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Numbers 15

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Laws for Grain and Drink Offerings 1–16

1
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you, ​
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And will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock:
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Then shall he that offereth his offering unto the LORD bring a meat offering of a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of oil. ​
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And the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb.
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Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare for a meat offering two tenth deals of flour mingled with the third part of an hin of oil.
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And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third part of an hin of wine, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.
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And when thou preparest a bullock for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice in performing a vow, or peace offerings unto the LORD:
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Then shall he bring with a bullock a meat offering of three tenth deals of flour mingled with half an hin of oil.
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And thou shalt bring for a drink offering half an hin of wine, for an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
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Thus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or for a lamb, or a kid.
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According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number.
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All that are born of the country shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.
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And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD; as ye do, so he shall do.
15
One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD. ​
16
One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you.

Offering the Firstfruits of Dough 17–21

17
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you,
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Then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the LORD. ​
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Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for an heave offering: as ye do the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it.
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Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering in your generations.

Atonement for Unintentional Sins 22–29

22
And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses, ​
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Even all that the LORD hath commanded you by the hand of Moses, from the day that the LORD commanded Moses, and henceforward among your generations;
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Then it shall be, if ought be committed by ignorance without the knowledge of the congregation, that all the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering, for a sweet savour unto the LORD, with his meat offering, and his drink offering, according to the manner, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. ​
25
And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it is ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance:
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And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people were in ignorance.
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And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering.
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And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him.
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Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, both for him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.

The Penalty for Presumptuous Sin 30–31

30
But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. ​
31
Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him. ​

The Sabbath Breaker Executed 32–36

32
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. ​
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And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation.
34
And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him.
35
And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. ​
36
And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.

The Command to Wear Tassels (Tzitzit) 37–41

37
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
38
Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: ​
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And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: ​
40
That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.
41
I am the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the LORD your God.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Numbers 15

Verse 2

the land of your habitations — Moshab, a dwelling-place, the word of ‘throughout your habitations’ (Ex 35:3). The LORD calls it the land ‘which I give unto you’ right after the sentence on the unbelieving generation (Num 14:29–34), with the promise kept for their children: ‘them will I bring in’ (Num 14:31).

Verse 4

a meat offering of a tenth deal of flour — ‘Meat’ is the old word for food; the Hebrew is minchah, the grain offering. It is measured to the animal: a tenth of flour with a lamb (vv.4–5), two tenths with a ram (v.6), three with a bullock (v.9). The lamb’s measure is that of the daily offering (Ex 29:40).

Verse 15

One ordinance — Chuqqah, an ordinance, spoken of ‘you’ and of ‘the stranger’ (ger, a sojourner living among them) together: ‘as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD’. The same one law governs the Passover (Ex 12:49; Num 9:14) and the sins of ignorance in v.29, and ‘one manner of law’ returns in Lev 24:22.

Verse 19

an heave offering — Terumah, from rum, to lift up; the Hebrew reads ‘lift up a lifting’. It is taken when Israel eats ‘of the bread of the land’, as they first did at Gilgal, where ‘the manna ceased’ after they ate ‘of the old corn of the land’ (Josh 5:11–12). Verse 20 names it: ‘a cake of the first of your dough’.

Verse 22

if ye have erred — Shagah, to stray, as a sheep strays; the noun shegagah, ‘ignorance’, appears in vv.24–29. Lev 4:2 provides for the same sin ‘through ignorance’, and Hebrews speaks of ‘the errors of the people’ (Heb 9:7). Verses 22–29 give an offering for the congregation and for the individual; vv.30–31 deal with the sin done ‘presumptuously’.

Verse 24

one young bullock for a burnt offering — ‘Without the knowledge of the congregation’ is literally ‘from the eyes of the congregation’, as in Lev 4:13, ‘hid from the eyes of the assembly’. The bullock goes up for ‘a sweet savour unto the LORD’ (nichoach), with its grain and drink offerings, and one kid of the goats is the sin offering.

Verse 30

doeth ought presumptuously — Literally ‘with a high hand’ (beyad ramah), the phrase for Israel going out of Egypt ‘with an high hand’ (Ex 14:8): a hand raised in boldness. ‘Reproacheth’ is gadaph, to revile, the verb of Isa 37:6, ‘have blasphemed me’. The penalty, ‘cut off’ (karath), falls on the home-born and the stranger alike.

Verse 31

despised the word of the LORD — Bazah, to hold in contempt, the verb Nathan used to David: ‘Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD’ (2 Sam 12:9). ‘Broken’ is parar, to make void, as in ‘they have made void thy law’ (Ps 119:126). ‘Utterly be cut off’ repeats the verb: the guilt, ‘his iniquity’, stays on him.

Verse 32

gathered sticks upon the sabbath day — The commandment was ‘Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy’ (Ex 20:8), with the word, ‘Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day’ (Ex 35:3). The man is found ‘in the wilderness’ and brought to Moses, Aaron and the whole congregation (v.33); vv.34–35 give the outcome.

Verse 35

shall be surely put to death — The sentence is that of Ex 31:14, ‘every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death’. The man had been put ‘in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him’ (v.34); the LORD now names it, stoning by ‘all the congregation … without the camp’, the place where the blasphemer was also stoned (Lev 24:14).

Verse 38

fringes in the borders of their garments — Tsitsith, fringes, with ‘a ribband of blue’ (pethil techeleth), the same blue lace that held the plate ‘HOLINESS TO THE LORD’ on the high priest’s mitre (Ex 28:36–37). Kraspedon, the New Testament’s word for this fringe, is the ‘hem’ of Christ’s garment touched by the sick (Matt 9:20; 14:36) and the Pharisees’ enlarged ‘borders’ (Matt 23:5).

Verse 39

seek not after your own heart and your own eyes — ‘Seek’ is tur, to spy out, the verb of the men sent to ‘search the land’ (Num 13:2, 17; 14:6–7). The fringe is to be looked on, so as to ‘remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them’; v.40 adds, ‘be holy unto your God’. ‘Go a whoring’ is the word of Ps 73:27, ‘all them that go a whoring from thee’.