Numbers Chapter 28 verse 7 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 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, etc.). 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, etc.). 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.

Ellicott's Commentary

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.