sacrifice of your generation

numbers 28:1-8 NKJV

28 Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘My offering, My food for My offerings made by fire as a sweet aroma to Me, you shall be careful to offer to Me at their appointed time.’

3 “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the offering made by fire which you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs in their first year without blemish, day by day, as a regular burnt offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, the other lamb you shall offer in the evening, 5 and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering mixed with one-fourth of a hin of pressed oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to the Lord. 7 And its drink offering shall be one-fourth of a hin for each lamb; in a holy place you shall pour out the drink to the Lord as an offering. 8 The other lamb you shall offer in the evening; as the morning grain offering and its drink offering, you shall offer it as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

Commentary

The daily sacrifices. The New Testament views all the old covenant sacrifices as types of the death of Christ. The different sacrifices bring out different aspects of the significance of his death. Lambs sacrificed every morning and evening were the most typical victim, so Jesus is called ‘the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). Indeed he died at the time of the evening sacrifice. His death made animal sacrifice obsolete, and in fact temple sacrifices ceased just forty years later when the temple fell in ad 70. But Jewish and Christian commentators have always regarded the daily burnt offerings as a model of worship for all time. Prayer should be offered at least every morning and evening: indeed, the whole of life is to be dedicated to God through repeated acts of praise and thanksgiving (cf. Rom. 12:1; 1 Thess. 5:16–18).

Offerings by fire (2; neb, tev, ‘food-offerings’). The term refers to sacrifices burnt on the altar, the priestly portions (Lev. 2:3) and the shewbread (Lev. 24:7). But the etymology and precise meaning of ʾiššeh are uncertain. That the term seems to be explained here and in Leviticus 3:11, 16 by the common word for ‘bread’ or food (leḥem), suggests that food-offering may be the best translation. That the sacrifices all consisted of choice food items does not mean the Israelites thought God literally needed feeding. Rather sacrifice was an acknowledgment that all life came from God and belonged to him (Ps. 50:8–15).

My pleasing (neb ‘soothing’) odour (2). Basic to the whole sacrificial scheme is the concept of atonement. Sacrifices appease the wrath of God provoked by human sin (Gen. 8:21; cf. 6:5–7). But only animals without blemish were good enough for this purpose (3; cf. Lev. 22:18–22; Mal. 1:13–14).

God considered the sacrifices  invalid if they were offered at the wrong times (compare Num 9:1–14). Since the calendar was a lunar calendar, feasts were tied to astronomical phenomena (e.g., twilight, new moons, seasons). Therefore, the precise time of their celebration was considered to have been appointed by God—the Creator of the heavenly bodies (Gen 1:15–16).

28:3  The Hebrew word used here, tamid, indicates these offerings were to be ongoing.