Numbers15
New American Standard
1Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
2“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where you are going to live, which I am giving you,
3and you make an offering by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, or as a voluntary offering or at your appointed times, to make a soothing aroma to the Lord from the herd or from the flock,
4then the one who presents his offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil,
5and you shall prepare wine for the drink offering, a fourth of a hin, with the burnt offering or for 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 a third of a hin of oil;
7and for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine as a soothing aroma to the Lord.
8And when you prepare a bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a special vow, or for peace offerings to the Lord,
9then you shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil;
10and you shall offer as the drink offering half a hin of wine as an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord.
11‘This is how it shall be done for each ox, or for each ram, or for each of the male lambs, or of the goats.
12According to the number that you prepare, so you shall do for each one according to their number.
13Everyone who is a native shall do these things in this way, in presenting an offering by fire as a soothing aroma to the Lord.
14Now if a stranger resides among you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wants to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, just as you do so shall he do.
15As for the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who resides among you, a permanent statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the stranger be before the Lord.
16There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the stranger who resides with you.’”
17Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
18“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land where I am bringing you,
19then it shall be, that when you eat from the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the Lord.
20Of the first of your dough you shall lift up a loaf as an offering; as an offering of the threshing floor, so you shall lift it up.
21From the first of your dough you shall give to the Lord an offering throughout your generations.
22‘But when you unintentionally do wrong and fail to comply with all these commandments which the Lord has spoken to Moses,
23that is, all that the Lord has commanded you through Moses from the day that the Lord gave commandments and onward, throughout your generations,
24then it shall be, if it is done unintentionally, without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one bull as a burnt offering, as a soothing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering.
25Then the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they will be forgiven; for it was an unintentional wrong, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord, for their unintentional wrong.
26So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, as well as the stranger who resides among them, for guilt was attributed to all the people through an unintentional wrong.
27‘Also, if one person sins unintentionally, then he shall offer a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering.
28And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who goes astray by an unintentional sin, making atonement for him so that he may be forgiven.
29You shall have one law for the native among the sons of Israel and for the stranger who resides among them, for one who does anything wrong unintentionally.
30But the person who does wrong defiantly, whether he is a native or a stranger, that one is blaspheming the Lord; and that person shall be cut off from among his people.
31Since he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken His commandment, that person shall be completely cut off; his guilt will be on him.’”
32Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
33And those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation;
34and they placed him in custody, because it had not been decided what should be done to him.
35Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”
36So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
37The Lord also spoke to Moses, saying,
38“Speak to the sons of Israel and tell them that they shall make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and that they shall put on the tassel of each corner a violet thread.
39It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so that you will do them and not follow your own heart and your own eyes, which led you to prostitute yourselves,
40so that you will remember and do all My commandments and be holy to your God.
41I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt to be your God; I am the Lord your God.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Numbers 15.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: The law of the meat-offering and the drink-offering, The stranger under the same law. (1–21). The sacrifice for the sin of ignorance. (22–29). The punishment of presumption, The sabbath-breaker stoned. (30–36). The law for fringes on garment. (37–41).
vv1-21
Full instructions are given about the meat-offerings and drink-offerings. The beginning of this law is very encouraging, When ye come into the land of your habitation which I give unto you. This was a plain intimation that God would secure the promised land to their seed. It was requisite, since the sacrifices of acknowledgment were intended as the food of God's table, that there should be a constant supply of bread, oil, and wine, whatever the flesh-meat was. And the intent of this law is to direct the proportions of the meat-offering and drink-offering. Natives and strangers are placed on a level in this as in other like matters. It was a happy forewarning of the calling of the Gentiles, and of their admission into the church. If the law made so little difference between Jew and Gentile, much less would the gospel, which broke down the partition-wall, and reconciled both to God.
vv22-29
Though ignorance will in a degree excuse, it will not justify those who might have known their Lord's will, yet did it not. David prayed to be cleansed from his secret faults, those sins which he himself was not aware of. Sins committed ignorantly, shall be forgiven through Christ the great Sacrifice, who, when he offered up himself once for all upon the cross, seemed to explain one part of the intention of his offering, in that prayer, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. It looked favourably upon the Gentiles, that this law of atoning for sins of ignorance, is expressly made to extend to those who were strangers to Israel.
vv30-36
Those are to be reckoned presumptuous sinners, who sin designedly against God's will and glory. Sins thus committed are exceedingly sinful. He that thus breaks the commandment reproaches the Lord. He also despises the word of the Lord. Presumptuous sinners despise it, thinking themselves too great, too good, and too wise, to be ruled by it. A particular instance of presumption in the sin of sabbath-breaking is related. The offence was gathering sticks on the sabbath day, to make a fire, whereas the people were to bake and seethe what they had occasion for, the day before, Ex 16:23. This was done as an affront both to the law and to the Lawgiver. God is jealous for the honour of his sabbaths, and will not hold him guiltless who profanes them, whatever men may do. God intended this punishment for a warning to all, to make conscience of keeping holy the sabbath. And we may be assured that no command was ever given for the punishment of sin, which, at the judgment day, shall not prove to have come from perfect love and justice. The right of God to a day of devotion to himself, will be disputed and denied only by such as listen to the pride and unbelief of their hearts, rather than to the teaching of the Spirit of truth and life. Wherein consists the difference between him who was detected gathering sticks in the wilderness on the day of God, and the man who turns his back upon the blessings of sabbath appointments, and the promises of sabbath mercies, to use his time, his cares, and his soul, in heaping up riches; and waste his hours, his property, and his strength in sinful pleasure? Wealth may come by the unhallowed effort, but it will not come alone; it will have its awful reward. Sinful pursuits lead to ruin.
Key Words
דָבַר: perhaps properly, to arrange; but used figuratively (of words), to speak; rarely (in a destructive sense) to subdue
מֹשֶׁה: Mosheh, the Israelite lawgiver
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
אֶרֶץ: the earth (at large, or partitively a land)
מוֹשָׁב: a seat; figuratively, a site; abstractly, a session; by extension an abode (the place or the time); by implication, population
אֲשֶׁר: who, which, what, that; also (as an adverb and a conjunction) when, where, how, because, in order that, etc.
נָתַן: to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etc.)
Cross References
Numbers 15Calvin highlights this as a parallel command for outward aids to keep God's word in memory.
Supported by John Calvin
Establishes the explicit penalty of death for Sabbath-breaking, which caused the rulers' initial embarrassment.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The foundational law stating one law shall apply to both the homeborn and the stranger.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, JFB
Clarifies that the heave offering of dough is given to the priests of the Lord.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
JFB contrasts this collective omission with Leviticus 4:13's positive transgression of commands.
Supported by JFB
Henry notes gathering sticks violated the directive to prepare Sabbath food the day before.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel command to make fringes upon the four quarters of vestments to remember commands.
Supported by Matthew Henry, John Calvin, JFB
Demonstrates that 'sacrifice' is used in the sense of a peace offering.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Defines a tenth deal as an omer, the tenth part of an ephah.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel instance of putting an offender in ward because the judgment was not yet declared.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Christ references the scribes and Pharisees enlarging the borders (fringes) of their garments.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Poole notes oil-mingled meat offerings were typically accompaniments, except in the leper's cleansing.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Henry connects the atonement for ignorance to Christ's prayer: 'forgive them; they know not what they do.'
Supported by Matthew Henry
David prays specifically to be kept back from 'presumptuous sins' like those warned of here.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
New Testament warning against sinning wilfully after receiving knowledge of the truth.
Supported by Matthew Henry