70 Bullocks
The number of animal sacrifices during the Feast of Tabernacles was greater by far than any other feast. 70 bullocks were sacrificed during the week, 119 lambs, rams and goats in addition to grain and wine offerings.
Numbers 29 details which animals were offered on which day. The number of smaller animals was the same on each day of the feast. There was one goat for a sin offering, and 14 lambs and 2 rams sacrificed every day as burnt offerings.
In addition to the smaller burnt offerings, bullocks were also presented to the Lord. 0n the first day of the feast 13 bullocks were offered; 12 on the second; 11 on the third; and so on until on the 7th day 7 bullocks were offered. The total number of bullocks then added to 70.
The specific meaning of all these animals is not easy to decipher. The Feast of Tabernacles is a picture of the work of the millennium. The goat for a sin-offering then may suggest that the world will be under the mediator, still in need of the covering provided by the Gospel Age sin offerings.
In seeking the meaning of all these burnt offerings, we notice one category of burnt offerings called “free will offerings.” What is unique and interesting about free will offerings is that the individual bringing the animal would do much of the work of preparing it. According to Leviticus 1, the individual would lay his hands on the head of the offering and kill it at the door of the tabernacle. He would then flay it and cut it in pieces. At that point the priests would get involved. They would sprinkle the blood around the altar, wash certain parts of the animal, and then lay them on the altar.
In this offering the individual worked with the priest to prepare his sacrifice. This appears to picture the free will offerings mankind will bring in the kingdom. Consecration is a free will offering. However, free will alone is not enough. In the kingdom, consecrations to God will be acceptable only through the assistance of the priesthood. People will have to do their part. But they will not be able to present an acceptable offering without the intervention of the priesthood.
What is unusual in the Feast of Tabernacle offerings is the diminishing number of bullocks. Why were 70 offered during the week, and why offered in descending numbers?
The number 70 appears prominently in Scripture. For example, 70 elders were selected to assist Moses in judging the people (Numbers 11:16, 17). Jesus sent 70 disciples to preach the Gospel message (Luke 10:1-20). There were 70 years of Babylonian dominion (Jeremiah 25:11).
However, one use is most appealing when trying to understand the application we are considering. Genesis 10 gives the table of nations that descended from Noah. 70 nations and languages are enumerated. The 70 nations can also be found in the rabbinical writings.
In making a connection to the 70 nations we find an interesting comment offered by Frederic Ferrar when discussing the Feast of Tabernacles. He writes, “During the week of festivities all the courses of the priests were employed in turn; seventy bullocks were offered in sacrifice for the seventy nations of the world; the Law was read daily, and on each day the Temple trumpets sounded twenty-one times, an inspiring and triumphant blast” (The Life of Christ, page 396).
The suggestion that 70 bullocks were offered for the 70 nations existing at the time is very interesting. This is confirmation that the nations of the world will be part of the kingdom arrangement. It may also suggest that the many ethnic groups that comprise our race will be preserved in the kingdom. These will offer themselves in consecration to God on the altar that will have been cleansed by the previous Atonement Day sacrifices. These consecrations will differ however from previous Gospel Age consecrations, which are unto death. As the Psalmist describes them he writes, “Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar” (Psalm 51:19). Here the bullocks of consecration presented in the kingdom will be unto righteousness, not unto death.
But why the descending number of bullocks; 13, then 12, then 11, and so forth? One possibility is that at the beginning of the millennium there will be a greater number of people offering consecrations. As the number of consecrated individuals grows the number of new ones will at some point diminish. This is not showing less devotion as time progresses, it is simply illustrating that there will be fewer new consecrations as time goes on. It is a blessed hope that one day every heart will be consecrated to God and the priesthood will have done its grand work of reconciliation.
Another suggestion of interest is that in ancient Israel the 13th tribe was Levi, the priestly tribe. The other 12 tribes had land inheritance, but Levi did not. So the number 13 is associated with priestly, even mediatorial functions. The number of bullocks beginning at 13 and ending at 7 may picture that the work of the priesthood will be in greater need at the beginning of the kingdom. When mankind finally reaches perfection, pictured by the 7 bullocks offered on the last day, the priestly work will be accomplished.