Numbers 15:24

_THEN IT SHALL BE, IF OUGHT BE COMMITTED BY IGNORANCE WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONGREGATION, THAT ALL THE CONGREGATION SHALL OFFER ONE YOUNG BULLOCK FOR A BURNT OFFERING, FOR A SWEET SAVOUR UNTO THE LORD, WITH HIS MEAT OFFERING, AND HIS DRINK OFFERING, ACCORDING TO THE MANNER, AND ONE KID OF THE GOATS FOR A SIN OFFERING._ If ought be committed by ignorance. The Mosaic ritual was complicated, and the ceremonies to be gone through in the various instances of purification which are specified, would expose a worshipper, through ignorance, to the risk of omitting or neglecting some of them. This law included the stranger in the number of those for whom the sacrifice was offered for the sin of general ignorance....

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....

Verse Numbers 15:24. _IF_ AUGHT _BE COMMITTED BY IGNORANCE_] Leviticus 4:2, and _"_Leviticus 5:17_"_. The case here probably refers to the whole congregation; the cases above, to the sin of an individual....

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

THEN IT SHALL BE, IF [OUGHT] BE COMMITTED BY IGNORANCE,.... Of the law of God, not clearly understanding the meaning of it, or not knowing of the several precepts of it, and the circumstances of each, and the manner of performing obedience thereunto: WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE CONGREGATION; or they being ignorant of the true intent of the law and form of obeying it; for this is to be understood not of the sin of a private person through ignorance, but of the body of the people; or of a congregation of them in some particular place, ignorantly and unawares falling into idolatry, or rather into a breach of any of the laws of God, moral or ceremonial: THAT ALL THE CONGREGATION SHALL OFFER ONE YOUNG BULLOCK FOR A BURNT OFFERING, FOR A SWEET SAVOUR UNTO THE LORD; as an acceptable sacrifice to him; by which it appears that this law is different from that in...

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....

THEN IT SHALL BE, &C.— See Leviticus 13:21 where the law, as it is generally thought, relates to trespasses of commission, as here to those of omission. See Calmet and Outram de Sacrif. REFLECTIONS.—We have here the sacrifices for sins of ignorance, 1. Of the whole congregation: 2. Of a private person. Sin must be atoned for, or it would destroy us. The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sins, not only from those which we feel and lament, but those also that through our blindness we cannot see. Indeed, who can understand all his errors? Lord, cleanse thou me from my secret faults!...