Numbers 29 · a question people ask
Why do the bulls go down by one each day?
Numbers doesn't say, and no other passage in the Bible explains it. What the text gives is the pattern: thirteen bulls on the first day (29:13), one fewer each day after it, seven on the seventh day (29:32), and one on the eighth (29:36). Explanations for the countdown come from outside the Bible, so they aren't given here. What the text does make plain is that each day's number was part of what "the LORD commanded Moses" (29:40), and that each day's meal and drink offerings went with its animals "according to their number, after the ordinance" (29:18).
The verses
“You shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old, all without defect;”
“and their meal offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, according to their number, after the ordinance;”
““‘On the seventh day: seven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old without defect;”
“but you shall offer a burnt offering, an offering made by fire, a pleasant aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without defect;”