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Numbers 29 · a question people ask

John speaks of "the last and greatest day of the feast" (John 7:37). Which day was that?

Interpretation

John names the feast: "the Feast of Booths" (John 7:2), the feast of seven days that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month (29:12; Leviticus 23:34). He doesn't say which day he means by "the last and greatest day of the feast" (John 7:37). Readers take it in two main ways. Both agree that it was a day of this feast, and that on it "Jesus stood and cried out" (John 7:37).

How Christians read it

Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.

The seventh day

Some read it as the seventh day, the last of the feast's seven. Numbers says, "You shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days" (29:12), and Deuteronomy, "You shall keep the feast of booths seven days" (Deuteronomy 16:13). Nehemiah counts the eighth day on its own: "They kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly" (Nehemiah 8:18).

Numbers 29:12 · Deuteronomy 16:13 · Nehemiah 8:18

The eighth day

Others read it as the eighth day. Leviticus sets it within the law of the feast: "On the eighth day shall be a holy convocation to you" (Leviticus 23:36), and "On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest" (Leviticus 23:39). Numbers lists its offerings with the feast's other days (29:35-38), and it is a holy day, "a solemn assembly" with "no regular work" (29:35), while no such rule is given for the seventh day (29:32-34).

Leviticus 23:36 · Leviticus 23:39 · Numbers 29:32-38

The verses

“Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was at hand.”
John 7:2 · World English Bible
“Now on the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!”
John 7:37 · World English Bible
““‘On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no regular work. You shall keep a feast to the LORD seven days.”
Numbers 29:12 · World English Bible
““Speak to the children of Israel, and say, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the feast of booths for seven days to the LORD.”
Leviticus 23:34 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Numbers 29

Numbers 29: Seventy bulls, then one

Numbers 29 says what went on the altar on each holy day of the seventh month. At the feast the bulls count down, thirteen, twelve, eleven, to seven: 70 in seven days, though Numbers never adds them up. Then the eighth day goes back to "one bull" (29:36). And all of it came "in addition to your vows and your free will offerings" (29:39).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions