[Numbers 15] Conduct in Canaan. In this chapter, God instructs Moses and the people regarding their conduct before Him when they come into the land of promise. To the children of Israel, entering Canaan was still very much only a hope and a possibility. To God, the land of milk and honey was a foregone conclusion. There was no question that God would bring them into their blessing time. However, the question was whether they would remain faithful to Him once He brought them out of the wilderness.
[Num 15:1-41 KJV] 1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you, 3 And will make an offering by fire unto the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in your solemn feasts, to make a sweet savour unto the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock: 4 Then shall he that offereth his offering unto the LORD bring a meat offering of a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth [part] of an hin of oil. 5 And the fourth [part] of an hin of wine for a drink offering shalt thou prepare with the burnt offering or sacrifice, for one lamb. 6 Or for a ram, thou shalt prepare [for] a meat offering two tenth deals of flour mingled with the third [part] of an hin of oil. 7 And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third [part] of an hin of wine, [for] a sweet savour unto the LORD. 8 And when thou preparest a bullock [for] a burnt offering, or [for] a sacrifice in performing a vow, or peace offerings unto the LORD: 9 Then shall he bring with a bullock a meat offering of three tenth deals of flour mingled with half an hin of oil. 10 And thou shalt bring for a drink offering half an hin of wine, [for] an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 11 Thus shall it be done for one bullock, or for one ram, or for a lamb, or a kid. 12 According to the number that ye shall prepare, so shall ye do to every one according to their number. 13 All that are born of the country shall do these things after this manner, in offering an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD. 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. 15 One ordinance [shall be both] for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth [with you], an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye [are], so shall the stranger be before the LORD. 16 One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you. 17 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 18 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye come into the land whither I bring you, 19 Then it shall be, that, when ye eat of the bread of the land, ye shall offer up an heave offering unto the LORD. 20 Ye shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough [for] an heave offering: as [ye do] the heave offering of the threshingfloor, so shall ye heave it. 21 Of the first of your dough ye shall give unto the LORD an heave offering in your generations. 22 And if ye have erred, and not observed all these commandments, which the LORD hath spoken unto Moses, 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; 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. 25 And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them; for it [is] ignorance: and they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their ignorance: 26 And it shall be forgiven all the congregation of the children of Israel, and the stranger that sojourneth among them; seeing all the people [were] in ignorance. 27 And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she goat of the first year for a sin offering. 28 And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the LORD, to make an atonement for him; and it shall be forgiven him. 29 Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, [both for] him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them. 30 But the soul that doeth [ought] presumptuously, [whether he be] born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity [shall be] upon him. 32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. 33 And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. 34 And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. 35 And the LORD said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. 36 And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses. 37 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 38 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue: 39 And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring: 40 That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God. 41 I [am] the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I [am] the LORD your God.
In this chapter, the Lord instructs Moses regarding laws of offering and sacrifice that will be put in force when they come into the land. Notice that the Father isn’t saying “if you come into the land…” Coming into the promised land was a foregone conclusion from the Lord’s perspective. This viewpoint of God was first seen in Abraham. When Abraham was a childless old man, the Father came to him, saying, “as for Me, I have made you a father of many nations…”
[Gen 17:4 KJV] 4 As for me, behold, my covenant [is] with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations.
This same perspective was seen later in the history of God’s people when God spoke to Joshua the night before Jericho fell:
[Jos 6:2 KJV] 2 And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, [and] the mighty men of valour.
God wants you to see things the way He sees them. God wants you to have a future / present perspective because He already knows the end from the beginning, and His faithfulness is assured. This was the case as well when Moses was sent to Pharaoh:
[Exo 7:1 KJV] 1 And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.
You must see that you are a principality and a power. God is God to you, but God makes you “god” to your enemies! Particularly when they blame you and accuse you. When your enemies blame you, they make you GOD in the situation.
So in this chapter, God addresses Moses as though the conquest of Canaan is a foregone conclusion and instructs them, “when you get there, this is what worship and sacrifice will look like.” The law of God regarding the land of promise was this – whether you were an Israelite or a stranger in the land when you arrived, you were required to make an offering of worship. What a God-honoring nation this is. Every person going and coming in Israel would stop and make an obligatory acknowledgment and reminder “this good land is the good land that God has made available to us to enjoy”!
In the wilderness, God required the Israelites to give all of their first fruits and firstborn to Him because He spared the firstborn in Egypt’s final terrible plague. God spared the firstborn; therefore, all the firstborn were considered God’s “hire” for bringing them out of the land of bondage, through the wilderness and into the land of milk and honey. The only reason why the firstborn were not compelled into special service is that God arranged to accept the tribe of the Levites to serve in proxy for all the firstborn of the children of Israel.
God wants your best. You don’t give God the leftovers. Matthew 6:33 says, “seek FIRST the kingdom…” When you seek first the kingdom, then God’s promise is that “all things will be added to you …” What things is referring to?
[2Pe 1:3 KJV] 3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
When you seek first the kingdom, God will see to it that you will be a first partaker of His promise and His provision. Only see to it that your gift is not of the halt, the lame, the diseased, or the resources that are left over after serving yourself. The quality of your response to God measures the quality of His response to you. The timing of your response to God measures the timing and acceleration of His response to you. If you hesitate, think about it, take your time then you will be placed in a position to endure delay that would not have happened had you been swiftly obedient and sacrificial in your obedience to God in the areas of your need.
This chapter also deals with sin out of ignorance. There are times that disobedience is in ignorance. We are all on a learning curve. There are things about God we know today that we didn’t know in years past. I remember the bar owner who got genuinely born again but thought God inspired him to have naked women in a mud-wrestling contest to increase his business revenues. He grew out of this and eventually shut down the bar and became successful in a vocation that was more in keeping with Christ’s character. Realize there are things you think are ok now that you will not be allowed to do in the future or to engage in. Allow yourself time to grow. Do not become rigid or dogmatic. Be willing to walk humbly before God and when your ignorance is made evident, ask forgiveness and move on to maturity.
There are also some transgressions that are committed in presumption with open eyes and naked defiance of God’s word. This is a very dangerous ground to walk in. We have the message of grace today, but the message of grace is not a permission slip to justify immorality. The apostle Paul was accused of teaching this and he complained bitterly about this misunderstanding of the message of God’s unconditional love:
[Rom 3:8 KJV] 8 And not [rather], (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
The forgiveness of God properly received and respectfully and humbly accepted is transformative in nature and will cause you to become obedient by nature and not merely by precept.
[Rom 6:1-2 KJV] 1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
As God was giving these laws about presumptuous sin and sin through ignorance, a man violates the Sabbath. They consult the Lord, and the man is put to death. Remember, this is at the very beginning of the history of the Israelites. It is reminiscent of the death of Ananias and Sapphira at the beginning of the early church. This, no doubt, intimidated the people and caused them to despair of life. How would they ever manage to stay obedient and alive? Therefore God instructs them not to ignore the law but to sew fringes and ribbons on their clothes with reminders to obedience before God.
Lastly, in the chapter, God points out that these commandments are given so that the thinking of the people of God would not be simply to do what their own heart would dictate to them. There is an arbitrary truth – and objective standard of righteousness rooted in the character of God. The religious viewpoint of simply doing your best and having a good attitude will not suffice. God is a holy God, and he will not allow us to reinvent His character to fit our own choices and lifestyles.
