Numbers 28 Do no regular work

seekeroftruth

Well-Known Member
Numbers 28:16 “‘On the fourteenth day of the first month the Lord’s Passover is to be held. 17 On the fifteenth day of this month there is to be a festival; for seven days eat bread made without yeast. 18 On the first day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 19 Present to the Lord a food offering consisting of a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old, all without defect. 20 With each bull offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 21 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 22 Include one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 23 Offer these in addition to the regular morning burnt offering. 24 In this way present the food offering every day for seven days as an aroma pleasing to the Lord; it is to be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 On the seventh day hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work.

26 “‘On the day of firstfruits, when you present to the Lord an offering of new grain during the Festival of Weeks, hold a sacred assembly and do no regular work. 27 Present a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram and seven male lambs a year old as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 28 With each bull there is to be a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with oil; with the ram, two-tenths; 29 and with each of the seven lambs, one-tenth. 30 Include one male goat to make atonement for you. 31 Offer these together with their drink offerings, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. Be sure the animals are without defect.​

During my senior year of high school I lived just outside of Baltimore. There were so many Jewish kids in the school, the school board considered just closing the schools during all these festivals and assemblies. The phrase "do no regular work" was used in these verses. It's carried on today. They still "do no regular work" on these days.

There is a lot of slaughtering going on here. Remember, twice a day, seven days a week they had to do a sacrifice. Yep they were sacrificing on the Sabbath too. On the first day of the month they added bulls and a ram to the work load. Now the Passover only happens once a year. For that they are adding two bulls, a ram, and seven lambs to the work load. On the last day they are to "do no regular work". I know they would have been ready to take the day off to worship after hauling all those animals up to the altar.

I went to the easy English to get the definition of the Festival of Weeks.

The people celebrated the Harvest Festival 50 days after the Passover. God told the people to give to him the first of everything that they harvested. Levi’s tribe could eat this (Numbers 18:12). Also, they offered extra sacrifices to thank God for the harvest. In the New Testament, this festival is called ‘Pentecost’. God gave the Holy Spirit to the church at this festival (Acts 2:1-13).

This Harvest Festival was an opportunity to thank God for the grain harvest. However, this festival happened before the fruit harvest began. So there was another festival at the end of the harvest. You can read about that festival (called the Festival of Shelters) in Numbers 29:12-39.

Notice how they had to add a goat to the inventory for the altar during the Feast of Weeks? Notice that the goat was for atonement? This commentary comes from studylight.org.

The primary meaning of the Feast of Pentecost was not atonement, but thanksgiving for the harvest. Yet every feast of Israel was to carry with it the idea of atonement. Just the same, our own life should be lived in constant awareness of the atonement made for us.​

The idea here, IMHO, is that I don't work towards atonement. Atonement is made for me. I don't "do any regular work" to gain atonement. I do, however IMHO, have to take time every day to worship God and remember all that He has done for me. I may not have to haul a bull or a goat up on an altar.... but I do have to take time to offer up my thoughts and prayers. That could be a real chore at times.

My Salvation isn't linked to the number of times I pray each day, or the number of Bible verses I read or memorize. My Salvation is a gift. To thank God for letting His Son go through all that, I should be spending time talking to Him every day.

When I think about it.... God use to walk through the Garden with Adam. They use to talk about things.... like family.... That's one of the reasons God created Man.

:coffee:
 
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