H. P. Mansfield Bible notes — checked and arranged in verse-by-verse Expositor style
Primary source: H. P. Mansfield’s annotations in his HP Bible, HPB 03-Lev12-Num36.PDF, mainly pp. 84–85. The separately published Numbers Expositor is a distinct work and was used only as a secondary cross-check.
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Numbers 29 continues the national sacrificial calendar of chapter 28 and concentrates on the seventh month: the first-day teru‘ah observance, the Day of Atonement, seven days of Tabernacles and the concluding eighth-day assembly.
A repeated controlling phrase is that these special sacrifices are offered beside the continual burnt offering. The sacred calendar adds focused acts of worship without displacing the daily morning-and-evening service.
FIRST DAY OF THE SEVENTH MONTH — NUMBERS 29:1–6
Numbers 29:1 — yom teru‘ah
The first day of the seventh month is a holy convocation with no servile work and is called yom teru‘ah, a day of trumpet-blast/shouting/acclamation.
Numbers 29 does not call the day “New Year” and does not specify the instrument. Later Jewish tradition identifies it with Rosh Hashanah and shofar blowing. Numbers 10:10 separately requires the silver trumpets over sacrifices at new moons. Mansfield’s assertion that both shofar and silver trumpets were certainly sounded on this day is plausible tradition/synthesis, not stated by Numbers 29 itself.
Numbers 29:2–5 — special first-day sacrifices
The special burnt offering is one young bull, one ram and seven year-old lambs without blemish, with the prescribed grain and drink offerings, plus one male goat as a sin/purification offering.
KJV “meat offering” means grain/meal offering.
Numbers 29:6 — additional to new moon and daily offerings
Because this day is also the new moon, its special teru‘ah sacrifices are offered beside the regular monthly burnt offering of Numbers 28:11–15 and beside the continual daily burnt offering.
The first day therefore layers daily, monthly and special seventh-month worship.
DAY OF ATONEMENT — NUMBERS 29:7–11
Numbers 29:7 — tenth day: afflict your nephesh
On the tenth day there is a holy convocation; Israel must ‘anah its nephesh, humble/afflict itself, and do no work.
Nephesh here denotes the person/life/self, not an immortal soul. Leviticus 16 and 23 give the fuller Day of Atonement regulations; later biblical usage associates the day with fasting.
Numbers 29:8–10 — additional burnt offering
The burnt offering is again one bull, one ram and seven lambs with their grain offerings.
Numbers 29:11 — two distinct sin-offering provisions
One male goat is offered as the Numbers 29 sin/purification offering, explicitly “beside the sin offering of atonement” and beside the continual burnt offering.
The wording prevents the Numbers 29 goat from being confused with the special Leviticus 16 Day of Atonement goat rites.
FEAST OF TABERNACLES — NUMBERS 29:12–34
Numbers 29:12 — seven-day feast beginning on the fifteenth
The fifteenth day begins a seven-day feast with a holy convocation and no servile work on the opening day.
Numbers 29:13–34 — descending bulls
The number of bulls descends by one each day: 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8 and 7. Each day also has two rams, fourteen year-old lambs, the prescribed grain/drink offerings and one male goat for sin offering.
The seven-day bull total is exactly seventy. Scripture does not explain why the number descends or assign a symbolic meaning to seventy here. Later Jewish and Mansfield interpretations connecting the seventy bulls with the nations are expositional, not explicit text.
Every day — beside the continual burnt offering
Each day’s Tabernacles sacrifices are stated to be additional to the continual offering.
The enormous scale of corporate worship never replaces the daily pattern of dedication.
THE EIGHTH DAY — NUMBERS 29:35–38
Numbers 29:35 — ‘atsereth, a closing/solemn assembly
On the eighth day Israel holds an ‘atsereth, a solemn or closing assembly, and does no servile work.
The eighth day is distinct from the seven-day sequence without requiring the number eight to carry a fixed doctrinal meaning.
Numbers 29:36–38 — one bull, one ram, seven lambs
The concluding burnt offering is one bull, one ram and seven lambs, with their grain/drink offerings and one male goat for sin offering, again beside the continual burnt offering.
VOWS AND FREEWILL OFFERINGS REMAIN — NUMBERS 29:39–40
Numbers 29:39 — corporate calendar does not exhaust worship
The appointed national offerings are to be made in their mo‘adim, appointed times, besides personal vows and freewill burnt, grain, drink and peace offerings.
Regular corporate obligation and voluntary personal devotion coexist.
Numbers 29:40 — Moses transmits Yahweh’s command
Moses tells Israel all that Yahweh commanded, closing the two-chapter sacrificial calendar.
PRINCIPAL THEMES
• `yom teru‘ah` means a day of blast/shout/acclamation; Numbers 29 does not itself specify shofar.
• The first seventh-month day is also a new moon, so daily, monthly and special offerings overlap.
• `nephesh` in “afflict your souls” means persons/selves, not immortal souls.
• The Numbers 29 Day-of-Atonement goat is explicitly additional to the Leviticus 16 atonement sacrifice.
• Tabernacles bulls descend 13 to 7 and total seventy; the symbolic reason is not stated.
• Every festival offering remains beside the continual burnt offering.
• The eighth-day `‘atsereth` is a distinct closing/solemn assembly.
• Appointed national worship does not cancel personal vows or freewill offerings.