3 then ye have prepared a fire-offering to Jehovah, a burnt-offering, or a sacrifice, at separating a vow or free-will-offering, or in your appointed things, to make a sweet fragrance to Jehovah, out of the herd, or out of the flock.
`Observe the month of Abib -- and thou hast made a passover to Jehovah thy God, for in the month of Abib hath Jehovah thy God brought thee out of Egypt by night; and thou hast sacrificed a passover to Jehovah thy God, of the flock, and of the herd, in the place which Jehovah doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there. `Thou dost not eat with it any fermented thing, seven days thou dost eat with it unleavened things, bread of affliction; for in haste thou hast come out of the land of Egypt; so that thou dost remember the day of thy coming out of the land of Egypt all days of thy life; and there is not seen with thee leaven in all thy border seven days, and there doth not remain of the flesh which thou dost sacrifice at evening on the first day till morning. `Thou art not able to sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee, except at the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle -- there thou dost sacrifice the passover in the evening, at the going in of the sun, the season of thy coming out of Egypt; and thou hast cooked and eaten in the place on which Jehovah thy God doth fix, and hast turned in the morning, and gone to thy tents; six days thou dost eat unleavened things, and on the seventh day `is' a restraint to Jehovah thy God; thou dost do no work. `Seven weeks thou dost number to thee; from the beginning of the sickle among the standing corn thou dost begin to number seven weeks, and thou hast made the feast of weeks to Jehovah thy God, a tribute of a free-will offering of thy hand, which thou dost give, as Jehovah thy God doth bless thee. And thou hast rejoiced before Jehovah thy God, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite who `is' within thy gates, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who `are' in thy midst, in the place which Jehovah thy God doth choose to cause His name to tabernacle there, and thou hast remembered that a servant thou hast been in Egypt, and hast observed and done these statutes. `The feast of booths thou dost make for thee seven days, in thine in-gathering of thy threshing-floor, and of thy wine-vat; and thou hast rejoiced in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy handmaid, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, who `are' within thy gates. Seven days thou dost feast before Jehovah thy God, in the place which Jehovah doth choose, for Jehovah thy God doth bless thee in all thine increase, and in every work of thy hands, and thou hast been only rejoicing. `Three times in a year doth every one of thy males appear before Jehovah thy God in the place which He doth choose -- in the feast of unleavened things, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of booths; and they do not appear before Jehovah empty; each according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing of Jehovah thy God, which He hath given to thee.
and have brought near a burnt-offering, a fire-offering, a sweet fragrance, to Jehovah; thirteen bullocks, sons of the herd, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year; perfect ones they are; and their present, flour mixed with oil, three-tenth deals to the one bullock, for the thirteen bullocks, two-tenth deals to the one ram, for the two rams, and a several tenth deal to the one lamb, for the fourteen lambs, and one kid of the goats, a sin-offering; apart from the continual burnt-offering, its present, and its libation. `And on the second day twelve bullocks, sons of the herd, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones; and their present, and their libations, for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the sheep, in their number, according to the ordinance; and one kid of the goats, a sin-offering; apart from the continual burnt-offering, and its present, and their libations. `And on the third day eleven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones; and their present, and their libations, for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance; and one goat, a sin-offering; apart from the continual burnt-offering, and its present, and its libation. `And on the fourth day ten bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones; their present, and their libations, for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance; and one kid of the goats, a sin-offering, apart from the continual burnt-offering, its present, and its libation. `And on the fifth day nine bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones; and their present, and their libations, for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance; and one goat, a sin-offering; apart from the continual burnt-offering, and its present, and its libation. `And on the sixth day eight bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones; and their present, and their libations, for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance; and one goat, a sin-offering; apart from the continual burnt-offering, its present, and its libation. `And on the seventh day seven bullocks, two rams, fourteen lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones; and their present, and their libations, for the bullocks, for the rams, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance; and one goat, a sin-offering; apart from the continual burnt-offering, its present, and its libation. `On the eighth day a restraint ye have, ye do no servile work; and ye have brought near a burnt-offering, a fire-offering, a sweet fragrance, to Jehovah; one bullock, one ram, seven lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones; their present, and their libations, for the bullock, for the ram, and for the lambs, in their number, according to the ordinance; and one goat, a sin-offering; apart from the continual burnt-offering, and its present, and its libation. `These ye prepare to Jehovah in your appointed seasons, apart from your vows, and your free-will offerings, for your burnt-offerings, and for your presents, and for your libations, and for your peace-offerings.' And Moses saith unto the sons of Israel according to all that Jehovah hath commanded Moses.
`And in the seventh month, in the first of the month, a holy convocation ye have, ye do no servile work; a day of shouting it is to you; and ye have prepared a burnt-offering, for sweet fragrance to Jehovah: one bullock, a son of the herd, one ram, seven lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones;
`And in the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, `is' the passover to Jehovah; and in the fifteenth day of this month `is' a festival, seven days unleavened food is eaten; in the first day `is' an holy convocation, ye do no servile work, and ye have brought near a fire-offering, a burnt-offering to Jehovah: two bullocks, sons of the herd, and one ram, and seven lambs, sons of a year, perfect ones they are for you;
And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, Appointed seasons of Jehovah, which ye proclaim, holy convocations, `are' these: they `are' My appointed seasons: six days is work done, and in the seventh day `is' a sabbath of rest, a holy convocation; ye do no work; it `is' a sabbath to Jehovah in all your dwellings. `These `are' appointed seasons of Jehovah, holy convocations, which ye proclaim in their appointed seasons: in the first month, on the fourteenth of the month, between the evenings, `is' the passover to Jehovah; and on the fifteenth day of this month `is' the feast of unleavened things to Jehovah; seven days unleavened things ye do eat; on the first day ye have a holy convocation, ye do no servile work; and ye have brought near a fire-offering to Jehovah seven days; in the seventh day `is' a holy convocation; ye do no servile work.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, When ye come in unto the land which I am giving to you, and have reaped its harvest, and have brought in the sheaf, the beginning of your harvest unto the priest, then he hath waved the sheaf before Jehovah for your acceptance; on the morrow of the sabbath doth the priest wave it. `And ye have prepared in the day of your waving the sheaf a lamb, a perfect one, a son of a year, for a burnt-offering to Jehovah, and its present two tenth deals of flour mixed with oil, a fire-offering to Jehovah, a sweet fragrance, and its drink-offering, wine, a fourth of the hin. `And bread and roasted corn and full ears ye do not eat until this self-same day, until your bringing in the offering of your God -- a statute age-during to your generations, in all your dwellings. `And ye have numbered to you from the morrow of the sabbath, from the day of your bringing in the sheaf of the wave-offering: they are seven perfect sabbaths; unto the morrow of the seventh sabbath ye do number fifty days, and ye have brought near a new present to Jehovah; out of your dwellings ye bring in bread of a wave-offering, two `loaves', of two tenth deals of flour they are, `with' yeast they are baken, first-`fruits' to Jehovah. `And ye have brought near, besides the bread, seven lambs, perfect ones, sons of a year, and one bullock, a son of the herd, and two rams; they are a burnt-offering to Jehovah, with their present and their libations, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah. `And ye have prepared one kid of the goats for a sin-offering, and two lambs, sons of a year, for a sacrifice of peace-offerings, and the priest hath waved them, besides the bread of the first-`fruits' -- a wave-offering before Jehovah, besides the two lambs; they are holy to Jehovah for the priest; and ye have proclaimed on this self-same day: a holy convocation is to you, ye do no servile work -- a statute age-during in all your dwellings, to your generations. `And in your reaping the harvest of your land thou dost not complete the corner of thy field in thy reaping, and the gleaning of thy harvest thou dost not gather, to the poor and to the sojourner thou dost leave them; I Jehovah `am' your God.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first of the month, ye have a sabbath, a memorial of shouting, a holy convocation; ye do no servile work, and ye have brought near a fire-offering to Jehovah.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Only -- on the tenth of this seventh month is a day of atonements; ye have a holy convocation, and ye have humbled yourselves, and have brought near a fire-offering to Jehovah; and ye do no work in this self-same day, for it is a day of atonements, to make atonement for you, before Jehovah your God. `For any person who is not humbled in this self-same day hath even been cut off from his people; and any person who doth any work in this self-same day I have even destroyed that person from the midst of his people; ye do no work -- a statute age-during to your generations in all your dwellings. It `is' a sabbath of rest to you, and ye have humbled yourselves in the ninth of the month at even; from evening till evening ye do keep your sabbath.' And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, `Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, In the fifteenth day of this seventh month `is' a feast of booths seven days to Jehovah; on the first day `is' a holy convocation, ye do no servile work, seven days ye bring near a fire-offering to Jehovah, on the eighth day ye have a holy convocation, and ye have brought near a fire-offering to Jehovah; it `is' a restraint, ye do no servile work. `These `are' appointed seasons of Jehovah, which ye proclaim holy convocations, to bring near a fire-offering to Jehovah, a burnt-offering, and a present, a sacrifice, and libations, a thing of a day in its day, apart from the sabbaths of Jehovah, and apart from your gifts, and apart from all your vows, and apart from all your willing-offerings, which ye give to Jehovah. `Only -- in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, in your gathering the increase of the land, ye do keep the feast of Jehovah seven days; on the first day `is' a sabbath, and on the eighth day a sabbath; and ye have taken to yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palms, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of a brook, and have rejoiced before Jehovah your God seven days. `And ye have kept it a feast to Jehovah, seven days in a year -- a statute age-during to your generations; in the seventh month ye keep it a feast. `In booths ye dwell seven days; all who are natives in Israel dwell in booths, so that your generations do know that in booths I caused the sons of Israel to dwell; in my bringing them out of the land of Egypt; I, Jehovah, `am' your God.' And Moses speaketh `concerning' the appointed seasons of Jehovah unto the sons of Israel.
`Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, Any man of the house of Israel, or of the sojourners in Israel, who bringeth near his offering, of all his vows, or of all his willing offerings which they bring near to Jehovah for a burnt-offering; at your pleasure a perfect one, a male of the herd, of the sheep or of the goats; nothing in which `is' blemish do ye bring near, for it is not for a pleasing thing for you. `And when a man bringeth near a sacrifice of peace-offerings to Jehovah, to complete a vow, or for a willing-offering, of the herd or of the flock, it is perfect for a pleasing thing: no blemish is in it; blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed -- ye do not bring these near to Jehovah, and a fire-offering ye do not make of them on the altar to Jehovah. `As to an ox or a sheep enlarged or dwarfed -- a willing-offering ye do make it, but for a vow it is not pleasing.
And Jehovah calleth unto Moses, and speaketh unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying, `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, Any man of you when he doth bring near an offering to Jehovah, out of the cattle -- out of the herd, or out of the flock -- ye do bring near your offering. `If his offering `is' a burnt-offering out of the herd -- a male, a perfect one, he doth bring near, unto the opening of the tent of meeting he doth bring it near, at his pleasure, before Jehovah; and he hath laid his hand on the head of the burnt-offering, and it hath been accepted for him to make atonement for him; and he hath slaughtered the son of the herd before Jehovah; and sons of Aaron, the priests, have brought the blood near, and sprinkled the blood on the altar round about, which `is' at the opening of the tent of meeting. `And he hath stripped the burnt-offering, and hath cut it into its pieces; and the sons of Aaron the priest have put fire on the altar, and arranged wood on the fire; and sons of Aaron, the priests, have arranged the pieces, with the head and the fat, on the wood, which `is' on the fire, which `is' on the altar; and its inwards and its legs he doth wash with water; and the priest hath made perfume with the whole on the altar, a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah. `And if his offering `is' out of the flock -- out of the sheep or out of the goats -- for a burnt-offering, a male, a perfect one, he doth bring near, and he hath slaughtered it by the side of the altar northward, before Jehovah; and sons of Aaron, the priests, have sprinkled its blood on the altar round about; and he hath cut it into its pieces, and its head and its fat, and the priest hath arranged them on the wood, which `is' on the fire, which `is' on the altar; and the inwards and the legs he doth wash with water, and the priest hath brought the whole near, and hath made perfume on the altar; it `is' a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah. `And if his offering `is' a burnt-offering out of the fowl to Jehovah, than he hath brought near his offering out of the turtle-doves or out of the young pigeons, and the priest hath brought it near unto the altar, and hath wrung off its head, and hath made perfume on the altar, and its blood hath been wrung out by the side of the altar; and he hath turned aside its crop with its feathers, and hath cast it near the altar, eastward, unto the place of ashes; and he hath cleaved it with its wings (he doth not separate `it'), and the priest hath made it a perfume on the altar, on the wood, which `is' on the fire; it `is' a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Numbers 15
Commentary on Numbers 15 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Occurrences During the Thirty-Seven Years of Wandering in the Wilderness - Numbers 15-19
After the unhappy issue of the attempt to penetrate into Canaan, in opposition to the will of God and the advice of Moses, the Israelites remained “many days” in Kadesh, as the Lord did not hearken to their lamentations concerning the defeat which they had suffered at the hands of the Canaanites and Amalekites. Then they turned, and took their journey, as the Lord had commanded (Numbers 14:25), into the wilderness, in the direction towards the Red Sea (Deuteronomy 1:45; Deuteronomy 2:1); and in the first month of the fortieth year they came again into the desert of Zin, to Kadesh ( Numbers 20:1). All that we know respecting this journeying from Kadesh into the wilderness in the direction towards the Red Sea, and up to the time of their return to the desert of Zin, is limited to a number of names of places of encampment given in the list of journeying stages in Numbers 33:19-30, out of which, as the situation of the majority of them is altogether unknown, or at all events has not yet been determined, no connected account of the journeys of Israel during this interval of thirty-seven years can possibly be drawn. The most important event related in connection with this period is the rebellion of the company of Korah against Moses and Aaron, and the re-establishment of the Aaronic priesthood and confirmation of their rights, which this occasioned (chs. 16-18). This rebellion probably occurred in the first portion of the period in question. In addition to this there are only a few laws recorded, which were issued during this long time of punishment, and furnished a practical proof of the continuance of the covenant which the Lord had made with the nation of Israel at Sinai. There was nothing more to record in connection with these thirty-seven years, which formed the second stage in the guidance of Israel through the desert. For, as Baumgarten has well observed, “the fighting men of Israel had fallen under the judgment of Jehovah, and the sacred history, therefore, was no longer concerned with them; whilst the youth, in whom the life and hope of Israel were preserved, had as yet no history at all.” Consequently we have no reason to complain, as Ewald does ( Gesch . ii. pp. 241, 242), that “the great interval of forty years remains a perfect void;” and still less occasion to dispose of the gap, as this scholar has done, by supposing that the last historian left out a great deal from the history of the forty years' wanderings. The supposed “void” was completely filled up by the gradual dying out of the generation which had been rejected by God.
Numbers 15:1-2
Regulations concerning Sacrifices. - Vv. 1-16. For the purpose of reviving the hopes of the new generation that was growing up, and directing their minds to the promised land, during the mournful and barren time when judgment was being executed upon the race that had been condemned, Jehovah communicated various laws through Moses concerning the presentation of sacrifices in the land that He would give them (Numbers 15:1 and Numbers 15:2), whereby the former laws of sacrifice were supplemented and completed. The first of these laws had reference to the connection between meat-offerings and drink-offerings on the one hand, and burnt-offerings and slain-offerings on the other.
Numbers 15:3-5
In the land of Canaan, every burnt and slain-offering, whether prepared in fulfilment of a vow, or spontaneously, or on feast-days (cf. Leviticus 7:16; Leviticus 22:18, and Leviticus 23:38), was to be associated with a meat-offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and a drink-offering of wine, - the quantity to be regulated according to the kind of animal that was slain in sacrifice. (See Leviticus 23:18, where this connection is already mentioned in the case of the festal sacrifices.) For a lamb ( כּבשׂ , i.e., either sheep or goat, cf. Numbers 15:11), they were to take the tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with the quarter of a hin of oil and the quarter of a hin of wine, as a drink-offering. In Numbers 15:5, the construction changes from the third to the second person. עשׂה , to prepare, as in Exodus 29:38.
Numbers 15:6-7
For a ram, they were to take two tenths of fine flour, with the third of a hin of oil and the third of a hin of wine.
Numbers 15:8-10
For an ox, three tenths of fine flour, with half a hin of oil and half a hin of wine. The הקריב (3rd person) in Numbers 15:9, between תּעשׂה in Numbers 15:8, and תּקריב in Numbers 15:10, is certainly striking and unusual, but no so offensive as to render it necessary to alter it into ותּקריב .
Numbers 15:11-12
The quantities mentioned were to be offered with every ox, or ram, or lamb, of either sheep or goat, and therefore the number of the appointed quantities of meat and drink-offerings was to correspond to the number of sacrificial animals.
Numbers 15:13-14
These rules were to apply not only to the sacrifices of those that were born in Israel, but also to those of the strangers living among them. By “these things,” in Numbers 15:13, we are to understand the meat and drink-offerings already appointed.
Numbers 15:15-25
“ As for the assembly, there shall be one law for the Israelite and the stranger,...an eternal ordinance...before Jehovah .” הקּהל , which is construed absolutely, refers to the assembling of the nation before Jehovah, or to the congregation viewed in its attitude with regard to God.
A second law (Numbers 15:17-21) appoints, on the ground of the general regulations in Exodus 22:28 and Exodus 23:19, the presentation of a heave-offering from the bread which they would eat in the land of Canaan, viz., a first-fruit of groat-meal ( עריסת ראשׁית ) baked as cake ( חלּה ). Arisoth , which is only used in connection with the gift of first-fruits, in Ezekiel 44:30; Nehemiah 10:38, and the passage before us, signifies most probably groats, or meal coarsely bruised, like the talmudical ערסן , contusum, mola, far , and indeed far hordei . This cake of the groats of first-fruits they were to offer “ as a heave-offering of the threshing-floor, ” i.e., as a heave-offering of the bruised corn, in the same manner as this (therefore, in addition to it, and along with it); and that “ according to your generations ” (see Exodus 12:14), that is to say, for all time, to consecrate a gift of first-fruits to the Lord, not only of the grains of corn, but also of the bread made from the corn, and “ to cause a blessing to rest upon his house ” (Ezekiel 44:30). Like all the gifts of first-fruits, this cake also fell to the portion of the priests (see Ezek. and Neh. ut sup .).
To these there are added, in Numbers 15:22, Numbers 15:31, laws relating to sin-offerings , the first of which, in Numbers 15:22-26, is distinguished from the case referred to in Leviticus 4:13-21, by the fact that the sin is not described here, as it is there, as “ doing one of the commandments of Jehovah which ought not to be done,” but as “not doing all that Jehovah had spoken through Moses.” Consequently, the allusion here is not to sins of commission, but to sins of omission, not following the law of God, “ even (as is afterwards explained in Numbers 15:23) all that the Lord hath commanded you by the hand of Moses from the day that the Lord hath commanded, and thenceforward according to your generations, ” i.e., since the first beginning of the giving of the law, and during the whole of the time following ( Knobel ). These words apparently point to a complete falling away of the congregation from the whole of the law. Only the further stipulation in Numbers 15:24, “ if it occur away from the eyes of the congregation through error ” (in oversight), cannot be easily reconciled with this, as it seems hardly conceivable that an apostasy from the entire law should have remained hidden from the congregation. This “not doing all the commandments of Jehovah,” of which the congregation is supposed to incur the guilt without perceiving it, might consist either in the fact that, in particular instances, whether from oversight or negligence, the whole congregation omitted to fulfil the commandments of God, i.e., certain precepts of the law, sc., in the fact that they neglected the true and proper fulfilment of the whole law, either, as Outram supposes, “by retaining to a certain extent the national rites, and following the worship of the true God, and yet at the same time acting unconsciously in opposition to the law, through having been led astray by some common errors;” or by allowing the evil example of godless rulers to seduce them to neglect their religious duties, or to adopt and join in certain customs and usages of the heathen, which appeared to be reconcilable with the law of Jehovah, though they really led to contempt and neglect of the commandments of the Lord.
(Note: Maimonides (see Outram , ex veterum sententia ) understands this law as relating to extraneous worship; and Outram himself refers to the times of the wicked kings, “when the people neglected their hereditary rites, and, forgetting the sacred laws, fell by a common sin into the observance of the religious rites of other nations.” Undoubtedly, we have historical ground in 2 Chronicles 29:21., and Ezra 8:35, for this interpretation of our law, but further allusions are not excluded in consequence. We cannot agree with Baumgarten , therefore, in restricting the difference between Leviticus 4:13. and the passage before us to the fact, that the former supposes the transgression of one particular commandment on the part of the whole congregation, whilst the latter (Numbers 15:22, Numbers 15:23) refers to a continued lawless condition on the part of Israel.)
But as a disregard or neglect of the commandments of God had to be expiated, a burnt-offering was to be added to the sin-offering, that the separation of the congregation from the Lord, which had arisen from the sin of omission, might be entirely removed. The apodosis commences with והיה in Numbers 15:24, but is interrupted by מעי אם , and resumed again with ועשׂוּ , “ it shall be, if...the whole congregation shall prepare, ” etc. The burnt-offering, being the principal sacrifice, is mentioned as usual before the sin-offering, although, when presented, it followed the latter, on account of its being necessary that the sin should be expiated before the congregation could sanctify its life and efforts afresh to the Lord in the burnt-offering. “ One kid of the goats: ” see Leviticus 4:23. כּמּשׂפּט (as in Leviticus 5:10; Leviticus 9:16, etc.) refers to the right established in Numbers 15:8, Numbers 15:9, concerning the combination of the meat and drink-offering with the burnt-offering. The sin-offering was to be treated according to the rule laid down in Leviticus 4:14.
Numbers 15:26
This law was to apply not only to the children of Israel, but also to the stranger among them, “ for (sc., it has happened) to the whole nation in mistake. ” As the sin extended to the whole nation, in which the foreigners were also included, the atonement was also to apply to the whole.
Numbers 15:27-29
In the same way, again, there was one law for the native and the stranger, in relation to sins of omission on the part of single individuals. The law laid doon in Leviticus 5:6 (cf. Leviticus 4:27.) for the Israelites, is repeated here in Numbers 15:27, Numbers 15:28, and in Numbers 15:28 it is raised into general validity for foreigners also. In Numbers 15:29, האזרח is written absolutely for לאזרח .
Numbers 15:30-31
But it was only sins committed by mistake (see at Leviticus 4:2) that could be expiated by sin-offerings. Whoever, on the other hand, whether a native or a foreigner, committed a sin “ with a high hand, ” - i.e., so that he raised his hand, as it were, against Jehovah, or acted in open rebellion against Him, - blasphemed God, and was to be cut off (see Genesis 17:14); for he had despised the word of Jehovah, and broken His commandment, and was to atone for it with his life. בהּ עונה , “ its crime upon it; ” i.e., it shall come upon such a soul in the punishment which it shall endure.
The History of the Sabbath-Breaker is no doubt inserted here as a practical illustration of sinning “with a high hand.” It shows, too, at the same time, how the nation, as a whole, was impressed with the inviolable sanctity of the Lord's day. From the words with which it is introduced, “ and the children of Israel were in the wilderness, ” all that can be gathered is, that the occurrence took place at the time when Israel was condemned to wander about in the wilderness for forty years. They found a man gathering sticks in the desert on the Sabbath, and brought him as an open transgressor of the law of the Sabbath before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation, i.e., the college of elders, as the judicial authorities of the congregation (Exodus 18:25.). They kept him in custody, like the blasphemer in Leviticus 24:12, because it had not yet been determined what was to be done to him. It is true that it had already been laid down in Exodus 31:14-15, and Exodus 35:2, that any breach of the law of the Sabbath should be punished by death and extermination, but the mode had not yet been prescribed. This was done now, and Jehovah commanded stoning (see Leviticus 20:2), which was executed upon the criminal without delay.
(cf. Deuteronomy 22:12). The command to wear Tassels on the Edge of the Upper Garment appears to have been occasioned by the incident just described. The Israelites were to wear ציצת , tassels, on the wings of their upper garments, or, according to Deuteronomy 22:12, at the four corners of the upper garment. כּסוּת , the covering in which a man wraps himself, synonymous with בּגד , was the upper garment, consisting of a four-cornered cloth or piece of stuff, which was thrown over the body-coat (see my Bibl. Archäol . ii. pp. 36, 37), and is not to be referred, as Schultz supposes, to the bed-coverings also, although this garment was actually used as a counterpane by the poor (see Exodus 22:25-26). “ And upon the tassel of the wing they shall put a string of hyacinth-blue, ” namely, to fasten the tassel to the edge of the garment. ציצת ( fem ., from ציץ , the glittering, the bloom or flower) signifies something flowery or bloom-like, and is used in Ezekiel 8:3 for a lock of hair; here it is applied to a tassel, as being made of twisted threads: lxx κράσπεδα ; Matthew 23:5, “borders.” The size of these tassels is not prescribed. The Pharisees liked to make them large, to exhibit openly their punctilious fulfilment of the law. For the Rabbinical directions how to make them, see Carpzov. apparat . pp. 197ff.; and Bodenschatz, kirchliche Verfassung der heutigen Juden, iv. pp. 11ff.
“ And it shall be to you for a tassel, ” i.e., the fastening of the tassel with the dark blue thread to the corners of your garments shall be to you a tassel, “ that ye, when ye see it, may remember all the commandments of Jehovah, and do them; and ye shall not stray after your hearts and your eyes, after which ye go a whoring .” The zizith on the sky-blue thread was to serve as a memorial sign to the Israelites, to remind them of the commandments of God, that they might have them constantly before their eyes and follow them, and not direct their heart and eyes to the things of this world, which turn away from the word of God, and lead astray to idolatry (cf. Proverbs 4:25-26). Another reason for these instructions, as is afterwards added in Numbers 15:40, was to remind Israel of all the commandments of the Lord, that they might do them and be holy to their God, and sanctify their daily life to Him who had brought them out of Egypt, to be their God, i.e., to show Himself as God to them.