Numbers 28:7

And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) Shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured . . . —Better, pour out the drink offering of strong drink. The word shecar, which is here rendered “strong wine,” denotes any kind of intoxicating drink, whether made from grapes, honey, or grain; but it is more frequently used to denote a drink which is not made from grapes, as, e.g., in Leviticus 10:9, where the command is given to Aaron and his sons not to drink “wine nor strong drink” (shecar) when they went into the tent of meeting. In the parallel passage in Exodus, the drink offering was to consist of “the fourth part of an hin of wine” (Numbers 29:40). (Comp. Numbers 15:5.) In Exodus 30:9 it is forbidden to pour any drink offering upon the altar of incense, from which passage it has been inferred that the drink offerings were poured upon the altar of burnt sacrifice.

Benson Commentary

Numbers 28:7. In the holy place — Upon the altar of burnt-offerings, which was in the court of the priests, nigh to the entrance into the sanctuary, (Exodus 29:42,) and was, with respect to those places of the camp, which were more remote from the tabernacle, the holy place. Strong wine to be poured unto the Lord — The original word signifies any strong drink: it was not necessary it should be wine of grapes; it might be made of dates, or other fruits. But it behooved that it should be the best of the kind; it being but reasonable that the best should be offered to God.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

28:1-8 God saw fit now to repeat the law of sacrifices. This was a new generation of men; and they were concerned to keep their peace with God when at war with their enemies. The daily sacrifice is called a continual burnt-offering; when we are bid to pray always, at least every morning and evening we should offer up solemn prayers and praises to God. Nothing is added here but that the wine poured out in the drink-offering is to be strong wine, to teach us to serve God with the best we have. It was a figure of the blood of Christ, the memorial of which is still left to the church in wine; and of the blood of the martyrs, which was poured out as a drink-offering on the sacrifice and service of our faith, Php 2:17.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The original of the word "strong wine" שׁכר shêkār is a term usually employed to describe strong drink other than wine (Leviticus 10:9 note). The Israelites in the wilderness had, in their lack of wine, substituted shechar made from barley for it. They had thus observed the spirit, though not the letter of the ordinance. The drink-offering was either poured round the foot of the altar; or on the altar, and so upon the flesh of the sacrifice by which the altar was covered (compare Exodus 30:9).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2. Command the children of Israel, and say unto them—The repetition of several laws formerly enacted, which is made in this chapter, was seasonable and necessary, not only on account of their importance and the frequent neglect of them, but because a new generation had sprung up since their first institution and because the Israelites were about to be settled in the land where those ordinances were to be observed.

My offering, and my bread—used generally for the appointed offerings, and the import of the prescription is to enforce regularity and care in their observance.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

In the holy place, i.e. upon the altar of burnt-offerings, which was in the court of the priests nigh to the entrance into the sanctuary. See Exodus 29:42 2 Chronicles 29:7.

Strong wine, Heb. shecar, which though it signify in the general all kinds of strong drink, yet is here put for the most famous of that kind, to wit, for wine, which alone was used in offerings, as appears below, Numbers 28:14 Exodus 29:40.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb,.... For the lamb offered in the morning, along with the meat offering of which went a drink offering, which was of wine, and strong wine too, as the next clause expresses it; the quantity of which was the fourth part of an hin, which was about a quart and half a pint of our measure:

in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the Lord for a drink offering; that is, in the court of the tabernacle upon the altar of burnt offering, which stood there: the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem interpret it of old choice wine, old wine being reckoned best, see Luke 5:39, and though this wine was poured out on the altar, and not properly drank by any, yet it was to be the strongest, best, and choicest that could be got, as it was reasonable it should; since it was poured out as a libation or drink offering to the Lord, which was his way of drinking it, as the burning of the sacrifice was his way of eating that; all which was typical of the sufferings, sacrifice, and bloodshed of Christ, which are well pleasing and acceptable to the Lord; see Isaiah 53:10.

Geneva Study Bible

And the drink offering thereof shall be the fourth part of an hin for the one lamb: in the holy place shalt thou cause the strong wine to be poured unto the LORD for a drink offering.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - In the holy place. בַּקֹּדֶשׁ. Septuagint, ἐν τῷ ἀγίῳ. Josephus paraphrases this by περὶ τὸν βωμόν ('Ant.,' 3:10), and so the Targum of Onkelos; Jonathan and the Targum of Palestine render, "from the vessels of the sanctuary." The former would seem to be the real meaning of the original. There is nowhere any specific direction as to the ritual of the drink offering (see on Leviticus 23, and Numbers 15:7, 10), nor is it certain whether it was poured at the foot of the altar (as apparently stated in Ecclus. 1. 15) or poured upon the flesh of the sacrifice on the altar (as seems to be implied in Philippians 2:17). The strong wine. שֵׁכָר. Septuagint, σίκερα. The Targums render it "old wine," because the drink offering was in every other instance ordered to be made with wine (Exodus 29:40, &c.). Shecar, however, was not wine, but strong drink other than wine (such as we call "spirits"), and it is invariably used in that sense in contradistinction to wine (see on Leviticus 10:9; Numbers 6:3, &c.). It can only be supposed that the difficulty of procuring wine in the wilderness had caused the coarser and commoner liquor to be substituted for it. It is certainly remarkable that the mention of shecar should be retained at a time when wine must have been easily obtainable, and was about to become abundant (Deuteronomy 8:8). As it would seem impossible that shecar should have been substituted for wine after the settlement in Canaan, its mention here may be accepted as evidence of the wilderness-origin of this particular ordinance. The quantity ordained (about a quart for each lamb) was very considerable. Numbers 28:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

"In the sanctuary," i.e., περὶ τὸν βωμόν (round about the altar), as Josephus paraphrases it (Ant. iii. 10); not "with (in) holy vessels," as Jonathan and others interpret it. "Pour out a drink-offering, as שׁכר for Jehovah." Shecar does not mean intoxicating drink here (see at Leviticus 10:9), but strong drink, in distinction from water as simple drink. The drink-offering consisted of wine only (see at Numbers 15:5.); and hence Onkelos paraphrases it, "of old wine."