base an origin to those which God expressly prescribed. (Haydock) --- The sacrifices which were ordered to be offered up on the first day of the month, were probably designed to renew the memory of the world’s creation, or rather of the Divine providence, which regulates the seasons. Nothing was sold on this day, Amos viii. 5. But people went to hear the prophets, (4 Kings iv. 23,) and feasted among themselves, 1 Kings xx. 18. It is thought that many rested also from servile work, though this is no where commanded. (Calmet) --- Tirinus agrees with Tostat and Sanctius, in supposing that servile work was prohibited, for which he refers to 1 Kings xx. 19. He also asserts that the Jews observed the lunar system, and that their months consisted of 29 and 30 days alternately, as 29 days and a half elapse from one moon to another. The sound of trumpets probably announced this solemnity, chap. x. 10., and Leviticus xxiii. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

In the beginnings of your months, which though not reckoned among the solemn feasts, Le 23, yet were celebrated as such, by the sound of trumpets, Num 10:10, by extraordinary sacrifices, by abstinence from servile works, Amo 8:5, and by attendance upon the ministry of God’s word, 2Ki 4:23. And God ordained it thus, partly that by giving God the first-fruits of every month they should acknowledge him as the Lord of all their time, and own his providence, by which all times and seasons, and all the fruits and blessings of them, and actions done in them, are ordered; and partly that it might be a type of the future renovation of the world by Christ.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In the beginnings of your months. The new-moon offering also is here enjoined for the first time, the festival itself having only been incidentally mentioned in Num_10:10. There can be no doubt that this (unlike the sabbath) was a nature-festival, observed more or less by all nations. As such it did not require to be instituted, but only to be regulated and sanctified in order that it might not lend itself to idolatry, as it did among the heathen. (cf. Deu_4:19 Job_31:26, 27 Jer_7:18 Jer_8:2) 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, (1Sa_20:5) and as a day for religious instruction. (2Ki_4:23) From the latter passage, and from such passages as Isa_66:23 Eze_46:1 Amo_8:5, 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. (see also RAPC Jdt 8:6)

Vers. 11-15. The offering at the new moon.

Here the services rendered to man by God in nature are once again linked in with the duties of religion. As God required offerings in the morning and evening of every day, so on the day when the new moon fell there was an additional and largely increased offering. Why should such special notice be taken of this occasion?

I THE MOON IS OUR OWN SATELLITE AND PECULIAR SERVANT. It has evidently been given for our special benefit. The sun serves us with our share, as it does the other planets that circle round it, but the moon is peculiarly ours. When, therefore, it had passed through all its phases, it was well to mark the renewal of service by a special offering. If it be said that Israel was not aware of this nice distinction between the services of the sun and moon, the distinction is nevertheless real, was known then to God, and is known now to us. The commandments of God took into consideration not only what was known at the time of their announcement, but what would be further discovered in the progress of human inquiry. We can see a propriety in this ordinance of the monthly offering, as we think of the peculiar relation which the moon alone of all the heavenly bodies sustains to our earth.

II THE MOON IS AN EMBLEM OF APPARENT CHANGE AND YET REAL STEADFASTNESS. Thus it is an emblem of the way in which God"s dealings appear often to us. The Unchanging One looks like a changing one, and it takes all our faith to be sure of his faithfulness. We talk of the waxing and the waning moon, but we know that the moon itself remains the same, that the change of appearance arises from change of position, and depends on how it catches the light of the sun. When we do see it, we see the same face always turned towards us, and mysterious as its movements are to the ignorant and the savage, they are nevertheless so regular that all can be predicted beforehand. The moon therefore is a peculiar and suggestive emblem of constancy, if we look on it aright. Juliet, indeed, in her love-sick prattle says, O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon, That monthly changes in her circled orb.

But appearance is one thing and reality is another, and we are reminded of one who found a very different emblematic value in the moon when he said, "They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations." The faithfulness of God is the same, even when his face is hidden, and when his mercy, like the waning moon, seems to diminish before our very eyes. The mysterious hindrances, sorrows, and gloomy peculiarities of our present life would be largely cleared up, if we only knew as much of the wheels within wheels of God"s moral government, as we do of the wheels within wheels in the motions and relations of the heavenly bodies.

III THE CONNECTION OF THE MOON WITH THE MONTH IS ALSO TO BE BORNE IN MIND. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, are. after all, vague terms. We mark the changing phenomena of the year far more accurately by the months than by the longer seasons. We speak of blustering March, showery April, chill October, drear December, and may we not suppose that the Israelites had somewhat of the same way of thinking with regard to their months? each month with its own character and making its own contribution to the fullness of the year. Y. (Deu_17:3 Deu_33:14 1Sa_20:5 2Ki_4:23 Psa_81:1-4 Psa_89:37 Isa_30:26 Isa_60:20 Gal_4:10 Rev_22:2)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

At the beginnings of the month, i.e., at the new moons, a larger burnt-offering was to be added to the daily or continual burnt-offering, consisting of two bullocks (young oxen), one ram, and seven yearling lambs, with the corresponding meat and drink-offerings, as the "month's burnt-offering in its (i.e., every) month with regard to the months of the year," i.e., corresponding to them. To this there was also to be added a sin-offering of a shaggy goat (see at Lev 4:23). The custom of distinguishing the beginnings of the months of new moon's days by a peculiar festal sacrifice, without their being, strictly speaking, festal days, with sabbatical rest and a holy meeting,

(Note: In later times, however, the new moon grew more and more into a feast-day, trade was suspended (Amo 8:5), the pious Israelite sought instruction from the prophets (Kg2 4:23), many families and households presented yearly thank-offerings (Sa1 20:6, Sa1 20:29), and at a still later period the most devout abstained from fasting (Judith 8:6); consequently it is frequently referred to by the prophets as a feast resembling the Sabbath (Isa 1:13; Hos 2:13; Eze 46:1).)

arose from the relation in which the month stood to the single day. "If the congregation was to sanctify its life and labour to the Lord every day by a burnt-offering, it could not well be omitted at the commencement of the larger division of time formed by the month; on the contrary, it was only right that the commencement of a new month should be sanctified by a special sacrifice. Whilst, then, a burnt-offering, in which the idea of expiation was subordinate to that of consecrating surrender to the Lord, was sufficient for the single day; for the whole month it was necessary that, in consideration of the sins that had been committed in the course of the past month, and had remained without expiation, a special sin-offering should be offered for their expiation, in order that, upon the ground of the forgiveness and reconciliation with God which had been thereby obtained, the lives of the people might be sanctified afresh to the Lord in the burnt-offering. This significance of the new moon sacrifice was still further intensified by the fact, that during the presentation of the sacrifice the priests sounded the silver trumpets, in order that it might be to the congregation for a memorial before God (Num 10:10). The trumpet blast was intended to bring before God the prayers of the congregation embodied in the sacrifice, that God might remember them in mercy, granting them the forgiveness of their sins and power for sanctification, and quickening them again in the fellowship of His saving grace" (see my Archaeologie, i. p. 369).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

The Sacrifice of the New Moon

v. 11. And in the beginnings of your months, on the days of the new moon, ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord: two young bullocks and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;

v. 12. and three-tenth deals of flour for a meat-offering (between seven and one half and eight quarts), mingled with oil, for one bullock; and two-tenth deals of flour for a meat-offering, mingled with oil, for one ram;

v. 13. and a several tenth deal of flour, that is, so much for each animal, mingled with oil for a meat-offering unto one lamb; for a burnt offering of a sweet savor, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord. The amount of flour and oil was proportional to the size of the animal offered.

v. 14. And their drink-offerings shall be half an hin of wine (a hin being about a quart) unto a bullock, and the third part of an hin unto a ram, and a fourth part of an hin unto a lamb; this is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year.

v. 15. And one kid of the goats for a sin-offering unto the Lord shall be offered beside (in addition to) the continual burnt offering and his drink-offering. Cf Num 15:4-12.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

General Information:

Yahweh continues telling Moses what the people must do.

three-tenths of an ephah

"Three-tenths" means three parts out of ten equal parts. This can be written in modern measurements. AT: "six liters" or "three-tenths of an ephah (which is about six liters)" (See: Fractions and Biblical Volume)

mixed with oil

This can be stated in active form. AT: "which you have mixed with oil" (See: Active or Passive)

two-tenths of fine flour

The words "of an ephah" are understood and may stated clearly. "Two-tenths" means two parts out of ten equal parts. This can be written in modern measurements. AT: "four and a half liters of fine flour" or "two-tenths of an ephah (which is about 4.5 liters) of fine flour" (See: Ellipsis and Fractions and Biblical Volume)

a tenth of an ephah

"A tenth" means one part out of ten equal parts. This can be written in modern measurements. AT: "2 liters" or "a tenth of an ephah (which is about 2 liters)" (See: Fractions and Biblical Volume)

made by fire

This can be stated in active form. AT: "that you burned on the altar" (See: Active or Passive)

translationWords

month

burnt offering

Yahweh

cow

ewe

lamb

year

blemish

tenth

grain offering

oil

sacrifice

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.