Table of Contents

Numbers 29

Numbers 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 the trumpets unto you.

2 And ye shall offer a burnt offering for a sweet savour unto the Lord; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year without blemish:

3 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals for a bullock, and two tenth deals for a ram,

4 And one tenth deal 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 Beside 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 savour, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord.

7 And ye shall have on the tenth day of this seventh month an holy convocation; and ye shall afflict your souls: ye shall not do any work therein:

8 But ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord for a sweet savour; one young bullock, one ram, and seven lambs of the first year; they shall be unto you without blemish:

9 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals to a bullock, and two tenth deals to one ram,

10 A several tenth deal for one lamb, throughout the seven lambs:

11 One kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside 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 an holy convocation; ye shall do no servile work, and ye shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days:

13 And ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord; thirteen young bullocks, two rams, and fourteen lambs of the first year; they shall be without blemish:

14 And their meat offering shall be of flour mingled with oil, three tenth deals unto every bullock of the thirteen bullocks, two tenth deals to each ram of the two rams,

15 And a several tenth deal to each lamb of the fourteen lambs:

16 And one kid of the goats for a sin offering; beside 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:

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; beside 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;

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; beside 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:

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; beside 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:

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; beside 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:

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; beside 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:

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; beside 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:

36 But ye shall offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord: one bullock, one ram, seven lambs of the first year without blemish:

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; beside 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, beside 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.

Notes

Cross Reference

Commentary

Rashi

Verse 6

h.מלבד עלת החדש BESIDES THE BURNT OFFERING OF THE NEW MOON — besides the additional offerings of the New Moon which is on the New Year Festival (the New Moon of the seventh month).

Verse 11

h.מלבד חטאת הכפורים BESIDES THE SIN OFFERING OF EXPIATION — i.e. the goat whose rite was performed within the Holy of Holies, which is mentioned in the Sedrah אחרי מות — for it, too, was a חטאת, a sin offering, (Leviticus 16:9).

h.ועלת התמיד AND THE CONTINUAL BURNT OFFERING — This means: and besides the continual burnt offering, ye shall offer these burnt offerings mentioned in v. 8.

h.ונסכיהם AND THEIR DRINK OFFERINGS — This word refers to the additional offerings which have been written about (v. 8) and to the word תעשו (which Rashi has supplied). It expresses a command: [besides the sin offering of expiation and] besides the continual burnt offering [and its drink offering] ye shall offer these (mentioned in v. 8) and their drink-offerings. Similar, too, is the meaning every time the expression נסכיהם is mentioned in connection with the offerings of the Festivals (that it alludes to the drink-offerings brought with the additional sacrifices of that Festival), except when used of those of the Feast of Tabernacles, (vv. 17—38) where all such expressions, — ונסכה and ונסכיהם and ונסכיה — which occur in the paragraph about them refer to the תמיד (cf. e.g., v. 15: עלת התמיד מנחתה ונסכה). Nor do they there express a command, for, indeed, the drink offerings that accompany the additional offerings are written down separately for each day (i.e., are specifically commanded for each day, cf. e. g., v. 18: ומנחתם).

Verse 18

h.ומנחתם ונסכיהם לפרים AND THEIR MEAL OFFERING AND THEIR DRINK OFFERINGS FOR THE BULLOCKS — The bullocks offered on the Feast of Tabernacles are seventy in all, in allusion to the seventy nations of the world, and they gradually decrease in number each day, an omen to them of gradual annihilation, but during the period when the Temple existed and these sacrifices were offered they protected them against this misfortune (cf. Sukkah 55b).

h.ולכבשים AND FOR THE LAMBS — in allusion to the Israelites who are called ( 50:17) “scattered lambs”. — They (the lambs) are of fixed number each day (a symbol that the Israelites are fixed, imperishable), and their total is ninety-eight, serving to avert from them the ninety-eight curses which are set forth in Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 28:15 ff.) — In the paragraph dealing with the second day of the Festival, it is said, (v. 19) ונסכיהם, and this is in reference to the two daily continual offerings (while the usual term is ונסכה corresponding to ומנחתה that precedes it), and it sometimes uses a modification of the terms usually employed in those paragraphs only in order that some teaching may be deduced from it, as our Rabbis, may their memory be for a blessing, said: in the case of the second day we have ונסכיהם, of the sixth ונסכיה, of the seventh כמשפטם (instead of the usual כמשפטה): the additional letters are מ and י and מ — so you have here מים, “water”, — a suggestion that the libation of water on Tabernacles is of Biblical origin (מן התורה) (Sifrei Bamidbar 150; Shabbat 103b).

Verse 35

h.עצרת תהיה לכם ON THE EIGHTH DAY THERE SHALL BE A עצרת (RESTRICTION) FOR YOU — you are restricted in the doing of work. Another explanation of עצרת: Restrict yourselves from leaving Jerusalem: this teaches that this (the eighth day) requires that they should remain in Jerusalem overnight (that the pilgrims should not immediately at the termination of the seventh day begin their homeward journey) (Sifrei Bamidbar 151:1). And an explanation of it in the Agada is: because on all the seven days of the Festival they offered sacrifices corresponding in number to the seventy nations of the world, and they propose then to set forth on their way home, the Omnipresent says to them: ‘I beg of you make a small banquet for Me, so that I may have some pleasure from you exclusively” (Sukkah 55b).

Verse 36

h.פר אחד איל אחד ONE BULLOCK, ONE RAM — these are an allusion to Israel who form one nation: “Stay with me a little longer”. And this conveys the idea of God’s affection for Israel — just like children who think to take leave of their father to whom he says, “Parting from you is very hard to me; stay one day more”. — A parable! It may be compared to the case of a king who made a banquet etc., as it is related in Treatise Sukkah 55b. And in the Midrash of R. Tanchuma 4:8:17 it states: The Torah teaches you a rule of conduct — that he who has a stranger staying with him should give him on the first day fattened poultry to eat, on the morrow he should give him fish to eat, on the next day animal flesh; on the following day he should give him pulse to eat, and on the next day vegetables, diminishing gradually, just as was the case with the bullocks on the Feast of Tabernacles.

Verse 39

h.אלה תעשו לה׳ במועדיכם THESE YE SHALL OFFER TO THE LORD ON YOUR APPOINTED FESTIVALS — as something that is laid down as a duty,

h.לבד מנדריכם BESIDES YOUR VOWS [AND YOUR FREEWILL OFFERINGS] — If on the Festival you wish to make a vow to bring a sacrifice, you have a duty ready at hand to your credit and you should bring it on that Festival; or in the case of vow-offerings and freewill offerings which you have vowed all the year, bring them on the Festival. — Perhaps it will be difficult for one to go up again to Jerusalem to bring his vow-offerings, and consequently he will transgress the command, (Deuteronomy 23:22) “Thou shalt not delay to pay it (thy vow)”.