God’s Word for You
Numbers 28:1-8 Twilight, beer, and love
by Pastor Timothy Smith on Friday, December 31, 2021
The Offerings
28 The LORD told Moses 2 to deliver this command to the Israelites:
The final chapters of Numbers foreshadow the modern concept of a book’s appendix. Following the question of Moses’ successor, the text adds about five parts outside the narrative of the account:
I, (28-30) A review of festivals and offerings
II, (31) The war against Midian and division of spoils
III, (32) The Transjordan tribes
IV, (33-35) Gazetteer of the journey and of Canaan
V, (36) Amendment to the decision about daughters
The Daily Offerings
Make sure that you present my offering at its appointed time. Present it as my food, an offering made by fire, with a pleasing aroma to me. 3 Say to them, “This is the offering made by fire that you shall present to the LORD each day: two one-year-old male lambs without defect as a regular burnt offering. 4 You are to offer one lamb in the morning, and you are to offer the other lamb at twilight, 5 along with two quarts of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with one quart of oil from beaten olives.”
The Lord reminds the people that when they enter the Promised Land, the sacrifices must continue at the tabernacle. For the first time, the nation would be separated into their tribal lands, but the one central location for the shrine must not be duplicated. The offering in the morning and evening was to be made in the same way it had been made out here in the wilderness: a lamb in the morning and another in the evening. There were additional offerings that had to accompany a burnt offering (the morning and evening sacrifices were burnt offerings to show dedication to the Lord), and these were grain offerings: flour (with oil) and a drink offering (described below in verse 7).
The “twilight” of the afternoon was simply before the sun began to set. In practice, Jewish sources indicate that the offering was usually made around 3:00 or 4:00 pm, not at dusk as we might think today.
This summary passage doesn’t mention the blood of the lamb, but focuses our attention on the smell, “a pleasing aroma.” It pleased God not because it set his taste buds salivating, but because it showed the continuous dedication and faith of his people. Yet the blood was shed, and the shedding of blood (that is, the killing of the living thing) was done because of the sin of man. Except for this sacrifice and the national sacrifice on the Day of Atonement, offerings like this one were done by the worshipers themselves, not the priests. I would have to grasp the lamb or ram’s head, a head I had only patted before this, and hold it while I cut the animal’s throat quickly. The assisting priest would catch the blood in a pan as the little thing collapsed to the ground, first kneeling and then lying down, panting its final breaths. Its death should have been my death. Its blood would be poured out or spattered against the altar in place of my blood. My offenses, my sins, my selfish and bad choices brought this about. But as I think about the Ten Commandments and my complete inability to please Almighty God, his love shows itself in the very idea of the substitution of the lamb: a life in place of my own. This was the promise of the Great Substitute, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world, and who taught us to pray: “Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”
6 It is the regular burnt offering put into effect at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma, an offering made by fire to the LORD. 7 The drink offering with it is to be one quart for one lamb. You are to pour out the drink offering of beer to the LORD at the sanctuary. 8 You are to prepare the other lamb at twilight. You are to prepare it along with the same kind of grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, an offering made by fire, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
The precise amount of the drink offering with every morning and evening sacrifice is specified: one quart (Hebrew, hin). This is also the amount of olive oil poured on top of the grain offering in verse 5. Notice the Evangelical Heritage Version’s reading of “beer” rather than the NIV’s “fermented drink.” Apart from wine, beer was the only fermented drink in the Middle East in ancient times. The only alternate, mead, has no mention in the Bible although it may have been known in Egypt and India (sake, or rice wine, did not appear about 300 BC). Ancient beer was widely known and used. Beer and wine were essential for public health where water was brackish or contaminated. Travelers to this day struggle with health issues over local water supplies.
Daily dedication to God and the fellowship of all God’s people based on their shared belief and doctrine is what the morning and evening sacrifices were all about. David asked that his prayer would be “like the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2): that his prayer would always be faithful, always be regular, and always be acceptable to God. Our prayers are not prescribed or commanded for any particular time, but having this kind of freedom does not mean we should neglect them. It is a good thing to pray each day as we thank God before every meal, before and after long trips, for recovery from illness, for changes in life, and each evening as we prepare for sleep. I have the habit even of praying as I feed the pets, not as if they have souls, but because they are creatures beloved by God, a part of the creation that was subjected to frustration, bondage, and decay “not by its own choice” (Romans 8:20), and because every animal belongs to the Lord (Psalm 50:9). The sacrifices came to an end when Christ’s one sacrifice fulfilled the requirements of the whole law (Hebrews 9:26), and so our devotion is always expressed in thanks, in love for God’s creation, in love for one another, and in love for Jesus our Savior.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. To receive God’s Word for You via e-mail, please visit the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church website.