Scripture Daily

Context No. 2476 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 29:12-16: in context

12“‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days. 13You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect; 14and their meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil: three tenths for every bull of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each ram of the two rams, 15and one tenth for every lamb of the fourteen lambs; 16and one male goat for a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its meal offering, and its drink offering.

The instructions for the Feast of Tabernacles are lavish. On the first day alone, Israel is to bring thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen lambs, with their grain and drink offerings, plus a goat for a sin offering, and the feast runs seven days. This is not a minimal, get-it-over-with observance; it is an outpouring, a week of costly, abundant worship before the LORD.

The sheer quantity is the point worth pausing on. Worship here is not calculated down to the least that will satisfy the requirement; it is generous to the point of extravagance, a feast rather than a token. The people who had wandered in tents were told to celebrate with an open hand, spending on God far more than strict necessity. It stands as a quiet question to the instinct that always asks how little is required. God invited his people to a feast of giving, not a transaction settled as cheaply as possible.

Is my worship and giving generous to the point of feast, or calculated down to the least I can offer and still feel covered?

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