In the life of Israel, offerings and sacrifices were expressions of fellowship with God. There is particular provision for a sin offering in verse 5, and the Day of Atonement (vs 7–11) had special significance. But many of the offerings were for fellowship with God rather than atonement. In the wilderness, God’s people were learning a discipline of fellowship with him. This gave their worshipping life a daily and yearly rhythm. 

This life was not just for the wilderness. It was to be continued when they entered the Promised Land. Hence, the reference to grain offerings (v 3), which are only possible when a nation is settled, farming the land with regular harvests.

Many of us look back on wilderness times in our own lives as being particularly significant. These are the times of challenge, when we particularly draw close to God – we have no alternative. They are times when we are desperate for his voice, and when prayer and worship take a central place. But what happens when we move into ordinary life? Does all this take a back seat? Or do we learn to make the stuff of our settled lives (work, family, leisure) part of our worship?

‘What can wash away my sin? … What can make me whole again? / Nothing but the blood of Jesus.’¹ Take time for prayerful confession.

Israel’s calendar had numerous holy holidays (see yesterday’s note), with the seventh month boasting the lion’s share: the Festival of Trumpets (vs 1–6); the Day of Atonement (vs 7–11); and the week-long Festival of Tabernacles (vs 12–38).

The seventh month began with a day to ‘sound the trumpets’ (v 1). Like the voice of John the Baptist calling in the wilderness, this was an insistent summons to repent. It marked the beginning of a ten-day penitential period of preparation, leading up to the holiest of all the holy days, the Day of Atonement – a little like our 40 days of Lent leading up to Easter. This festival involved the ‘sin offering’ of a male goat (v 11); Leviticus 16 details the rituals surrounding this atonement, which had to be made annually ‘for all the sins of the Israelites’.² This was the only festival marked by a fast (‘deny yourselves’, v 7) – a reminder that even the slightest stain of human sinfulness is an affront to God’s holiness. On the fifteenth day, however, the solemn fast makes way for a joyous feast, eight days marked by an abundance of offerings as for no other feast (vs 12–38). This outpouring of offerings reflected the overflowing joy of being cleansed from their sin before the Lord.³ When the post-exilic community celebrated this festival under Nehemiah’s leadership, ‘their joy was very great’.⁴

We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory;⁵ our sin separates us from our holy God. Atonement has been made, however, not by repeated annual offerings of animals but by the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb slain for us. With the relationship restored, the only fitting response is the willing and wholehearted outpouring of the offering of our whole life!

‘Take my love; my Lord, I pour / at thy feet its treasure store; / take myself, and I will be; / ever, only, all for thee.’⁶

¹ Robert Lowry, 1826–99  ² Lev 16:34  ³ Lev 16:30  ⁴ Neh 8:17  ⁵ Rom 3:23  ⁶ Frances Havergal, 1836–79, ‘Take my Life’