Numbers 15:14

_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._ A stranger - one who had become a proselyte. There was not any of the national privileges of the Israelites, with hardly an exception, in which the Gentile stranger might not, on conforming to certain conditions, fully participate....

14._And if a stranger sojourn with you. _He does not mean all strangers, but only those who, descending from heathen nations, had professedly turned to God, and thus had been received into the body of the Church; for the uncleanness of those who remained in uncircumcision excluded them from the legal service. I conceive that there were two reasons why God would have one and the same form observed;_first, _that the proselytes who had been lately incorporated might more cheerfully devote themselves to the exercises of piety, when they saw themselves placed in the same position as the children of Abraham; and _secondly, _lest if any distinction should be made, corrupt mixtures should immediately creep in. Lest, therefore, the purity of God’s worship should be gradually corrupted by absurd imitation, the gate was shut against that variety which usually draws men aside in different directions...

1-21 Full instructions are given about the meat-offerings and drink-offerings. The beginning of this law is very encouraging, When ye come into the land of your habitation which I give unto you. This was a plain intimation that God would secure the promised land to their seed. It was requisite, since the sacrifices of acknowledgment were intended as the food of God's table, that there should be a constant supply of bread, oil, and wine, whatever the flesh-meat was. And the intent of this law is to direct the proportions of the meat-offering and drink-offering. Natives and strangers are placed on a level in this as in other like matters. It was a happy forewarning of the calling of the Gentiles, and of their admission into the church. If the law made so little difference between Jew and Gentile, much less would the gospel, which broke down the partition-wall, and reconciled both to God....

Verse Numbers 15:14. _IF A STRANGER SOJOURN_] See the notes on Le 19:33; Le 22:9. When the case of the Jewish people is fairly considered, and their situation with respect to the surrounding idolatrous nations, we shall see the absolute necessity of having but one _form_ of _worship_ in the land. That alone was genuine which was prescribed by the Almighty, and no others could be tolerated, because they were idolatrous. All _strangers _- all that came to _sojourn_ in the land, were required to conform to it; and it was right that those who did conform to it should have equal rights and privileges with the Hebrews themselves, which we find was the case. But under the Christian dispensation, as no particular _form_ of worship is prescribed, the types and ceremonies of the Mosaic institution being all fulfilled, unlimited toleration should be allowed; and whi...

EXPOSITION VARIOUS LAWS OF SACRIFICE (Numbers 15:1). NUMBERS 15:1 THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES. IT must have been during the years of wandering, but within those limits it is impossible even to conjecture the probable date. There is no external evidence, and the internal evidence is wholly indecisive. Neither can it be reasonably maintained that these regulations were designed to revive the hope and sustain the faith of the rising generation. Incidentally they may have had some effect in that way, but it is evident that the primary object of their promulgation was simply to supply certain defects and omissions in the Levitical legislation. Why that legislation should have had the frag

AND IF A STRANGER SOJOURN WITH YOU,.... A stranger, or proselyte, not of the gate, but of righteousness, as Ben Gersom and the Jewish, writers in general interpret it; OR WHATSOEVER [BE] AMONG YOU IN YOUR GENERATIONS; whether such a proselyte settled and continued among them, or only stayed with them awhile: AND WILL OFFER AN OFFERING MADE BY FIRE OF A SWEET SAVOUR UNTO THE LORD; is desirous of offering a burnt offering or a peace offering to the Lord in an acceptable manner: AS YE DO, SO SHALL HE DO; bring the same meat offering and drink offering, according to the nature and number of the cattle he brings for sacrifice....

5. VARIOUS LAWS, THE SABBATH-BREAKER, AND THE TASSELS ON THE GARMENTS CHAPTER 15 _ 1. Concerning offerings in the land (Numbers 15:1)_ 2. The second communication concerning offerings (Numbers 15:17) 3. The Sabbath-breaker (Numbers 15:32) 4. The tassels on the garments (Numbers 15:37) The historical account is here interrupted. What the critics have to say about this chapter speaking of it as an evidence of the patchwork of different persons, we care not to follow. Our space is too valuable for that. The chapter is beautifully in order at this point. God gave two communications to M

NUMBERS 15. A NUMBER OF DETACHED REGULATIONS (from P). NUMBERS 15:1. THE QUANTITIES OF FLOUR, OIL, AND WINE APPROPRIATE TO VARIOUS SACRIFICES. The practice of adding such accompaniments to flesh-offerings preserves the primitive idea that certain sacrifices were meals of which the deity partook (_cf._ Judges 9:13; 1 Samuel 1:24, Bel. 3- 6). The use of corn and wine in sacrifice could have come into vogue only after Israel had ceased to be a pastoral and had become an agricultural people. Wine probably replaced milk, which, though it does not occur among the offerings prescribed in the Jewish law, was offered by the Arabs, as also by the Carthaginians (a Phœ nician race). Milk formed the libation at the earl

OFFER. prepare. Hebrew. _'asah._ App-43. AS. according as. HE. the stranger....

_Meal-offerings and Libations_. These are to accompany both private and public sacrifices, and are arranged according to a fixed scale as follows (_ephah_= _c._1 bushel; _hin_= _c._1½ gallon): _Meal. Oil. Wine_. With every lamb 1/10 ephah. ¼ hin. ¼ hin. With every ram 2/10 ephah ⅓ hin. ⅓ hin. With every bullock 3/10 ephah. ½ hin. ½ hin. It will be seen that the amount in each case varies according to the size of the animal. Ezekiel, in his ideal arrangements for worship in the restored Jerusalem, has a similar scale (Ezekiel 46:5-7; Ezekiel 46:11; Ezekiel 46:14), but the amounts are larger, they are not graduated so carefully with respect to the size of the animal, and the libation of