Numbers 15:23

_EVEN ALL THAT THE LORD HATH COMMANDED YOU BY THE HAND OF MOSES, FROM THE DAY THAT THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES, AND HENCEFORWARD AMONG YOUR GENERATIONS;_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

22-29 Though ignorance will in a degree excuse, it will not justify those who might have known their Lord's will, yet did it not. David prayed to be cleansed from his secret faults, those sins which he himself was not aware of. Sins committed ignorantly, shall be forgiven through Christ the great Sacrifice, who, when he offered up himself once for all upon the cross, seemed to explain one part of the intention of his offering, in that prayer, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. It looked favourably upon the Gentiles, that this law of atoning for sins of ignorance, is expressly made to extend to those who were strangers to Israel....

The heavy punishments which had already overtaken the people might naturally give rise to apprehensions for the future, especially in view of the fact that on the approaching entrance into Canaan the complete observance of the Law in all its details would become imperative on them. To meet such apprehensions a distinction is emphatically drawn between sins of ignorance (Leviticus 4:13 ff) and those of presumption Numbers 15:30. The passage deals separately with imperfections of obedience which would be regarded as attaching to the whole nation Numbers 15:22, and those of individuals Numbers 15:27....

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

[EVEN] ALL THAT THE LORD HATH COMMANDED YOU BY THE HAND OF MOSES,.... Recorded in this book and the two preceding, whether of a moral, ceremonial, or judicial kind; the whole body of laws given to the people of Israel from the Lord by Moses: FROM THE DAY THAT THE LORD COMMANDED [MOSES], AND HENCEFORWARD AMONG YOUR GENERATIONS; all that he had commanded, or should hereafter command....

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

_Errors of the whole congregation_. No detailed instances are given; but such errors might consist in some mistake or omission in ritual, or some miscarriage of justice discovered too late; or the error might not be traceable, but the occurrence of some public catastrophe or trouble would be assumed to be a divine punishment for a mistake which had been committed....

ALL THAT THE LORD HATH COMMANDED YOU, &C.— It has been conjectured from this verse, that the laws in the present chapter were delivered towards the end of their peregrinations, and not long before their settlement in Canaan; consequently, at a time when the greater part of the mutinous generation mentioned in the former chapter had been cut off by death. Though this is very uncertain, it is plain, from the second verse, that they were not obliged to the observance of these laws till settled in Canaan; the reason of which, probably, was, that they could not be provided with the matter of their sacrifices in such plenty as was necessary to perform all the ceremonies here required....

PART THREE: THE YEARS OF WANDERING (NUMBERS 15; NUMBERS 16; NUMBERS 17; NUMBERS 18; NUMBERS 19; NUMBERS 20; NUMBERS 21) I. IN PARAN (Numbers 15; Numbers 16; Numbers 17;...