Read Numbers 15
Supplementary Offerings
15 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home 3 and you present to the Lord food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the Lord—whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings— 4 then the person who brings an offering shall present to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of olive oil. 5 With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
6 “‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with a third of a hin of olive oil, 7 and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
8 “‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the Lord, 9 bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of the finest flour mixed with half a hinof olive oil, 10 and also bring half a hin of wine as a drink offering. This will be a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 11 Each bull or ram, each lamb or young goat, is to be prepared in this manner. 12 Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare.
13 “‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord. 14 For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, they must do exactly as you do. 15 The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the Lord: 16 The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’”
17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land to which I am taking you 19 and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the Lord. 20 Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor. 21 Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the Lord from the first of your ground meal.
Offerings for Unintentional Sins
22 “‘Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the Lord gave Moses— 23 any of the Lord’s commands to you through him, from the day the Lord gave them and continuing through the generations to come— 24 and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the Lord, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering. 25 The priest is to make atonement for the whole Israelite community, and they will be forgiven, for it was not intentional and they have presented to the Lord for their wrong a food offering and a sin offering.26 The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong.
27 “‘But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven. 29 One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you.
30 “‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner,blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel.31 Because they have despised the Lord’s word and broken his commands,they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’”
The Sabbath-Breaker Put to Death
32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34 and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” 36 So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Tassels on Garments
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39 You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’”
Go Deeper
Israel was at one of the lowest points in its history. They had just rebelliously rejected God’s promise to bring the nation into Canaan. God sentenced them to wander in the wilderness for 38 years until the unbelieving generation had perished in the wilderness and a new generation of faith could take the Promised Land. Yet, immediately after this stinging rebellion and the chastisement from the LORD, Israel received valuable examples of God’s mercy, care, and help to Israel.
Yet, God cared for Israel. He cared so much for them that he gave instructions for how to present offerings when they would enter the land (keeping His promise) and in times of unintentional sin. These instructions were intended to give Israel another chance, a do over- if you will. God showed grace early and often to the Israelites just as He does to us today. He refers to successful offerings as a “sweet aroma.”
The ultimate sweet aroma came in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ to come would be perfectly sweet and pleasing to God, and therefore be offered once-for-all (Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:12, Hebrews 10:10). This is a reminder of the truth of John 3:16 and just how much God loves the world.
He has loved us since before He created us and His grace and mercy permeates not only the trials and tribulations of the Israelites in the Old Testament, but to and through us as believers today. No elaborate sacrifices, just trust and abide in Him.
Questions
- How does God continue to show you mercy and grace, even when you are rebellious?
- How can you become more aware of unintentional sin and how to correct it in your life?
- What does the word abide hold for you when you think about your relationship with Jesus.
Pray This
Heavenly Father,
I know I fall short every day in intentional and unintentional ways. Help me see my blind spots where I can lean on you even more. Thank you for your continuous mercy and grace as you deliver me from the distractions of this world and the evil in it.
I pray this in Your name. Amen.
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4 thoughts on “Numbers 15”
As one who is wired to need visual representations for true understanding, I was especially drawn to God’s command to attach tassels to hems of clothing, “You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes” (39). God knew our fickle minds were prone to wander and drift into worldly things, so in his kindness he made a way to be reminded to stay the course that leads to righteousness. I have “tassels” all around my home and workplace to remind me to seek the Lord, mainly scriptures framed that train my heart to serve the Lord, and not myself.
*I wonder if the woman who had the issue of blood who Jesus tenderly healed in the gospels saw a tassel on his garment and had the courage to reach out and touch it to receive her miracle.
As a parent, I always wanted to be consistent with “rules”. God is very consistent with His rules. Even though in the last chapter the Israelites totally disobeyed, God in this chapter gives them opportunities for His mercy. He gave them the chance to right the relationship and to give thanks. But the Israelites disobeyed and God gave punishment, they already knew the consequences of what would happen. What about the guy with the sticks? Sin is serious, especially when you know that it is sin and you do it anyway. Consequences of knowingly sinning is not good. God hates sin and He cannot be nor will be around it. What I see is do not walk around in secret sin, God does not tolerate lip services and games. What a sobering reminder for me to know God’s grace and mercies are new every morning BUT we have to confess, surrender and give Him a sweet smelling aroma of thanksgiving to start fresh.
God thank You for Your grace and mercy. Thank You for forgiveness of sins. Thank You for communicating with me about how ugly knowing about a sin is and doing it anyway. God as I go through the minutes of this day, help me to continue to abide with You. Thank You for bringing scripture to mind and songs in my heart, great is Your faithfulness to me!!! O taste and see!! That You are good, glorify the Lord with me, I exalt Your name forever!!! in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!
So you will REMEMBER all the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40 Then you will REMEMBER to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’”
So, I’ve got some things to remember!
I too learn by visual representations and my home is full of reminders. (tassels) My framed “fruits of the spirit” Galatians 5:22-23 hangs in my kitchen, and it brings to mind my behavior and thoughts daily. My prayer is that holy Spirit brings to mind any unintentional sin, so that I may repent and seek my Lord’s forgiveness. In Jesus name, amen.