1And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 2Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving to you, 3and you make an offering by fire unto Jehovah, a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or in your appointed times, to make a soothing aroma unto Jehovah, from the herd or the flock, 4then he who presents his offering unto Jehovah shall bring a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil; 5and one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering you shall prepare with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. 6Or for a ram you shall prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil; 7and as a drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma unto Jehovah. 8And when you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering, or as a sacrifice to separate a vow, or as a peace offering unto Jehovah, 9then shall be offered with the young bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil; 10and you shall bring as the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, a soothing aroma unto Jehovah. 11Thus it shall be done for each young bull, for each ram, or for each lamb or young goat. 12According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do with everyone according to their number. 13All who are natives shall do these things in this manner, in presenting an offering by fire, a soothing aroma unto Jehovah. 14And if a stranger sojourns with you, or whoever is among you throughout your generations, and would present an offering by fire, a soothing aroma unto Jehovah, just as you do, so shall he do. 15One ordinance shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a perpetual ordinance throughout your generations; as it is for you, so shall it be for the sojourner before Jehovah. 16One law and one custom shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you. 17Again Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 18Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: When you come into the land to which I am bringing you, 19then it shall be, when you eat of the bread of the land, that you shall offer up a heave offering unto Jehovah. 20You shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meal as a heave offering; as a heave offering of the threshing floor, thus shall you offer it up. 21Of the first of your ground meal you shall give unto Jehovah a heave offering throughout your generations. 22If you sin unintentionally, and do not do all these commandments which Jehovah has spoken to Moses; 23all that Jehovah has commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day Jehovah gave commandment and onward throughout your generations; 24then it shall be, if it is done unintentionally, without the knowledge of the congregation, that the whole congregation shall offer one young bull as a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma unto Jehovah, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one kid of the goats as a sin offering. 25Thus the priest shall make atonement for the whole congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it was unintentional; they shall bring their offering, an offering by fire unto Jehovah, and their sin offering before Jehovah, for their unintended sin. 26It shall be forgiven the whole congregation of the children of Israel and the stranger who sojourns among them, because all the people did it unintentionally. 27And if a soul sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat of the first year as a sin offering. 28Thus the priest shall make atonement for the soul who sins unintentionally, when he sins unintentionally before Jehovah, to make atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29You shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, for him who is a native among the children of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 30But the soul who does anything loftily, whether he is a native or a sojourner, that one blasphemes Jehovah, and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 31Because he has despised the Word of Jehovah, and has broken His commandment, that soul shall be cut down to be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him. 32Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. 34And they put him under guard, because it had not been declared what should be done to him. 35And Jehovah said to Moses, The man shall be executed to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. 36Therefore, as Jehovah commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. 37Again Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 38Speak to the children of Israel and say to them to make fringes on the edges of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a violet thread in the fringes of the edges. 39And the fringe shall be, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them, and that you not seek after that for which your own heart and eyes go whoring, 40and that you remember and do all My commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am Jehovah your God.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE LAW OF SUNDRY OFFERINGS. (Num. 15:1-41)
The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel--Some infer from
Num 15:23 that the date of this communication must be fixed towards the close of the wanderings in the wilderness; and, also, that all the sacrifices prescribed in the law were to be offered only after the settlement in Canaan.
3 make an offering by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering--It is evident that a peace offering is referred to because this term is frequently used in such a sense (
Exod 18:12;
Lev 17:5).
4 tenth deal--that is, an omer, the tenth part of an ephah (
Exod 16:36).
fourth part of an hin of oil--This element shows it to have been different from such meat offerings as were made by themselves, and not merely accompaniments of other sacrifices.
6 two tenth deals--The quantity of flour was increased because the sacrifice was of superior value to the former. The accessory sacrifices were always increased in proportion to the greater worth and magnitude of its principal.
13 a stranger--one who had become a proselyte. There were scarcely any of the national privileges of the Israelites, in which the Gentile stranger might not, on conforming to certain conditions, fully participate.
19 when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering--The offering prescribed was to precede the act of eating.
unto the Lord--that is, the priests of the Lord (
Ezek 44:30).
20 heave offering of the threshing-floor--meaning the corn on the threshing-floor; that is, after harvest.
so shall ye heave it--to the priests accompanying the ceremony with the same rites.
22 if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, &c.--respecting the performance of divine worship, and the rites and ceremonies that constitute the holy service. The law relates only to any omission and consequently is quite different from that laid down in
Lev 4:13, which implies a transgression or positive neglect of some observances required. This law relates to private parties or individual tribes; that to the whole congregation of Israel.
24 if aught be committed by ignorance--The Mosaic ritual was complicated, and the ceremonies to be gone through in the various instances of purification which are specified, would expose a worshipper, through ignorance, to the risk of omitting or neglecting some of them. This law includes the stranger in the number of those for whom the sacrifice was offered for the sin of general ignorance.
27 if any soul sin through ignorance--not only in common with the general body of the people, but his personal sins were to be expiated in the same manner.
30 the soul that doeth aught presumptuously--Hebrew, "with an high" or "uplifted hand"--that is, knowingly, wilfully, obstinately. In this sense the phraseology occurs (
Exod 14:8;
Lev 26:21;
Ps 19:13).
the same reproacheth the Lord--sets Him at open defiance and dishonors His majesty.
31 his iniquity shall be upon him--The punishment of his sins shall fall on himself individually; no guilt shall be incurred by the nation, unless there be a criminal carelessness in overlooking the offense.
32 a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day--This incident is evidently narrated as an instance of presumptuous sin. The mere gathering of sticks was not a sinful act and might be necessary for fuel to warm him or to make ready his food. But its being done on the Sabbath altered the entire character of the action. The law of the Sabbath being a plain and positive commandment, this transgression of it was a known and wilful sin, and it was marked by several aggravations. For the deed was done with unblushing boldness in broad daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority--in flagrant inconsistency with His religious connection with Israel, as the covenant-people of God; and it was an application to improper purposes of time, which God had consecrated to Himself and the solemn duties of religion. The offender was brought before the rulers, who, on hearing the painful report, were at a loss to determine what ought to be done. That they should have felt any embarrassment in such a case may seem surprising, in the face of the sabbath law (
Exod 31:14). Their difficulty probably arose from this being the first public offense of the kind which had occurred; and the appeal might be made to remove all ground of complaint--to produce a more striking effect, so that the fate of this criminal might be a beacon to warn all Israelites in the future.
35 The Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death--The Lord was King, as well as God of Israel, and the offense being a violation of the law of the realm, the Sovereign Judge gave orders that this man should be put to death; and, moreover, He required the whole congregation unite in executing the fatal sentence.
38 bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments--These were narrow strips, in a wing-like form, wrapped over the shoulders and on various parts of the attire. "Fringe," however, is the English rendering of two distinct Hebrew words--the one meaning a narrow lappet or edging, called the "hem" or "border" (
Matt 23:5;
Luke 8:44), which, in order to make it more attractive to the eye and consequently more serviceable to the purpose described, was covered with a riband of blue or rather purple color; the other term signifies strings with tassels at the end, fastened to the corners of the garment. Both of these are seen on the Egyptian and Assyrian frocks; and as the Jewish people were commanded by express and repeated ordinances to have them, the fashion was rendered subservient, in their case, to awaken high and religious associations--to keep them in habitual remembrance of the divine commandments.
41 I am the Lord your God--The import of this solemn conclusion is, that though He was displeased with them for their frequent rebellions, for which they would be doomed to forty years' wanderings, He would not abandon them but continue His divine protection and care of them till they were brought into the land of promise.