Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Numbers · About this commentary
One Law, and a Cord of Blue
Numbers 15:1-41
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, · WEB
Immediately after the sentence, laws are given for life in the land, and the foreigner is placed on exactly the same footing as the native.
The placement of this chapter is the first thing about it. A generation has just been told it will die in the desert, and the next words are: when you have come into the land of your habitations, which I give to you Numbers 15:2.
The legislation assumes the arrival. Offerings, drink offerings, the first of the dough — all of it for a country the audience will never see. God goes on giving instructions for a future the people in front of him have forfeited, which is the book's way of saying the sentence fell on a generation and not on the promise.
The most striking provision concerns the resident foreigner, and it is stated three times in three verses.
As you do, so he shall do. There shall be one statute for you and for the stranger... As you are, so the foreigner shall be before Yahweh. One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the stranger Numbers 15:14–16.
The repetition is emphasis. A foreigner who wants to bring an offering brings it on identical terms, and the phrase before Yahweh settles the ground of it: whatever difference exists socially, there is none at the altar.
The chapter then distinguishes two kinds of wrong. Sin committed unwittingly has an offering and forgiveness Numbers 15:27–28. Sin done with a high hand does not Numbers 15:30 — a raised fist, defiance rather than failure, and the reason given is that such a person has despised Yahweh's word.
The case that follows is the only recorded application of it: a man found gathering sticks on the Sabbath Numbers 15:32.
Again the community does not act on its own. They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him Numbers 15:34. The sentence is severe, and what the narrative records is people refusing to improvise a penalty.
Then the chapter closes with something small and domestic. Fringes on the corners of every garment, each with a cord of blue Numbers 15:38.
The purpose is stated: that you may see it, and remember all Yahweh's commandments, and do them; and that you don't follow your own heart and your own eyes Numbers 15:39.
The eyes are the problem and the eyes are the remedy. Something is attached to the clothing so that a man glancing down is reminded, and the phrase your own heart and your own eyes is an accurate description of what the ten spies did with the same organs.
settled What this mark means