Numbers 15

After the failure and judgment of chapter 14, God speaks of the day Israel will enter the land. He gives rules for worship there, including how foreigners share in it, how sin is handled, and a sign to help the people remember. The chapter sets mercy for sins done in weakness against the seriousness of open rebellion.

Numbers 15:1-2

Right after Israel’s rebellion and the wilderness sentence, God speaks of the land as certain. Though a generation will die in the desert, His promise stands, and their children will enter. These instructions look ahead to a settled life, where worship will go on in a home God gives.

BSA: home (“dwelling place, habitation, seat”): The land is a place to settle and live, a gift from God and not something Israel wins by itself.

Numbers 15:3

Whatever an Israelite brought from herd or flock, whether for a vow, a freewill gift or a feast, was to be offered to please the LORD. The smoke rising from the altar pictured a life given to God and received by Him with delight.

BSA: pleasing aroma (“a soothing, fragrant smell”): The offering brings God’s delight and rest, not mere ritual obedience. freewill offering (“a voluntary gift”): Some sacrifices were given from a willing heart, not because they were demanded.

Hebrew: רֵיחַ נִיחֹחַ (rēaḥ nîḥōaḥ, H7381) — “a restful, soothing fragrance.” The second word is related to the Hebrew word for rest. The picture is of an offering that settles and satisfies, as a pleasant smell calms a person.

See also: Leviticus 1:9.

Numbers 15:4-5

Every animal offering was to come with a grain offering of fine flour and oil, and a drink offering of wine. For a lamb the amounts were small. Worship was not only the death of an animal. It also gave back the daily bread and the joy of the land.

BSA: grain offering (“meal offering, gift of fine flour”): It was a gift of ordinary food, showing that daily provision comes from God. drink offering (“a liquid poured out as a sacrifice, a libation”): The wine was poured out completely to God, not kept back.

Numbers 15:6-7

A ram, being larger than a lamb, required more flour, oil and wine. The pattern is simple: the bigger the offering, the bigger the accompanying gift. Again the result is called a pleasing aroma to the LORD, a sign that the worshiper is accepted.

Numbers 15:8-10

A young bull, whether offered to fulfill a vow or as a peace offering, needed the largest portions of flour, oil and wine. A peace offering was often a shared meal of thanks. In every case the whole act was meant to rise to God as a fragrant gift.

BSA: peace offering (“voluntary sacrifice to show thanks”): This sacrifice expressed gratitude and fellowship with God, not only the removal of guilt.

Numbers 15:11-12

The same measures applied to each animal, however many were brought. There was a set order for every offering, so worship was not left to guesswork or whim. God shows the people how He is to be approached, and the instruction is clear enough for anyone to follow.

Numbers 15:13-16

Foreigners living among Israel who wished to worship the LORD were to offer in exactly the same way. They were not second-class worshipers. One law, one standard and one welcome applied to all who came to Israel’s God.

BSA: foreign resident (“sojourner, stranger living among you”): These were outsiders who had settled among Israel, and God made room for them at His altar.

Hebrew: גֵּר (gēr, H1616) — “resident outsider, sojourner.” The word means someone who lives among a people not his own. God again and again commands that such a person be treated as one of the community.

See also: Exodus 12:49; Isaiah 56:6-7.

Numbers 15:17-21

When Israel eats the bread of the land, the first of the dough is to be lifted up to the LORD. The first portion honors Him as the giver of all that follows. It was also a way to be thankful at every baking, generation after generation.

BSA: lift up (“exalt, heave”): The portion was raised up and set apart for God, a sign that the whole batch came from Him.

Hebrew: תְּרוּמָה (terûmâ, H8641) — “a raised-up contribution.” The word comes from lifting. What was lifted was set apart for God, and the rest of the dough was then received as His gift.

See also: Proverbs 3:9; Romans 11:16.

Numbers 15:22-24

Now God addresses the whole community failing in some commandment without realizing it. For such a sin the congregation was to bring a bull as a burnt offering and a male goat as a sin offering. Even sin committed in ignorance mattered, and God made a way to deal with it.

BSA: sin offering (“an atonement, a purification”): This sacrifice dealt with the uncleanness sin leaves behind, not just the act itself.

Hebrew: שְׁגָגָה (shegagah, H7684) — “straying, going wrong by mistake.” The root pictures wandering off the path. It describes a failure that comes from weakness or oversight, not from deliberate defiance.

See also: Leviticus 4:13-14.

Numbers 15:25-26

The priest makes atonement for the whole people, and they are forgiven. This includes the foreigners among them. Forgiveness is not earned by the people but granted through the sacrifice the LORD Himself provided.

BSA: atonement (“cover, reconcile, restore”): Sin is covered and the broken relationship with God is mended. forgiven (“pardoned, released from guilt”): The guilt is truly lifted from the people, not merely set aside for a time.

Hebrew: כִּפֶּר (kipper, H3722) — “to cover over, to make atonement.” The word carries the sense of covering or wiping away. It is the root of the name of the Day of Atonement.

See also: Leviticus 16:30.

Numbers 15:27-29

When one individual sins unintentionally, he brings a year-old female goat, and the priest makes atonement. Then he is forgiven. The same provision applies to native-born and foreigner alike. God’s mercy reaches the single person as well as the nation.

See also: Leviticus 4:27-31.

Numbers 15:30-31

Sin done defiantly is different. It is not a slip but a deliberate challenge to God and a contempt for His word. No sacrifice is named for it here, and the person is cut off from the people. The guilt stays, because he has refused the way of mercy.

BSA: defiantly (“with a high hand, presumptuously”): The sinner shakes his fist at God, knowing His command and choosing to defy it. despised (“treated with contempt, held in low esteem”): The root of such sin is looking down on what God has said.

Hebrew: בְּיָד רָמָה (bĕyād rāmâ, H3027) — “with a raised hand.” The picture is a hand lifted in open defiance, the opposite of a person who strays by mistake.

See also: Hebrews 10:26-27.

Numbers 15:32-34

A man is caught gathering wood on the Sabbath, a day God had set apart for rest. The people do not act on their own judgment. They bring him to Moses, Aaron and the congregation, and hold him in custody until God says what is to be done.

BSA: custody (“guard, confinement”): He was shut up safely while the community waited for God’s ruling.

See also: Exodus 31:14-15.

Numbers 15:35-36

The LORD tells Moses that the man must die, and the whole congregation stones him outside the camp. It follows directly on the warning about sinning with a high hand. The Sabbath was a sign of the covenant, and this was a serious, deliberate breaking of it. The passage shows how seriously God takes His commands.

BSA: outside (“beyond the boundaries of”): The execution was carried out away from where God dwelt among His people.

Numbers 15:37-39

God gives a simple, visible reminder: tassels with a blue cord on the corners of their garments. Looking at them would bring His commands to mind. Without such reminders, the heart and eyes wander after what they desire, which God compares to unfaithfulness in marriage.

BSA: tassels (“fringes, reminders of God’s commands”): A small thing on the clothing was to call the whole law to mind throughout the day. prostitute (“fornicate, be unfaithful”): Following one’s own desires instead of God is pictured as faithlessness to a spouse.

Hebrew: צִיצִת (tsitsit, H6734) — “tassel, fringe.” The word is related to something that sprouts or catches the eye. The tassel was meant to be seen, so that God’s word would be noticed and not forgotten.

See also: Deuteronomy 22:12; Matthew 23:5.

Numbers 15:40-41

The purpose of the reminder is that Israel would remember, obey, and be holy to God. They are His because He rescued them from Egypt. The chapter closes where it began, with who God is. He is the LORD their God, who brought them out and claims them as His own.

BSA: holy (“set apart, sacred, or consecrated”): Holiness here means belonging to God and living as His people, not only being morally clean.

Hebrew: קְדֹשִׁים (qĕdōshîm, H6918) — “holy ones, set-apart people.” The word describes people set apart for God. Their holiness rests on belonging to Him first, and is not built from their own effort.

See also: Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15-16.