Numbers 15

1. And the Lord spake. The events recorded in xv.-xix. occurred before the end of the thirty-seven years of wanderings in the desert; but the dates are not stated.

3 an offering. This precept was an addition to the previous laws of sacrifices. The wheat offering was to be proportioned to the victim, and so to the means of the offerer.

22 if ye have erred. Undesigned transgressions of the ceremonial law, into which, through the negligence of ungodly priests and rulers, “the whole congregation” (ver. 24) might fall. Other sins of thoughtlessness had been already provided for: see Lev. iv.

27 any soul. “A single person,” in distinction from the former case (ver. 22), in which the whole congregation was implicated.

30 presumptuously. This also probably refers to positive institutions, such as the Sabbath (see vers. 32-36). In knowingly disobeying them, a man directly “despised” the authority of the God of Israel.

cut off. The principle of this punishment was not peculiar to the Mosaic economy, but reappears in Christianity in a still more awful form: see Matt. xii. 31, 32; Acts v. 1-10; Heb. vi. 4-8; 1 John v. 16. Under both dispensations there is excision for those who obstinately reject and “despise the word of the Lord.”

38 fringes. Or, “tassels.” In the Hebrew Book of Daily Prayers (see note on Deut. vi. 4) there is one “When putting on the Taleth,” praying that the wearer may be wrapped in the Divine precepts.—borders. Perhaps “corners” (R.V., marg.).—ribband. Or, “line”; or, “lace,” as in Exod. xxviii. 28, 37. These were of the same colour as the high priest wore on his breastplate and mitre; and it is supposed that they were designed to indicate that the Hebrews were, as priests, consecrated to God, and to prevent their sinning through forgetfulness: see Exod. xix. 6; 1 Pet. ii. 5, 9.