The Targum's version of (Numbers 28) transforms a dry sacrificial calendar into a theology of continuous atonement. Where the Torah simply lists the daily offerings, the Targum explains their spiritual mechanics. The morning lamb was offered "to make atonement for the sins of the night." The evening lamb was offered "to atone for the sins of the day." Every twelve hours, Israel's slate was wiped clean. Sin accumulated by the hour, and sacrifice answered on the same schedule.
God's opening instruction contains a phrase the Torah does not include: "The priests may eat of My oblation the bread of the order of My table; but that which you offer upon My altar may no man eat. Is there not a fire that will consume it?" The Targum distinguishes between the portions priests could consume and the portions that belonged exclusively to the altar's flame. God's table had two tiers—human and divine.
The wine libation comes with a startling specification. It must be poured "from the vessels of the house of the sanctuary" and must be old wine. "But if old wine may not be found, bring wine of forty days to pour out before the Lord." Forty days was the minimum aging period for wine acceptable to God. Fresh wine was unfit for the altar.
The perpetual burnt offering is traced to its origin: "such as was ordained to be offered at Mount Sinai." Every daily sacrifice in the Tabernacle and later the Temple was understood as a continuation of what began at Sinai—not a new institution but an unbroken chain reaching back to revelation itself.
The New Moon offering adds an astronomical detail. The goat for a sin offering is brought "at the disappearing of the moon"—the Targum connects the sacrifice to the precise moment of lunar failure, when the moon vanishes before its renewal. Even the cosmos required atonement at its points of transition. The Passover and Shavuot (the Festival of Weeks) offerings follow, each with their precise flour measurements and oil mixtures, each described as being "received with favour before the Lord"—a phrase the Targum repeats like a refrain, emphasizing that these sacrifices were not obligations grudgingly accepted but gifts eagerly welcomed.
And the Lord spake with Mosheh, saying:
Instruct the children of Israel, and say to them: The priests may eat of My oblation the bread of the order of My table; but that which you offer upon My altar may no man eat. Is there not a fire that will consume it? And it shall be accepted before Me as a pleasant smell. Sons of Israel, My people, be admonished to offer it from the firstlings on the Sabbath, an oblation before Me in its time.
And say to them: This is the order of the oblations you shall offer before the Lord; two lambs of the year, unblemished, daily, a perpetual burnt offering.
The one lamb thou shalt perform in the morning to make atonement for the sins of the night; and the second lamb thou shalt perform between the suns to atone for the sins of the day;
and the tenth of three seahs of wheaten flour as a mincha mingled with beaten olive oil, the fourth of a hin.
It is a perpetual burnt offering, such as was (ordained to be) offered at Mount Sinai, to be received with favour as an oblation before the Lord.
And its libation shall be the fourth of a hin for one lamb; from the vessels of the house of the sanctuary shall it be outpoured, a libation of old wine. But if old wine may not be found, bring wine of forty days to pour out before the Lord.
And the second lamb thou shalt perform between the suns, according to the presentation of the morning, and according to its oblation shalt thou make the offering, that it may be accepted with favour before the Lord
but on the day of Shabbatha two lambs of the year without blemish, and two-tenths of flour mixed with olive oil for the mincha and its libation.
On the Sabbath thou shalt make a Sabbath burnt sacrifice in addition to the perpetual burnt sacrifice and its libation.
And at the beginning of your months you shall offer a burnt sacrifice before the Lord; two young bullocks, without mixture, one ram, lambs of the year seven, unblemished;
and three tenths of flour mingled with oil for the mincha for one bullock; two tenths of flour with olive oil for the mincha of the one ram;
and one tenth of flour with olive oil for the mincha for each lamb of the burnt offering, an oblation to be received with favour before the Lord.
And for their libation to be offered with them, the half of a bin for a bullock, the third of a bin for the ram, and the fourth of a hin for a lamb, of the wine of grapes. This burnt sacrifice shall be offered at the beginning of every month in the time of the removal of the beginning of every month in the year;
and one kid of the goats, for a sin offering before the Lord at the disappearing (failure) of the moon, with the perpetual burnt sacrifice shalt thou perform with its libation.
And in the month of Nisan, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the sacrifice of the Pascha before the Lord.
On the fifteenth day of this month is a festival; seven days shall unleavened be eaten.
On the first day of the festival a holy convocation; no servile work shall ye do;
but offer an oblation of a burnt sacrifice before the Lord, two young bullocks, one ram, and seven lambs of the year, unblemished, shall you have.
And their minchas of wheat flour, mingled with olive oil, three tenths for each bullock, two tenths for the ram,
and for a single lamb a tenth, so for the seven;
and one kid of the goats, to make an atonement for you:
beside the burnt sacrifice of the morning, the perpetual burnt sacrifice, you shall make these offerings.
According to these oblations of the first day you shall do daily through the seven days of the festival. It is the bread of the oblation which is received with favour before the Lord; it shall be made beside the perpetual burnt offering, with its libation.
And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation; no servile work shall you do.
Likewise on the day of your firstlings, when you offer the gift from the new produce before the Lord in your ingatherings, after the seven weeks are completed, you shall have a holy convocation, no servile work shall you do;
but offer a burnt sacrifice to be received with favour before the Lord, two young bullocks, one ram, seven lambs of the year;
also their mincha of wheaten flour mingled with olive oil, three tenths for each bullock, two tenths for the ram,
a tenth to a lamb; so for the seven lambs
one kid of the goats to make an atonement for you;
beside the perpetual burnt offering you shall make these; they shall be unblemished, with their libation of wine.
