Bible Commentaries
Numbers 15

Verses 1-41

15:1-19:22 LESSONS AT KADESH

Miscellaneous regulations (15:1-41)

Animal sacrifices that were wholly or partly burnt on the altar had to be accompanied by cereal offerings and drink offerings. The amounts of flour, oil and wine to be offered increased with the size of the animal (15:1-16; for details see notes on Leviticus 2:1-16). Another sort of offering was a cake made from the first lot of grain threshed after harvest. It was an acknowledgment that all grain came from God (17-21).

Should the people as a whole be guilty of sin through carelessness, they could ask God’s forgiveness by offering the required sacrifices (22-26). A similar provision was available for the individual who sinned through carelessness, but no provision was available for the person who sinned deliberately in bold defiance of God (27-31; for details see notes on Leviticus 4:1-13).

An example is then given of a person who defied God by deliberately breaking his law. The man was swiftly punished (32-36). Moses told the people that in future they were to wear cords and tassels on the corners of their clothes to remind them to keep God’s law (37-41; cf. Matthew 9:20; Matthew 23:5).