Religious Questions (chap. 15 - 19)
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Laws about sacrifices (15:1 – 18)
Unintentional sins (15: 19 – 31)
Sabbath-breaker executed (15:32 – 36)
Tassels on garments (15:37-41)
Korah’s rebellion (ch. 16)
Aaron’s staff buds (ch. 17)
Duties of priests and Levities (ch. 18)
Laws for purification (ch. 19)
Laws About Sacrifices
• When you finally get to the promise land (38
years later)
• Specific instructions related to various types of
Sacrifices…
– Food offering
– Grain offering
– Drink offering
– Burnt offering
– Sin offering
A Word to the Stranger
And if a stranger is a sojourning with you, or
anyone is living permanently among you, and
he wishes to offer a food offering…he shall do
as you do. For the assembly, there shall be one
statute for you and for the stranger who
sojourns with you, a statute forever
throughout your generations. You and the
sojourner shall be alike before the LORD. One
law and one rule shall be for you and for the
stranger who sojourns with you. (15:14-16)
Laws About Unintentional Sins
• The WHOLE nation had been punished for its
disobedience and 10 spies had “died by
plague before the LORD”.
• God speaks to them now so that they do not
fear that the LORD had changed His covenant
regarding sin done unwittingly, whether by
the whole congregation (15:22 – 26) or an
individual (15:27 – 31)
• Yahweh also deals with “intentional” sin
Israel’s Unintentional Sin
• Unintentional = without knowledge of the
congregation
• One BULL from the heard for a burnt offering
• A grain offering and a DRINK offering
• One male goat for a sin offering
• Atonement would be made and sins would be
forgiven for both the congregation and the
stranger.
An Individual’s Unintentional Sin
• Unintentional = without knowledge of the
individual
• A female goat a year old for a sin offering
• Priest shall make atonement before the LORD
• The individual sins would be forgiven
• This law would be for both the Israelite and
the “stranger who sojourns among them”
A HIGH-HANDED Sinner
• Intentional = purposeful or willful sin
• High Hand = The person who committed sins
in defiance of God, and with intention and
malice, removed himself from God’s covenant
grace and forgiveness.
• He/she shall be “cut-off” from among his
people. Why? “Despised the Word of the
Lord”
• His/her “iniquity” shall be on him
• In the NT – “unforgiveable sin”
See Mark 3:28-30; 1 John 5:16 – 17; 1 Cor. 5
A Sabbath Breaker Executed
• A man gathering sticks on the
Sabbath
• Brought before Moses and
Aaron
• YAHWEH’S verdict – the man
shall be stoned to death.
• A warning against willful
sinning, a Sabbath breaker was
executed.
• The mode of “execution” had
not been specified in Exodus so
Moses and Aaron sought the
Lord’s counsel
• See John 8 – The Christ reversal
Tassels on
Garments
• Tassels = fringes fastened
with a blue cord on the
“corners” of the upper
garment.
• These visuals helped
Israel remember the
Lord’s commands (v. 39).
• Even today God gives us
visual reminders to call us
to “remember” him
Korah’s Rebellion (Num. 16)
Korah’s Rebellion (Num. 16)
• Insurrection raised its ugly head against the
mediators of the covenant, Moses and Aaron,
at an unspecified point during their 38 years of
wandering.
• Here, two groups joined hands to overthrow
the divinely established order, each venting its
particular complaint
• Korah was one of the sons of Levi.
• He assembled a group of 250 chiefs in this
rebellion.
Korah’s Rebellion (Num. 16)
• Their “complaint” was one of jealousy (v.3)
• Moses went before Yahweh and said to Korah in
the Morning God will show “who BELONGS to
him, who is HOLY, and who HE will bring near.” (v.
4)
• Moses gives them “instructions” but warns them
“they have gone TOO FAR.”!!! (v. 6-7)
• The Levities had been given the distinction “to do
service in the tabernacle of the LORD.” (v. 9)
• However they wanted the distinction of the
belonging to the “priesthood”. (v. 10)
Dathan and Abiram (Num. 16)
Dathan and Abiram
• Dathan and Abiram challenged Moses’
leadership (16:12-14)
• As descendants of Reuben, the firstborn of the
tribal ancestors, they resented a Levite’s
leadership.
• Their complaint was “you brought us out of a
land of flowing with milk and honey, to kill us
in the wilderness, that you must also make
yourself a prince over us.” (v. 13).
• Aaron was viewed as this “prince”
Dathan and Abiram
• They are mad because they won’t see the
“land flowing with milk and honey” and they
won’t ever receive their promised inheritance
• They believe that Moses mislead them to kill
them in the wilderness.
• So Moses was “very angry” and asked the
Lord to not “respect” their offering
• Moses throws in a bit of humor and sarcasm
by saying I haven’t taken one “donkey”.
(16:15)
Censers, Incense, and Fire
• All 250 Tribal Chiefs
put fire in his censer
along with incense
• Stood at the Tent of
Meeting with Moses
and Aaron.
• Glory of the LORD
appeared to all the
congregation
Yahweh’s Response
• First he is going to consume everyone with
FIRE – but Moses intercedes on behalf of the
congregation. (16:20 – 23)
• Get away from the DWELLINGS of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram (16:23)
• If they die a natural death, then Moses is
wrong, but if the ground swallows them up,
they have despised the LORD (16:24-30)
And the earth opened its
mouth and swallowed them
up, with their households
and all the people who
belonged to Korah…So they
went down alive into Sheol,
and the earth closed over
them, and they perished
from the midst of the
assembly….and fire came
out from the Lord and
consumed the 250 men
offering the incense.
Eleazar and the Bronze Censers
So Eleazr the priest took the bronze
censers, which those who were burned
had offered, and they were hammered
out as a covering for the altar, to be a
reminder to the people of Israel, so that
no outsider, who is not of the
descendants of Aaron, should draw near
to burn incense before the LORD, lest he
become like Korah and his country—as
the LORD said to him through Moses.
Number 16:39 – 40
Israel Reacts with Grumbling
• The rebellious propaganda had so poisoned
the people’s minds that they refused to
acknowledge the death of instigators as God’s
punishment
• God’s ready to consume the whole
congregation with fire, but Moses intercedes
with quick thinking.
• Ordinarily, Aaron offered incense only on the
altar in the Sanctuary, but extraordinary
means were required to make atonement for
the stricken people.
Israel Reacts with Grumbling
• Aaron ran into the “midst of the assembly”
with his censer, “the plague stopped.”
• He stood between the dead and the living
• Those who died from the plague were 14,700
• Just as Aaron “stood in the middle” we now
have one greater than Aaron in Jesus who is
our “intercessor” and “advocate” who stands
in our “middle between life and death.”
Aaron’s Staff Buds
Aaron’s Staff Buds
• God wants to put to an “end” to all the
grumbling and complaining regarding Moses
and Aaron’s leadership
• Each tribal leader was to present a STAFF
before Moses with their name on it and the
Tent of Meeting.
• The staff that SPROUTED with buds and
produced blossoms and bore ripe almonds
would be God’s chosen LEADER.
• The staff would stay near the ARK to be a
reminder of God’s chosen path.
Bring The Grumbling to Closure
• God speaks to Aaron, dealing with the priests and
Levities and assigning them a unique position (18:124)
• God speaks to Moses, who is CHARGED with the
supervision of the priests and the Levites and their
relationship with one another (18:25 – 32)
• The “rebellion” left thousands of Israelites dead. So
Yahweh speaks to Moses on the proper way to
cleanse those who would have come into contact
with dead bodies. (chapter 19)