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The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:22-29
GOD SHOWS HIMSELF STRICT AND YET CONSIDERATE I. THE SERIOUSNESS OF GOD'S EXPECTATIONS. God gave to Israel many and elaborate commandments, in the mode of obeying' which he left nothing to personal discretion. Hence the…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:23
From the day that the Lord commanded … and henceforward among your generations. Or, "thenceforward according to your generations." These words are obscure, because they point apparently to a much larger lapse of time si…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:24
If ought be committed. Rather, "if it be committed," i.e; the non-observance of "all these commandments." It cannot, however, be necessary to suppose that a falling away from the whole body of the Mosaic legislation is…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:26
Seeing all the people were in ignorance. Literally, "because (sc. it happened) to the whole nation in ignorance." As the stranger was counted as of the nation for religious purposes, he shared both in its sin and in its…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:27
And if any soul sin through ignorance. No doubt by way of omission, as in the preceding case, and thus this regulation will be distinguished from that in Le Numbers 4:27. In either case the ritual is apparently intended…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 15:30-36
Those are to be reckoned presumptuous sinners, who sin designedly against God's will and glory. Sins thus committed are exceedingly sinful. He that thus breaks the commandment reproaches the Lord. He also despises the w…
Doom of Presumptuous Sinners. (b. c. 1490.)
DOOM OF PRESUMPTUOUS SINNERS. (B. C. 1490.) Here is, I. The general doom passed upon presumptuous sinners. 1. Those are to be reckoned presumptuous sinners that sin with a high hand, as the original phrase is (Numbers 1…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:30-32
THE LAW OF THE SABBATH: A SOLEMN VINDICATION I. THIS DOOM OF DEATH SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SABBATH IN THE SIGHT OF GOD. 1. There was need of something special to call attention to this point. Those commandments whic…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:30
The soul that doeth … presumptuously. Literally, "with a high hand," i.e; defiantly. A similar phrase is used of God himself (Exodus 13:9). The same reproacheth the Lord, מְגַדֵּף, revileth. Septuagint, παροξυνεῖ In Ez…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:30-36
THE DOOM OF THE PRESUMPTUOUS ILLUSTRATED BY THAT OF THE SABBATH- BREAKER Disobedience to the commands of God is ranged under two classes. First, that which has just been considered, disobedience through ignorance; secon…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:31
His iniquity … upon him. עַוֹנָה בָהּ, "its crime upon it," i.e; the sin of that soul must come upon it in punishment. HOMILETICS
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:32
And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness. It is maintained by some that these words were intended to mark the contrast between the previous laws, which were only to be observed when the people came into t…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:32-36
EXPOSITION THE SABBATH-BREAKER (Numbers 15:32-36).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:32-36
THE SABBATH OF GOD We have here a record which is both valuable in itself as revealing the mind of God, and also valuable indirectly as revealing the mind of man. The perversity of human nature, and the extreme subtlene…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:33
Unto all the congregation, i.e; unto the council of elders, who were the congregation by representation (see on Exodus 18:25, Exodus 18:26).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:34
They put him in ward, (cf. Le Numbers 24:12), because it was not declared what should be done to him. This is perplexing, because the punishment of death had been decreed in Exodus 31:14, Exodus 31:15, and Exodus 35:2.…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:35
Without the camp. That it might not be defiled (cf. Acts 7:58, and Hebrews 13:12).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:36
And he died. He was killed not for what he did, but for doing it presumptuously, in deliberate defiance of what he knew to be the will of God. If the covenant relation was to be maintained between God and Israel, the ob…
Matthew Henry on Numbers 15:37-41
The people are ordered by the Lord to make fringes on the borders of their garments. The Jews were distinguished from their neighbours in their dress, as well as in their diet, and thus taught not to be conformed to the…
The Law Concerning Fringes. (b. c. 1490.)
THE LAW CONCERNING FRINGES. (B. C. 1490.) Provision had been just now made by the law for the pardon of sins of ignorance and infirmity; now here is an expedient provided for the preventing of such sins. They are ordere…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:37-41
EXPOSITION THE LAW OF TASSELS (Numbers 15:37-41).
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:37-41
A DISTINGUISHING MARK OF THE FAITHFUL In the ordinance of the tassels we have at once the height and depth of the old dispensation—the most trivial of outward observances married to the deepest truths and greatest bless…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:37-41
THE USE AND ABUSE OF MEMORIALS This law is one of the many illustrations of the minute particulars prescribed by the laws of Moses. We find other illustrations in precepts respecting ploughing (Deuteronomy 22:10), sowin…
The Pulpit Commentary on Numbers 15:37-40
THE FRINGES: EVER-PRESENT REMINDERS I. A NEED TO BE PROVIDED FOR. These numerous and all-important commandments must, if such a thing is possible, be kept continually before the minds of the people. God has already prov…