Two Lambs, Every Day, Forever
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘See that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, as a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season.’ 3 You shall tell them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to Yahweh: male lambs a year old without defect, two day by day, for a continual burnt offering. 4 You shall offer the one lamb in the morning, and you shall offer the other lamb at evening, 5 with one tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering, mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a continual burnt offering which was ordained in Mount Sinai for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 7 Its drink offering shall be the fourth part of a hin for each lamb. You shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to Yahweh in the holy place. 8 The other lamb you shall offer at evening. As the meal offering of the morning, and as its drink offering, you shall offer it, an offering made by fire, for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh. 9 “‘On the Sabbath day, you shall offer two male lambs a year old without defect, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, and its drink offering: 10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. 11 “‘In the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect, 12 and three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, for each bull; and two tenth parts of fine flour for a meal offering mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and one tenth part of fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering to every lamb, as a burnt offering of a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 14 Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, the third part of a hin for the ram, and the fourth part of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year. 15 Also, one male goat for a sin offering to Yahweh shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. 16 “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is Yahweh’s Passover. 17 On the fifteenth day of this month shall be a feast. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. 18 In the first day shall be a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work, 19 but you shall offer an offering made by fire, a burnt offering to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. They shall be without defect, 20 with their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil. You shall offer three tenths for a bull, and two tenths for the ram. 21 You shall offer one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs; 22 and one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these in addition to the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a continual burnt offering. 24 In this way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of the offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh. It shall be offered in addition to the continual burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 On the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. 26 “‘Also in the day of the first fruits, when you offer a new meal offering to Yahweh in your feast of weeks, you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work; 27 but you shall offer a burnt offering for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old; 28 and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths for each bull, two tenths for the one ram, 29 one tenth for every lamb of the seven lambs; 30 and one male goat, to make atonement for you. 31 Besides the continual burnt offering and its meal offering, you shall offer them and their drink offerings. See that they are without defect.
The whole calendar is built outward from two lambs a day, and everything else is added on top of a rhythm that never stops.
The calendar is given to the new generation, and it is built from the smallest unit up.
First the daily: male lambs a year old without defect, two day by day, for a continual burnt offering — one in the morning, one at evening Numbers 28:3–4.
That is the foundation, and the word for it is continual. Seven hundred and thirty lambs a year, every year, with no occasion attached and nothing to commemorate. It is not a response to anything; it simply does not stop.
And it is dated back: which was ordained in Mount Sinai Numbers 28:6. The arrangement being restated to the children is the one given to their parents.
Then the Sabbath doubles it — two more lambs Numbers 28:9 — and the text is careful to say the weekly offering is in addition to the continual burnt offering Numbers 28:10. The monthly offering is likewise in addition Numbers 28:15, and so is every festival in the chapter.
The structure is cumulative rather than substitutional. Nothing ever replaces the daily lambs; the feasts are laid on top of them, and the phrase in addition to recurs through both chapters like a refrain.
What that produces is a picture of Israel's worship as a rhythm with peaks rather than a series of events. Most days there is nothing to celebrate and the lambs are offered anyway, morning and evening, whether anyone feels like it or not.
The reason given is stated once, at the head of the chapter, and it is unlike anything in the surrounding legislation: see that you present my offering, my food for my offerings made by fire, as a pleasant aroma to me, in their due season Numbers 28:2.
My food is a startling phrase, and Scripture elsewhere forbids the inference a pagan reader would draw — if I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it Psalms 50:12. What the expression conveys is regularity and welcome rather than need: something is set before him at fixed hours, as a household sets a table.
The festivals follow in order — Passover, unleavened bread, the day of firstfruits Numbers 28:16–26 — with the quantities specified for each. This is the administrative companion to the calendar of Leviticus 23, which gave the dates and the meaning; here are the invoices.
settled What this mark means