July 3, 2019
Welcome, Foreigner. Go Welcome Foreigners.
Numbers 15
Cliff Aldredge
Central Truth
God’s plan has always been to use His people to continue telling the truth about His goodness—from Adam to Noah to Abraham to David to Paul, and to you and me. He calls us as strangers (foreigners) and sends us to bring more like us to Him.
Key Verse | Numbers 15:14
“And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he shall do as you do.”
Numbers 15
Laws About Sacrifices
1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, 3 and you offer to the LORD from the herd or from the flock a food offering 1 15:3 Or an offering by fire; so throughout Numbers or a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed feasts, to make a pleasing aroma to the LORD, 4 then he who brings his offering shall offer to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah 2 15:4 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters of fine flour, mixed with a quarter of a hin 3 15:4 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters of oil; 5 and you shall offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of wine for the drink offering for each lamb. 6 Or for a ram, you shall offer for a grain offering two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil. 7 And for the drink offering you shall offer a third of a hin of wine, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 8 And when you offer a bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or for peace offerings to the LORD, 9 then one shall offer with the bull a grain offering of three tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil. 10 And you shall offer for the drink offering half a hin of wine, as a food offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
11 Thus it shall be done for each bull or ram, or for each lamb or young goat. 12 As many as you offer, so shall you do with each one, as many as there are. 13 Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in offering a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. 14 And if a stranger is sojourning with you, or anyone is living permanently among you, and he wishes to offer a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he shall do as you do. 15 For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you, a statute forever throughout your generations. You and the sojourner shall be alike before the LORD. 16 One law and one rule shall be for you and for the stranger who sojourns with you.”
17 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you 19 and when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall present a contribution to the LORD. 20 Of the first of your dough you shall present a loaf as a contribution; like a contribution from the threshing floor, so shall you present it. 21 Some of the first of your dough you shall give to the LORD as a contribution throughout your generations.
Laws About Unintentional Sins
22 But if you sin unintentionally, 4 15:22 Or by mistake; also verses 24, 27, 28, 29 and do not observe all these commandments that the LORD has spoken to Moses, 23 all that the LORD has commanded you by Moses, from the day that the LORD gave commandment, and onward throughout your generations, 24 then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge of the congregation, all the congregation shall offer one bull from the herd for a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the rule, and one male goat for a sin offering. 25 And the priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the people of Israel, and they shall be forgiven, because it was a mistake, and they have brought their offering, a food offering to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD for their mistake. 26 And all the congregation of the people of Israel shall be forgiven, and the stranger who sojourns among them, because the whole population was involved in the mistake.
27 If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. 28 And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. 29 You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 30 But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”
A Sabbathbreaker Executed
32 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. 34 They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. 35 And the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Tassels on Garments
37 The LORD said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 39 And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow 5 15:39 Hebrew to spy out after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.”
Dive Deeper | Numbers 15
This chapter shows God giving the Israelites more laws to help them celebrate His goodness with increasing and specific gratitude. Among those laws is an amazing verse that shows aspects of God’s character that can be easy to miss in the Old Testament.
He welcomes the foreigner (stranger) into His chosen people. He does not exclude. He has a plan to pursue and rescue.
With the perfect law, God intends to set His chosen people apart from the culture around them by the way they choose to conduct themselves and then to bless them because they are living life in a way that matches up with the way the Creator of life intended it to be lived (James 1:25). Those around them (the foreigners) will seek to join them and be invited to participate in the ways that lead to life.
God has always been about using those He has adopted into His grace to reach others. We are all part of that at one point in the journey or another. My life has been changed on this journey. Where are you on the journey, and what is your next step?
My exhortation to you is to get around other people who have done all of the things below and ask them to help you with your next step.
If you don’t have a deep knowledge of your own sin, pray that God would reveal it.
If you know of your sin but are sitting in judgment of yourself, pray that God would show Himself as your Savior and that your focus would shift from seeing yourself as judged to seeing Him as your hope.
If your identity is secure in Christ, share it with those around you and ask how you can help them.
If you’ve done all of these, then you know the joy that comes with serving our King. Start back at the first one, grab some others, and run through them again until we’re called home. There is no greater joy, and the joy that is the walk of sanctification never grows dull with repetition.
Discussion Questions
1. The additions to the law in this chapter were to help the Israelites prepare to thank God for the blessings they were going to experience. Do you have regular things you do that help you keep your focus on God and grow in gratitude for what God has given you? Please share them in the comments. If not, read through what others do and see if there is one you can start this week.
2. We can intentionally sin, unintentionally sin, and even not sin for sinful reasons. When you realize more of your sinfulness and brokenness, do you sit more in self-judgment or in increasing awe of God's grace and mercy?
3. God dealt harshly with defiance of His law in the Old Testament. Jesus dealt harshly with sin and tenderly with sinners. It is God's kindness that leads to repentance (Romans 2:4). Who can you share the kindness of God with and communicate your story of how God has tenderly dealt with you?
4. Like the tassels mentioned in this chapter, are there things in your life that are a visible reminder to others that God is good?