Chapter Fifteen

About the quantity of grain offerings and libations in sacrifices. – First fruits of dough. – Sins of weakness, through oversight and error. – Sins through deliberate intent. Punishment of a Sabbath violator. – Tassels on the clothing of the Israelites.

Numbers 15:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Numbers 15:2. Declare to the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land of your dwelling, which I give you, Numbers 15:3. and you bring an offering to the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice from cattle or sheep, in fulfillment of a vow, or as a voluntary offering, or in your festivals, so as to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord, – Numbers 15:4. then the one bringing the offering to the Lord shall present a grain offering of one tenth of a measure of fine wheat flour mixed with one fourth of a hin of oil; Numbers 15:5. and wine for a libation bring one fourth of a hin for the burnt offering or the slaughtered sacrifice, for each lamb. Numbers 15:6. And when bringing a ram, present a grain offering of two tenths of a measure of fine wheat flour mixed with one third of a hin of oil; Numbers 15:7. and wine for a libation bring one third of a hin as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Numbers 15:8. If you bring a young bull for a burnt offering or a slaughtered sacrifice, in fulfillment of a vow or as a peace offering to the Lord, Numbers 15:9. then with the bull you shall present a grain offering of three tenths of a measure of fine wheat flour mixed with half a hin of oil; Numbers 15:10. and for a libation bring half a hin of wine as an offering, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Numbers 15:11. Do this for each young bull, each ram, and each male lamb from the sheep or goats; Numbers 15:12. According to the number of sacrifices you present, do this for each one, according to their number. See (Exod 29:40; Lev 23:13). One tenth of a measure equals approximately 3½ pounds; one fourth of a hin equals 2 bottles.

Numbers 15:13. Every native-born Israelite shall do this, bringing an offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord; Numbers 15:14. and if a foreigner comes to live among you, or if anyone among you in your generations brings an offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, then that person shall do as you do; Numbers 15:15. for you, the community, and for the foreigner living among you, there shall be one statute, an eternal statute throughout your generations: you and the foreigner shall be alike before the Lord; Numbers 15:16. one law and one rule shall apply to you and to the foreigner living among you. A native-born Israelite is one having settled in Canaan with ownership rights. A foreigner is a non-Israelite who has accepted circumcision and become a member of the Israelite community.

Numbers 15:17. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Numbers 15:18. Declare to the children of Israel and say to them: When you enter the land to which I am bringing you, Numbers 15:19. and you eat the bread of the land, you shall set apart a contribution to the Lord; Numbers 15:20. from the first of your dough you shall set apart a cake as a contribution; as a contribution from the threshing floor, so you shall set it apart; Numbers 15:21. from the first of your dough you shall give a contribution to the Lord throughout your generations. In Exod 22:29 and Exod 23:19 it is commanded to bring from the first fruits of the land, from the threshing floor and from the wine press. In other places it is explained that the first fruits of the land are presented in the form of: a) dried and ground grain with oil and frankincense (Lev 2:14); b) the first sheaf of the harvest on the sixteenth of Abib (Exod 23:19; Lev 23:10-11); c) two loaves of contribution on the day of Pentecost (Lev 23:17). In the passages being commented on, a new type of contribution from the first fruits is established: a contribution of first fruits from the dough in the form of a cake. The contributions were the property of the priests.

Numbers 15:22. If you transgress and do not keep all these commandments that the Lord spoke through Moses, Numbers 15:23. all that the Lord commanded you through Moses, from that day when the Lord gave the commandment and onward throughout your generations, – Numbers 15:24. then, if an error was committed through the oversight of the community, the entire community shall present one young bull without blemish as a burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and libation according to the statute, and one male goat as a sin offering; Numbers 15:25. and the priest shall make atonement for the entire community of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering to the Lord and their sin offering before the Lord for their error; Numbers 15:26. and the entire community of the children of Israel shall be forgiven, as well as the foreigner living among them, because the whole people committed this error. Numbers 15:27. If a single person sins through error, that person shall present a one-year-old female goat as a sin offering; Numbers 15:28. and the priest shall make atonement for the soul that has erred and sinned, before the Lord, and atonement shall be made for it, and it shall be forgiven; Numbers 15:29. one law shall apply to you, both for the native-born among the children of Israel and for the foreigner living among you, if anyone commits an error. See the book Lev 4.

Numbers 15:30. If anyone, whether a native or a foreigner, acts defiantly, that person insults the Lord: that person shall be cut off from the people, “To act defiantly” means to fall into sin not through weakness, not through ignorance or error, but deliberately, with the purpose of openly opposing the law.

Numbers 15:38. Speak to the children of Israel and say to them that they shall make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put a blue thread on the tassel at each corner; “Out of blue thread,” because the blue color, explains blessed Theodoret, reminds a person of heaven (Commentary on the Book of Numbers, question 31). Later on, the custom of sewing on tassels was preserved, but the meaning of this custom was lost, as we see from the rebuke of the Savior. At the present time, Jews use the tallit (a mantle with tassels) only during synagogal worship.