1And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, 2Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, When ye shall come into the land of your dwellings, which I give to you, 3And ye did a sacrifice to Jehovah, a burnt-offering or a sacrifice to separate a vow, or in willingness, or in your assemblies, to make an odor of sweetness to Jehovah, from the oxen or from the sheep: 4And he bringing near, brought near his offering to Jehovah, a gift of fine flour, the tenth mingled with the fourth of the bin of oil. 5And wine for a libation, the fourth of the hin, thou shalt do upon the burnt-offering or to the sacrifice for the one lamb. 6Or to the ram thou shalt do a gift of fine flour, two tenths mingled with oil, the third of the hin. 7And wine for a libation the third of the hin, thou shalt bring an odor of sweetness to Jehovah. 8And when thou shalt do the son of a cow, a burnt-offering or sacrifice to separate a vow, or peace to Jehovah: 9And he brought upon the son of a cow a gift of fine flour, three tenths mingled with oil, half the bin. 10And wine thou shalt bring for a libation, half the hin, a sacrifice, an odor of sweetness to Jehovah. 11Thus shall it be done to the one bullock or to the one ram, or to the sheep with the lambs, or with the goats. 12According to the number which ye shall do, so shall ye do to the one according to their number. 13Every native shall do thus with these to bring near a sacrifice, an odor of sweetness to Jehovah. 14And when a stranger shall sojourn with you, or whoever in the midst of you for your generations, and he did a sacrifice, an odor of sweetness to Jehovah; as ye shall do, so shall he do. 15One law for you of the assembly, and for the stranger sojourning; a law forever to your generations: as ye, so the stranger shall be before Jehovah. 16One law and one judgment shall be to you, and to the stranger sojourning with you. 17And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, 18Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, In your going into the land where I bring you there, 19And it was in your eating from the bread of the land, ye shall lift up a lifting up to Jehovah. 20The first of your groats, a cake, shall ye lift up a lifting up; as the lifting up of the threshing floor, so shall ye lift it up. 21From the first of your groats, shall ye give to Jehovah a lifting up, for your generations. 22And when ye shall err, and shall not do all these commands which Jehovah spake to Moses, 23All which Jehovah commanded to you by the hand of Moses from the day which Jehovah commanded, and onward to your generations; 24And it was if from the eyes of the assembly there was done in error, all the assembly did a bullock, the son of a cow, for a burnt-offering, for an odor of sweetness to Jehovah, and its gift and its libation, according to judgment, and one he goat of the goats for sin. 25And the priest expiated for all the assembly of the sons of Israel, and it was forgiven to them; for it is an error; and they brought their offering a sacrifice to Jehovah, and their sin before Jehovah, for their error. 26And it was forgiven to all the assembly of the sons of Israel, and to the stranger sojourning in the midst of them, to all the people in error. 27And if one soul shall sin in. error, and he brought a she goat the daughter of a goat, for sin. 28And the priest expiated for the soul erring, in sinning in error before Jehovah, to expiate for him; and it was forgiven to him. 29The native among the sons of Israel, and to the stranger sojourning in the midst of them, one law shall be to you, for doing in error. 30And the soul which shall do with a high hand, from the native, and from the stranger, it reproaches Jehovah, and that soul was cut off from the midst of its people. 31For it despised the word of Jehovah, and broke his command; being cut off, that soul shall be cut off; its iniquity upon it 32And the sons of Israel shall be in the desert, and they shall find a man gathering wood in the day of the Sabbath. 33And they having found him, will bring him gathering wood to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the assembly. 34And they will put him in watch, for it was not specified what shall be done to him. 35And Jehovah will say to Moses, Dying, the man shall die: all the assembly stoned him with stones without the camp. 36And all the assembly shall bring him forth without the camp, and they shall stone him with stones, and he shall die; as Jehovah commanded Moses. 37And Jehovah will speak to Moses, saying, 38Speak to the sons of Israel, and say to them, They made to them fringes of flowers upon the wings of their garment for their generations; and they gave upon the fringes of the wing a thread of cerulean purple; 39And it was to you for fringes, and ye saw it, and ye remembered all the commands of Jehovah, and ye did them; and ye shall not seek after your heart, and after your eyes, which ye committed fornication after them. 40So that ye shall remember, and ye did all my commands, and ye were holy to your God. 41I am Jehovah your God who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to be to you for 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.