Commentary for Numbers 28:3
וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ לָהֶ֔ם זֶ֚ה הָֽאִשֶּׁ֔ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר תַּקְרִ֖יבוּ לַיהוָ֑ה כְּבָשִׂ֨ים בְּנֵֽי־שָׁנָ֧ה תְמִימִ֛ם שְׁנַ֥יִם לַיּ֖וֹם עֹלָ֥ה תָמִֽיד׃
And thou shalt say unto them: This is the offering made by fire which ye shall bring unto the LORD: he-lambs of the first year without blemish, two day by day, for a continual burnt-offering.
Rashi on Numbers
ואמרת להם AND THOU SHALT SAY TO THEM — This is an instruction to the Beth Din (Sifrei Bamidbar 142:3).
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Or HaChaim on Numbers
-4. ואמרת להם זה האשה, "You shall say to them 'this is the fire-offering,' etc." G'd repeats once more: ואמרת. Why? The words זה האשה also do not seem called for. It appears the Torah wanted to make sure we would not think that the single sheep to be offered was a minimum only and that if the priests decided to, they could offer any number of sheep. The Torah therefore wrote "tell them only this is the fire-offering," i.e. only one sheep, neither more nor less. The same applied to the sheep to be offered in the evening. We must understand verse 3 as telling us that this sacrifice had to be offered on a daily basis. Verse 4 tells us that only the quantity specified by the Torah here and none other was acceptable for this type of sacrifice.
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Rabbeinu Bahya
ואמרת להם, “you shall say to them.” This is a warning to the Court (Sifri).
זה האשה, “this is the fire offering;” seeing the paragraph had commenced with the words: “My offering, קרבני, why did the Torah now call it אשה? The fact is that the word is the explanation of לחמי לאשי, אשר תקריבו לה', for the requirement of Hashem, i.e. it must not be disqualified by inadmissible thoughts during its presentation, פגול. כבשים, “sheep,” no other animals. בני שנה, ”one year old;” i.e. not a day older than one year old but as young as eight days. תמימים, “unblemished.” This is the corollary of Leviticus 22,21: “it shall not be blemished.” The word תמימם is spelled here with the letter י before the final ם missing. This indicates that both these sheep should be identical. [This is a conjecture in the Talmud Yoma 62b which is ultimately rejected]. There were to be a total of 730 such sheep for the year, assuming the year had 365 days [as opposed to the lunar year which on average has 354 days]. The number 730 is alluded to in the first letters of the words תמימם שנים ליום.
שנים ליום, “two per day.” The two offerings may be viewed as advocates, pleading the case of the Jewish people before a heavenly tribunal; the site where these two sheep were being slaughtered corresponded to the relative motion of earth to sun during the day, the morning sacrifice at the north-west corner of the courtyard, the afternoon sacrifice at the north-east corner.
עולה תמיד, “a permanent burnt-offering.” This offering will always function as advocate on behalf of the Jewish people.
ליום עולה, “for the day a burnt-offering” [This contradicts the cantillation. Ed.]. According to Yuma 10 when the dawn rose the lookout in the Temple would call out ברק ברקאי, “the morning-star is shining.” This is the reason why the expression עולה was not mentioned in what appears to be a parallel passage in Exodus chapter 29.
זה האשה, “this is the fire offering;” seeing the paragraph had commenced with the words: “My offering, קרבני, why did the Torah now call it אשה? The fact is that the word is the explanation of לחמי לאשי, אשר תקריבו לה', for the requirement of Hashem, i.e. it must not be disqualified by inadmissible thoughts during its presentation, פגול. כבשים, “sheep,” no other animals. בני שנה, ”one year old;” i.e. not a day older than one year old but as young as eight days. תמימים, “unblemished.” This is the corollary of Leviticus 22,21: “it shall not be blemished.” The word תמימם is spelled here with the letter י before the final ם missing. This indicates that both these sheep should be identical. [This is a conjecture in the Talmud Yoma 62b which is ultimately rejected]. There were to be a total of 730 such sheep for the year, assuming the year had 365 days [as opposed to the lunar year which on average has 354 days]. The number 730 is alluded to in the first letters of the words תמימם שנים ליום.
שנים ליום, “two per day.” The two offerings may be viewed as advocates, pleading the case of the Jewish people before a heavenly tribunal; the site where these two sheep were being slaughtered corresponded to the relative motion of earth to sun during the day, the morning sacrifice at the north-west corner of the courtyard, the afternoon sacrifice at the north-east corner.
עולה תמיד, “a permanent burnt-offering.” This offering will always function as advocate on behalf of the Jewish people.
ליום עולה, “for the day a burnt-offering” [This contradicts the cantillation. Ed.]. According to Yuma 10 when the dawn rose the lookout in the Temple would call out ברק ברקאי, “the morning-star is shining.” This is the reason why the expression עולה was not mentioned in what appears to be a parallel passage in Exodus chapter 29.
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