Numbers 15 Summary: A Concise Overview in 5 Minutes

Numbers 15 Summary - A Quick Overview

WHEN:

• It appears the laws recorded in Numbers 15 were communicated to the people during their 40 years wandering in the wilderness.

• The Israelites were in the wilderness from approximately 1490-1450 B.C.

CHARACTERS:

• Moses – Moses was selected by God to lead the Israelites to Canaan. God spoke directly to Moses and Moses communicated God’s words to the people.    

• Israelites – The descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God helped them grow into a very large nation during their time in Egypt as slaves.  

• Stranger (Sojourner) - The Bible uses the word “strangers” to describe foreigners (people who weren’t descendants of the 12 sons of Jacob) who lived amongst the Israelites, both in the wilderness and in Canaan.

WHERE:

• For a while, the Israelites had been camped in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh (13:26), but God told them to turn around and go back into the wilderness “by the way to the Red Sea” (14:25).

OUTLINE:

• LAWS ABOUT SACRIFICES (15:1-21):

  • The first section of chapter 15 is reminiscent of the Book of Leviticus because it contains very specific instructions as to how to Israelites were supposed to offer their sacrifices.

  • When the Israelites entered Canaan and offered burnt offerings whether for a vow they had made, as a free-will offering, a peace offering, or an offering on a feast day, their offering was to be accompanied by flour mixed with oil and an offering of wine. The quantity of these offerings depended on the animal being sacrificed.

  • Lamb = 1/10 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with 1/4 hin of oil and 1/4 hin of wine.

  • Ram = 2/10 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with 1/3 hin of oil and 1/3 hin of wine.

  • Bull = 3/10 of an ephah of fine flour mixed with 1/2 hin of oil and 1/2 hin of wine.

  • These sacrificial instructions were to be kept by the Israelites and any “strangers” who lived among them who wanted to make an offering to God.

  • God also instructed the Israelites to make an annual offering of the first of their dough from their grain harvest.

• SACRIFICES FOR UNINTENTIONAL SINS (15:22-31):

  • If the entire congregation of Israel sinned unintentionally and later learned about their guilt, they were to sacrifice a bull as a burnt offering and a male goat as a sin offering.

  • If one person sinned unintentionally and later learned about their guilt, he was to offer a female goat a year old as a sin offering.

  • A person who willfully broke God’s law with a “high hand” was to be cut off from Israel.  

• A MAN IS PUNISHED FOR BREAKING THE SABBATH LAW (15:32-36):

  • One day, a man was seen picking up sticks on the Sabbath day (ordinary work was forbidden on the Sabbath day).

  • Moses asked God what should be done with the man.

  • God told the Israelites to stone the man because he did not respect God’s law.

• TASSELS OF BLUE (15:37-41):

  • God instructed the Israelites to sew tassels on the corners of their clothing and to add a cord of blue to each tassel.

  • God said, “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 after your own heart and your own eyes…”

APPLICATION:

• Humans need physical reminders to help them recall spiritual truths.

• God knew this about human nature and ordained several physical objects and ceremonies as reminders in the Old Testament.

• We see this in the tassels God prescribed for the Israelites’ clothing.

• Evidently, modern disciples aren’t much different, because God has given us physical observances to keep so we don’t forget spiritual lessons.

• This was one of the reasons the early Church was instructed to observe the Lord’s Supper regularly.

• We tend to forget things easily, God knows this about us, so God uses the things in His creation to remind us.

• Let’s be careful not to neglect the memorials God put in place for our good.

DIAGRAM OF THE CAMP OF ISRAEL:

DIAGRAM OF THE TABERNACLE: