1Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and said, 2‘Speak to the children of Israel and tell them: When you enter the land that I will give you (and the place where you will live) 3and offer whole burnt offerings to Jehovah, or offerings to fulfill a vow, or free-will offerings, or feast sacrifices from the herd or flock as a sweet odor to Jehovah, 4the person who offers the gift must also bring a food offering of a quart of flour mixed with oil, 5and a quart [of wine] as a drink offering with each lamb that you sacrifice as a sweet odor to Jehovah. 6‘And when you offer a ram as a whole-burnt offering or sacrifice, you should prepare a food offering of two quarts of fine flour mixed with oil, 7and two quarts of wine as a drink offering, as a sweet odor to Jehovah. 8‘And if you offer a sacrifice from the herd as a whole-burnt offering, or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a peace offering to Jehovah, 9then along with the calf, add a food offering of three quarts of fine flour mixed with oil, 10and three quarts of wine as a drink offering, as a sweet odor to Jehovah. 11‘You must do this for each calf, ram, lamb, sheep, or goat kid that you offer. 12And you must do the same thing for each one, no matter how many you may offer. 13All the natives in the country must do this whenever they offer sacrifices as a sweet odor to Jehovah… 14whether the person is an alien in your land or someone who was born among you, they must offer [the same] sacrifices as a sweet odor to [Jehovah… everyone among the gathering must offer sacrifices to Jehovah! 15There must be just one law for you and for the aliens who live among you. It is a law through the ages and throughout your generations that the aliens must act as you do before Jehovah. 16Both you and the aliens who live among you must follow the same laws and regulations!’ 17Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and said, 18‘Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them: When you enter the land where I am taking you 19and you start eating bread from the land, you must set aside a special wave-offering to Jehovah from the first fruitage of your dough. 20You must set aside and offer your bread as a wave offering in the same way that you offer grain – 21as the first fruitage of your dough – and give it to Jehovah as a wave offering throughout your generations. 22‘Now, if you should fail to follow all these commandments that Jehovah gave to Moses, 23and which Moses has been telling you since the day that Jehovah selected you, and on through your generations, 24and if an error is committed by mistake and without the knowledge of the gathering, then the whole gathering must offer a perfect calf from the herd as a whole-burnt offering and as a sweet odor to Jehovah, along with food and drink offerings (according to the rules), and one goat kid as a sin offering. 25Then the Priest must make payment for the sins of the entire gathering of the children of Israel, and they will be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their gift as a burnt-offering to Jehovah for their error and involuntary sin. 26If it is a mistake, all must be forgiven, whether they are from the children of Israel or from the aliens that are living among you. 27‘And if a person sins by mistake, he must bring a yearling nanny goat as a sin offering. 28Then the Priest must [sacrifice it] to pay for the sin that was committed in error. 29This same law applies to the natives of the children of Israel and to the aliens who live among them… whoever commits an error unwittingly. 30‘And whenever any person – a native or an alien – does anything so presumptuous as to anger God, he must be cut off from among his people. 31For when he disregards the Word of Jehovah and breaks His Laws, that person must be found guilty of sin and destroyed.’ 32Well, it was while the children of Israel were in the desert that they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath. 33And those who found him doing this brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the entire gathering of the children of Israel. 34Then he was placed in custody, because they didn’t know what to do with him. 35But thereafter, Jehovah spoke to Moses and said, ‘The man must absolutely be put to death by the entire gathering. Stone him with rocks!’ 36So the entire gathering dragged him outside the camp and stoned him with rocks, just as Jehovah had commanded Moses. 37Then Jehovah spoke to Moses and said, 38‘Speak to the children of Israel and tell them that they must wear fringes on the bottoms of their clothing throughout all their generations. These fringes are to be made of blue lace. 39Then, whenever they look at these fringes, they must think of all the Commandments of Jehovah and remember to obey them, instead of turning back and following the immoral things of their imaginations. 40They must remember and obey all My Commandments, and be holy before Me, 41for I am Jehovah, the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt to be their 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.