3/29/11
Numbers 28-20
Daily Offerings (Ex 29.38—46)
Numbers 28:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2 Command the Israelites, and say to them: My offering, the food for my offerings by fire, my pleasing odor, you shall take care to offer to me at its appointed time. 3 And you shall say to them, This is the offering by fire that you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs a year old without blemish, daily, as a regular offering. 4 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 5 also one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour for a grain offering, mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering, ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord. 7 Its drink offering shall be one-fourth of a hin for each lamb; in the sanctuary you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the Lord. 8 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight with a grain offering and a drink offering like the one in the morning; you shall offer it as an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord.
Sabbath Offerings
9 On the sabbath day: two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering— 10 this is the burnt offering for every sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
Monthly Offerings
11 At the beginnings of your months you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 12 also three-tenths of an ephah of choice flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull; and two-tenths of choice flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and one-tenth of choice flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for every lamb—a burnt offering of pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord. 14 Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, one-third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of every month throughout the months of the year. 15 And there shall be one male goat for a sin offering to the Lord; it shall be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
This year, 2011, Passover starts on Tuesday, the 19th of April and will continue for seven days. According to the Jewish calander, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day. Observing Jews will celebrate Passover on the sunset of Monday, the 18th of April.Offerings at Passover (Lev 23.5—14)
16 On the fourteenth day of the first month there shall be a passover offering to the Lord. 17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is a festival; seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not work at your occupations. 19 You shall offer an offering by fire, a burnt offering to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish. 20 Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil: three-tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two-tenths for a ram; 21 one-tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs; 22 also 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 belongs to the regular burnt offering. 24 In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord; it shall be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations.
Offerings at the Festival of Weeks (Lev 23.15—22)
26 On the day of the first fruits, when you offer a grain offering of new grain to the Lord at your festival of weeks, you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. 27 You shall offer a burnt offering, a pleasing odor to the Lord: two young bulls, one ram, seven male lambs a year old. 28 Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each bull, two-tenths for one ram, 29 one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 30 with one male goat, to make atonement for you. 31 In addition to the regular burnt offering with its grain offering, you shall offer them and their drink offering. They shall be without blemish.
Offerings at the Festival of Trumpets (Lev 23.23—25)
Numbers 29:1 On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. It is a day for you to blow the trumpets, 2 and you shall offer a burnt offering, a pleasing odor to the Lord: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish. 3 Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of one ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 5 with one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 6 These are in addition to the burnt offering of the new moon and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to the ordinance for them, a pleasing odor, an offering by fire to the Lord.
Offerings on the Day of Atonement (Lev 23.26—32)
7 On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation, and deny yourselves; you shall do no work. 8 You shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord, a pleasing odor: one young bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish. 9 Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 10 one-tenth for each of the seven lambs; 11 with one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
Offerings at the Festival of Booths (Lev 23.33—44)
12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. You shall celebrate a festival to the Lord seven days. 13 You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish. 14 Their grain offering shall be of choice flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams, 15 and one-tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; 16 also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.
17 On the second day: twelve young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 18 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; 19 also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
20 On the third day: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 21 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; 22 also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.
23 On the fourth day: ten bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 24 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; 25 also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.
26 On the fifth day: nine bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 27 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; 28 also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.
29 On the sixth day: eight bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 30 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; 31 also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offerings.
32 On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without blemish, 33 with the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; 34 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
35 On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly; you shall not work at your occupations. 36 You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing odor to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish, 37 and the grain offering and the drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, as prescribed in accordance with their number; 38 also one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering and its drink offering.
39 These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed festivals, in addition to your votive offerings and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your drink offerings, and your offerings of well-being.
40 So Moses told the Israelites everything just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Vows Made by Women
Numbers 30:1 Then Moses said to the heads of the tribes of the Israelites: This is what the Lord has commanded. 2 When a man makes a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.
3 When a woman makes a vow to the Lord, or binds herself by a pledge, while within her father’s house, in her youth, 4 and her father hears of her vow or her pledge by which she has bound herself, and says nothing to her; then all her vows shall stand, and any pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. 5 But if her father expresses disapproval to her at the time that he hears of it, no vow of hers, and no pledge by which she has bound herself, shall stand; and the Lord will forgive her, because her father had expressed to her his disapproval.
6 If she marries, while obligated by her vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her at the time that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. 8 But if, at the time that her husband hears of it, he expresses disapproval to her, then he shall nullify the vow by which she was obligated, or the thoughtless utterance of her lips, by which she bound herself; and the Lord will forgive her. 9 (But every vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, by which she has bound herself, shall be binding upon her.) 10 And if she made a vow in her husband’s house, or bound herself by a pledge with an oath, 11 and her husband heard it and said nothing to her, and did not express disapproval to her, then all her vows shall stand, and any pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. 12 But if her husband nullifies them at the time that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows, or concerning her pledge of herself, shall not stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the Lord will forgive her. 13 Any vow or any binding oath to deny herself, her husband may allow to stand, or her husband may nullify. 14 But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he validates all her vows, or all her pledges, by which she is obligated; he has validated them, because he said nothing to her at the time that he heard of them. 15 But if he nullifies them some time after he has heard of them, then he shall bear her guilt.
16 These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses concerning a husband and his wife, and a father and his daughter while she is still young and in her father’s house.
Devotionals, Videos and more ...
by Bill Federer
Tenth President John Tyler was born this day in March 29, 1790. He was the first Vice-President ever to assume the Presidency when William Henry Harrison died after only one month in office. To mourn his death, President John Tyler’s first act in office was to proclaim a National Day of Fasting and Prayer, in which he stated: “When a Christian people feel themselves to be overtaken by a great public calamity, it becomes them to humble themselves under the dispensation of Divine Providence, to recognize His righteous government over the children of men… and to supplicate His merciful protection for the future.”
Federer, B. (2003). American minute. St. Louis, MO.: Amerisearch, Inc.
by D.H. Stern
A wicked man puts on a bold face,
whereas the upright prepares his ways.
No wisdom, discernment or counsel
succeeds against ADONAI.
A horse may be prepared for the day of battle,
but victory comes from ADONAI.
Stern, D. H. (1998). Complete Jewish Bible-OE
: An English version of the Tanakh (OT) and
B'rit Hadashah (NT) (1st ed.). Clarksville, Md.: Jewish
New Testament Publications.
by Oswald Chambers
Our Lord’s surprise visits
Be ye therefore ready also. --- Luke 12:40. Chambers, O. (1993). My Utmost for His Highest
The great need for the Christian worker is to be ready to face Jesus Christ at any and every turn. This is not easy, no matter what our experience is. The battle is not against sin or difficulties or circumstances, but against being so absorbed in work that we are not ready to face Jesus Christ at every turn. That is the one great need, not facing our belief, or our creed, or the question whether we are of any use, but to face Him.
Jesus rarely comes where we expect Him; He appears where we least expect Him, and always in the most illogical connections. The only way a worker can keep true to God is by being ready for the Lord’s surprise visits. It is not service that matters, but intense spiritual reality, expecting Jesus Christ at every turn. This will give our life the attitude of child-wonder which He wants it to have. If we are going to be ready for Jesus Christ, we have to stop being religious (that is, using religion as a higher kind of culture) and be spiritually real.
If you are looking off unto Jesus, avoiding the call of the religious age you live in, and setting your heart on what He wants, on thinking on His line, you will be called unpractical and dreamy; but when He appears in the burden and the heat of the day, you will be the only one who is ready. Trust no one, not even the finest saint who ever walked this earth, ignore him, if he hinders your sight of Jesus Christ.
the Poetry of R.S. Thomas
He and She
When he came in, she was there.
When she looked at him,
he smiled. There were lights
in time's wave breaking
on an eternal shore.
Seated at table -
no need for the fracture
of the room's silence; noiselessly
they conversed. Thoughts mingling
were lit up, gold
particles in the mind's stream.
Were there currents between them?
Why, when he thought darkly,
would the nerves play
at her lips' brim? What was the heart's depth?
There were fathoms in her,
too, and sometimes he crossed
them and landed and was not repulsed.
Thomas, R. S.
in 2011
Yoma 28b
The football team has had a terrible first half. They are down by three touchdowns. The coach is embarrassed, and he is angry. The players have made many mistakes, and they are not playing on the level or in the way that he has taught them. The critical moment of the game may be right now, as he prepares to speak to them and tries to get them ready for the second half.
“That was really terrible … Our game so far has been a disgrace!” He then proceeds to review the botched plays and mistakes that the players have made. But then he is at a fork in the road, and he can go in two very different directions:
“I’m ashamed of you! You played like a bunch of old ladies. I don’t know who you are any more! I’m embarrassed to say I’m your coach! If that was the best you could do, you might as well get dressed and go home right now! All right, let’s go out there and make sure you don’t humiliate yourselves like that again!”
Or he could end like this: “I know you guys. You can do much better. You have done much better, time and time again. Remember the upset we pulled off last month? You all made me so proud. Well, if you’ve done it before, I know you can do it again. Let’s reach down and find the guts and the determination to win this thing. You guys are the best! Show me!! Let’s go out and do it!!”
Too often, when we are angered, troubled, or disappointed by someone’s performance, we either say nothing, afraid to hurt their feelings and precipitate an angry confrontation, or we “unload” on them, critically telling them of their failings. Unfortunately, neither approach is very helpful or constructive.
The Rabbis hint at the perfect middle road: Begin with “disgrace,” with the negative, but conclude with praise, with the positive. Ignoring a problem does not mean that it will go away. We need honestly to confront the difficult issues that exist. But we must also leave the person with his or her dignity intact, motivated to go on, improve and do better. The last words we say are what a person is left with; it is from those last words that they begin to grow and rebuild.
Reading our history, we learn that our people were once slaves and idol worshipers. Yet they were able to rise above that past and become, in the words of the Torah, “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6). Perhaps that is due, in part, to the way God spoke to us, always leaving us with a message of what we could aspire to do and to become.
The diligent do the mitzvot as early as possible.
Text / Rav Safra said: “The prayer of Abraham [is recited] from the time that the walls turn dark.” Rav Yosef said: “Do we learn from and decide according to Abraham?” Rava said: “A tanna learned from Abraham, shouldn’t we as well? As it is taught ‘On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised’ [Leviticus 12:3]. This teaches that the entire day is proper for circumcision, but the diligent do the mitzvot as early as possible, as it says: ‘So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass’ [Genesis 22:3].”
Context / It was taught in accordance with Rabbi Yosé son of Rabbi Ḥanina: Abraham instituted the morning service, as it says: “Next morning, Abraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the Lord” [Genesis 19:27]. And “stood” can mean only in prayer, as it says “Phinehas stood and prayed” [Psalms 106:30, author’s translation].
Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer, as it says: “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening” [Genesis 24:63]. And “meditate” can mean only in prayer, as it says: “A prayer of the lowly man when he is faint and pours forth his meditation before the Lord” [Psalms 102:1, author’s translation].
Jacob instituted the evening prayer, as it says: “He approached a certain place and stopped there for the night” [Genesis 28:11, author’s translation]. And “approached” can mean only in prayer, as it says: “As for you, do not pray for this people, do not raise a cry of prayer on their behalf, do not approach Me” [Jeremiah 7:16, author’s translation]. (Berakhot 26b)
Tradition says that Abraham instituted the Shaḥarit morning service and Isaac the Minḥah afternoon service. Yet the Gemara indicates that Minḥah is known as “the prayer of Abraham,” The Tosafot were bothered by this contradiction and offered the following reconciliation: “Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer.” Even though it says: “The prayer of Abraham [is recited] from the time that the walls turn dark,” one can respond that Abraham fixed the time after Isaac instituted it. (Tosafot, Berakhot 26b))
The prayer of Abraham is Minḥah, the afternoon service. Rav Safra wants to know the earliest time this prayer may be said. The answer given is that it may be recited after mid-day, when the sun will no longer shine directly on walls facing east. Rav Yosef questions whether halakhah can be learned from Abraham (who according to tradition, fixed the time for this prayer service). The implication of the question is that since Abraham predates Moses and the giving of the Torah (and hence the obligation of the Jews to observe the mitzvot), it makes no logical sense to base the mitzvot on what Abraham did.
Rava responds that Abraham is indeed a source for later Jewish law. The example brought is about b’rit milah, ritual circumcision. The Torah commands that it be done on the eighth day, and since no specific time is mentioned, any time during that day would be appropriate. But the prevailing custom has become to perform a b’rit milah not only in the morning, but as early in the day as possible. The basis of this is the behavior of Abraham (who, coincidentally, was the first person to perform the mitzvah). God had commanded Abraham to take his son Isaac and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham, we are told, awoke early next morning and took Isaac right away to fulfill the command of God.
Katz, M., & Schwartz, G. (1998). Swimming in the Sea of Talmud: Lessons for Everyday LIving
. Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.by Diana Wallis
You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. --- Matthew 5:14
The text is not, “You ought to be the light of the world,” but you are; not that Christians should be like a city set on a hill, but an affirmation that they are such.88 Though exhortations are addressed to Christians in the New Testament urging them to lives of faith, yet they are also addressed as actually putting forth the principles of piety and as true to their God and Savior. “You were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord” (Eph. 5:8). Many Christians regard the Bible as filled with exhortations that they are not expected to comply with, rather than with statements of what the gospel actually accomplishes among them. God intended that the gospel should have effect, and in fact, the early effect of the gospel was such that Paul could address any church as actually demonstrating the change wrought by the Spirit of God. “You yourselves are our letter” (2 Cor. 3:2), said he to the church at Corinth, the living proof at once of the power of the gospel and of the effect of his ministry. We have fallen on different times. The language addressed to churches is not, “You are… ,” but, “You ought to be,” the consistent followers of the Lord Jesus.”
True, the people whom Paul addressed had been heathen and therefore the change would be more obvious. But the ground of the address to the primitive Christians was not what they had been so much as what they then were. Besides, are a people nursed in heathenism—only yesterday degraded and sunk in abomination—to be addressed as actually in advance in Christian principles of the people of our times, trained from their earliest years in the principles of the Christian religion? Are we to expect more living demonstrations of the power of piety from the recovered populations of Athens, Corinth, and Rome than from the people of our times?
No, the gospel considers it as a matter of fact that we can appeal to you and to all Christians and say, “You are…”—not you ought to be—“the light of the world.” We can address the language of obligation and of duty to the most degraded population on the globe; we can approach the profligate and the profane and the pagan with the language, “You ought to be humble followers of God.” We can approach true Christians with the language of certainty and say, “You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world.” --- Albert Barnes
(27). Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications.Protected from enemies within (Numbers 25)
This chapter begins, “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods” (vv. 1–2). As in most religions of Canaan, ritual prostitution and sexual excess was an intrinsic part of the religion of Moab.
In this the Moabites followed the strategy suggested by “Balaam’s advice” (31:16).
As in the past, God’s anger now flared against His people. But at this time the sin was dealt with in a way which indicated a distinct change in the character of the people of Israel.
A plague began among the people, but Moses was told that the people themselves must “put to death those of your men who have joined in worshiping the Baal of Peor” (v. 5). (Baal is a Semitic word meaning “lord” that designated pagan deities in Canaan.) At that moment an Israelite man was openly leading a Midianite woman to his family. A priest, Phinehas, followed the two into the tent and drove a spear through them both. The plague was stopped, and Phinehas was rewarded by God “because he was zealous for the honor of his God” (v. 13).
The incident is important, because for the first time Israel is dealing with sin by self-discipline! The new generation is demonstrating its difference from the old. The choice to follow God completely was being made now—and the price of self-discipline was being paid.
Protected from enemies without, and cleansed by self-discipline within, the people of Israel were nearly ready to enter the land of rest.
(323). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.