I hope you like calendars, because the next several blogs are going to involve a lot of them.
Numbers 28-30 is essentially one big appointment book. These sacrifices, at these times, with these animals. Everything has to happen at their appointed time. God is firm on that.
But these feast days are more than just something to set your watch to, they are a way to live your life. Israelite society revolves around these feasts. They’re regular to remind the Jews to regularly remember God.
In addition to the regular Sabbath activities and daily sacrifices, Israel will spend an entire month (30 days) in devoted religious activities to God.
Numbers 28-29 mentions six major feast days: Passover (Numbers 28:16), Feast of Unleavened Bread (Numbers 28:17-25), Feast of Weeks (Numbers 28:26-31), Feast of Trumpets (Numbers 29:1-6), Day of Atonement (Numbers 29:7-11), Feast of Tabernacles (Numbers 29:12-40).
The Feast of Firstfruits is the seventh major feast day, but isn’t mentioned here. You can read about it in Leviticus 23:9-14, which serves as a parallel to these chapters.
In addition to the seven feast days, other parts of the calendar revolve around the number seven. The Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles both take place over seven days, and the number of lambs required for these feasts are either seven or fourteen (seven times two). The total number of bulls for the Feast of Tabernacles is seventy.
Moreover, there are seven specific days (feast days, mostly) where no “laborious work” is to be done (Numbers 28:18, 25, 26; 29:1, 7, 12, 35). A healthy majority of the festivals take place in the seventh month.
As is often mentioned, the number seven in the Bible references perfection or completeness. With this in mind, it’s little wonder why so much of this calendar revolves around this number. God is aiming for a “complete” year to build this obedient and reverent relationship with His people.
In addition to the major feast days, Numbers 28-29 also outline what to do on each day (Numbers 28:2-8) and what to do every sabbath (Numbers 28:9-10). New Moons are also mentioned here for the first time (Numbers 28:11-15).
There is a lot for Israel to remember, but the responsibility of teaching and holding to these patterns will largely be the domain of the priests. It’s their job to keep the people on track, and to make sure their hearts are pointed directly toward God.