The one lamb you shall offer in the morning. Since it says and the second lamb, it should have said “the first lamb,” and why did it mention the morning burnt offering only once while the offering toward evening it mentioned twice, and you will also find this in the portion of “And you shall command” (Exodus 29:39-41).

And it seems that this can be reconciled along the lines of what our Sages said (Tanchuma Pinchas 13), “Righteousness lodges in it.” No person spends the night in Jerusalem with sin in their hand. The morning tamid sacrifice atones for all the transgressions of the night, and the afternoon tamid atones for all the transgressions of the day. And the verse states (Micah 2:1), Those who plan evil on their beds, at the light of morning they execute it. From here we learn that night is not a time for action but rather a time for contemplation and thoughts of wrongdoing. And the sin of contemplation is singular, without a second, because contemplation can exist without action. Therefore it says, The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, for it atones for those who plan evil on their beds, and it is possible that one may regret their evil intentions and not bring their evil thoughts to action. That is why it uses the term one [singular], because there is one [sin] without a second to it. And therefore it mentions the morning offering only once. But the sin of the day is undoubtedly doubled. Even though one contemplated doing it at night, nevertheless, during the day, at the time of action, they think about it again. For without a doubt, they did not perform the action without thought and intention, because if so, they would be neither deliberate nor unintentional, but rather forced. Therefore, the afternoon tamid needs to atone for two transgressions: for the thought and for the action. That is why it is mentioned twice in the Torah portion. And as for what they said, “No person spends the night in Jerusalem with sin in their hand,” why didn’t they say instead, “No person rises from their bed with sin in their hand”? Because the phrase “in their hand” implies that it refers to a sin of action, literally done with their hands. And if so, at night one never has sin “in their hand” because contemplation is not “in their hand.” And [the statement] comes to teach us something significant: that the tamid sacrifice atones even for the transgressions of the day, despite them involving both thought and action. And all the more so the morning tamid, which atones for thought alone.

And it says, “Two daily [sheep] as a continual burnt offering.” It should have said “continual burnt offerings” [in plural]. It appears that due to this difficulty [in the text], they said that each one atones for a separate matter, since both are [considered] one burnt offering, so why did the Scripture divide them into two times? Rather, it is because the morning one atones for the transgressions of the night, and the evening one atones for those of the day. However, according to our approach, it seems appropriate to explain that since it is said, And there was evening and there was morning, one day (Genesis 1:5), and earlier in the section of Genesis we wrote that the reason it says one day is to exclude the view of heretics who say that the One who created morning did not create evening, since two opposites cannot come from one source. Therefore, it says one day [to indicate] that the evening and the morning are all the day of the One, blessed be He, because one God created both of them. Similarly, it is said about these burnt offerings, a continual burnt offering [in singular], because both are one burnt offering to one God.

And as for the morning tamid sacrifice that was slaughtered in the west, this indicates that it atones for transgressions committed during the night [after the sun has set in the west], while the afternoon tamid sacrifice was slaughtered in the east to indicate that it atones for transgressions committed throughout the day [after the sun has risen in the east]. Some say that the reversal of their slaughtering locations was intended to destroy the beliefs of those who worship the sun and moon, [showing that] everything belongs to one God, blessed is He and blessed is His name, may He be exalted.