Scripture Daily

Context No. 126 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 15:6-12: in context

6“‘For a ram, you shall prepare for a meal offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the third part of a hin of oil; 7and for the drink offering you shall offer the third part of a hin of wine, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD. 8When you prepare a bull for a burnt offering or for a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or for peace offerings to the LORD, 9then he shall offer with the bull a meal offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil; 10and you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD. 11Thus it shall be done for each bull, for each ram, for each of the male lambs, or of the young goats. 12According to the number that you shall prepare, so you shall do to everyone according to their number.

Numbers 15 gives the grain and drink offerings that accompany animal sacrifices, and this passage is essentially a conversion table. For a lamb, one measure of flour, oil, and wine. For a ram, more. For a bull, more again: three tenths of an ephah of flour, half a hin of oil, half a hin of wine. Whatever the number of animals, the same ratios apply to each.

The tedium is the point of noticing it. This is a formula for scaling, so that an offering brought by someone with a lamb and an offering brought by someone with a herd follow the same proportions. The bigger the gift, the more it costs in flour and oil and wine as well.

Where this chapter sits matters. It comes immediately after Israel refuses to enter the promised land and is sentenced to forty years in the desert, a whole generation condemned to die there. The next thing God says is: when you come into the land I am giving you, here is how to prepare an offering. He hands the sentenced generation the recipes for worship in a country they will not live to see, written for their children. What am I willing to prepare carefully for a time I do not expect to be present for?

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