2 bullocks, 1 ram and 7 lambs
And in the beginnings of your months ye shall offer a burnt offering unto the Lord; two young bullocks, and one ram, seven lambs of the first year without spot;
Numbers 28:11 KJV
1 bullock, 1 ram and 6 lambs
And in the day of the new moon it shall be a young bullock without blemish, and six lambs, and a ram: they shall be without blemish.
Ezekiel 46:6 KJV
Intro
The critic gives an addition to this ‘contradiction’ that the Book Ezekiel was extremely difficult for the rabbis in later days and this particular case brought them great problems. He seems to suggest then that the question must be really difficult if not impossible for Christians to solve. However we need to be reminded that difficulties in explaining texts are more due to presupposed blockades in the mind, and that they are often quite simple if there is an open mind.
Ezekiel’s prophecies
Ezekiel lived in the beginning of the great Babylonian exile (date 586 – 515 BCE). The last 8 chapters of his book are quite strange. He gives a description of a future temple which is not realistic if we take seriously the measures he gives. However he is quite determined and precise in prescriptions of conduct in the future.
My evaluation is that he speaks about a sort of heavenly temple (a temple in the Spirit). The old temple was too often seen as a building of stones instead of a building of God’s mercies. Now in the exile they had to fall back on God’s mercies only (Lamentations 3:22-23 NASB):
"His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness."
Ezekiel didn’t want his people to lose this experience with their return to Jerusalem. And so he gave a picture of ‘a temple in the Spirit’ for the future.
Future political leaders
Before the exile the kings of Israel had a rather free relationship with the temple. Ezekiel gave also religious instructions for future political leaders. They would be responsible for the temple affairs, which came under their supervision (Ezekiel 45:17). And here we have the solution for the seeming Biblical Contradiction. The national political leader also got the duty to bring personal offerings, for the Sabbaths and for the days of the New Moon. Ezekiel never tried here to give substitutes for the commandments of the Law of Moses, but to complete them with prescriptions for the national leader (which sometimes turned out to be a high priest, sometimes a military or a political leader). The offerings of Ezekiel for the New Moon were additional to the New Moon offerings of Numbers.
The passage of Ezekiel starts (46:6 KJV):
“And the burnt offering that the prince shall offer unto the Lord in the Sabbath day, …”
The passage ends (46:7):
“And he shall prepare a meat offering …”
No Bible Contradiction
Additional
Ezra and Nehemiah
The subject above makes clear why it was so important later on for Ezra and Nehemiah to establish a canon of Scriptures including the Law of Moses and the Prophetical books (Nehemiah 9:30-38; 10:28-29) in the time of the Great Synagoge. This canon was fully accepted by Jesus and with the New Testament it became the Bible of the Christians.