Sermon Central
Numbers 15:1-21:35
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Supplementary Offerings
1The LORD said to Moses,
2“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘After you enter the land I am giving you as a home
3and you present to the LORD food offerings from the herd or the flock, as an aroma pleasing to the LORD —whether burnt offerings or sacrifices, for special vows or freewill offerings or festival offerings—
4then the person who brings an offering shall present to the LORD a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah
5With each lamb for the burnt offering or the sacrifice, prepare a quarter of a hin of wine as a drink offering.
6“ ‘With a ram prepare a grain offering of two-tenths of an ephah
7and a third of a hin of wine as a drink offering. Offer it as an aroma pleasing to the LORD .
8“ ‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice, for a special vow or a fellowship offering to the LORD,
9bring with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah
12Do this for each one, for as many as you prepare. 13“ ‘Everyone who is native-born must do these things in this way when they present a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD . 14For the generations to come, whenever a foreigner or anyone else living among you presents a food offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, they must do exactly as you do. 15The community is to have the same rules for you and for the foreigner residing among you; this is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. You and the foreigner shall be the same before the LORD :
16The same laws and regulations will apply both to you and to the foreigner residing among you.’ ” 17The LORD said to Moses, 18“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter the land to which I am taking you 19and you eat the food of the land, present a portion as an offering to the LORD . 20Present a loaf from the first of your ground meal and present it as an offering from the threshing floor.
21Throughout the generations to come you are to give this offering to the LORD from the first of your ground meal.
Offerings for Unintentional Sins
22“ ‘Now if you as a community unintentionally fail to keep any of these commands the LORD gave Moses—
23any of the LORD ’s commands to you through him, from the day the LORD gave them and continuing through the generations to come—
24and if this is done unintentionally without the community being aware of it, then the whole community is to offer a young bull for a burnt offering as an aroma pleasing to the LORD, along with its prescribed grain offering and drink offering, and a male goat for a sin offering.
26The whole Israelite community and the foreigners residing among them will be forgiven, because all the people were involved in the unintentional wrong. 27“ ‘But if just one person sins unintentionally, that person must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28The priest is to make atonement before the LORD for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when atonement has been made, that person will be forgiven.
29One and the same law applies to everyone who sins unintentionally, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner residing among you. 30“ ‘But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the LORD and must be cut off from the people of Israel.
31Because they have despised the LORD ’s word and broken his commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them.’ ”
The Sabbath-Breaker Put to Death 32While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, 34and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. 35Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.”
36So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses.
Tassels on Garments 37The LORD said to Moses, 38“Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘Throughout the generations to come you are to make tassels on the corners of your garments, with a blue cord on each tassel. 39You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by chasing after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. 40Then you will remember to obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. 41I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.’ ”
Korah, Dathan and Abiram
1Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and certain Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—became insolent
3They came as a group to oppose Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole community is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is with them. Why then do you set yourselves above the LORD ’s assembly?” 4When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. 5Then he said to Korah and all his followers: “In the morning the LORD will show who belongs to him and who is holy, and he will have that person come near him. The man he chooses he will cause to come near him. 6You, Korah, and all your followers are to do this: Take censers
7and tomorrow put burning coals and incense in them before the LORD . The man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. You Levites have gone too far!” 8Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you Levites! 9Isn’t it enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the rest of the Israelite community and brought you near himself to do the work at the LORD ’s tabernacle and to stand before the community and minister to them? 10He has brought you and all your fellow Levites near himself, but now you are trying to get the priesthood too.
11It is against the LORD that you and all your followers have banded together. Who is Aaron that you should grumble against him?” 12Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab. But they said, “We will not come! 13Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us!
14Moreover, you haven’t brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Do you want to treat these men like slaves
15Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not accept their offering. I have not taken so much as a donkey from them, nor have I wronged any of them.” 16Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. 17Each man is to take his censer and put incense in it—250 censers in all—and present it before the LORD . You and Aaron are to present your censers also.” 18So each of them took his censer, put burning coals and incense in it, and stood with Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting. 19When Korah had gathered all his followers in opposition to them at the entrance to the tent of meeting, the glory of the LORD appeared to the entire assembly. 20The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
21“Separate yourselves from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.”
22But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, “O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?” 23Then the LORD said to Moses,
24“Say to the assembly, ‘Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram.’ ” 25Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him. 26He warned the assembly, “Move back from the tents of these wicked men! Do not touch anything belonging to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins.”
27So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing with their wives, children and little ones at the entrances to their tents. 28Then Moses said, “This is how you will know that the LORD has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: 29If these men die a natural death and suffer the fate of all mankind, then the LORD has not sent me.
30But if the LORD brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the realm of the dead, then you will know that these men have treated the LORD with contempt.” 31As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart 32and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and their households, and all those associated with Korah, together with their possessions. 33They went down alive into the realm of the dead, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community.
34At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, “The earth is going to swallow us too!”
35And fire came out from the LORD and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense. 36The LORD said to Moses, 37“Tell Eleazar son of Aaron, the priest, to remove the censers from the charred remains and scatter the coals some distance away, for the censers are holy—
38the censers of the men who sinned at the cost of their lives. Hammer the censers into sheets to overlay the altar, for they were presented before the LORD and have become holy. Let them be a sign to the Israelites.” 39So Eleazar the priest collected the bronze censers brought by those who had been burned to death, and he had them hammered out to overlay the altar,
40as the LORD directed him through Moses. This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the LORD, or he would become like Korah and his followers.
41The next day the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. “You have killed the LORD ’s people,” they said. 42But when the assembly gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron and turned toward the tent of meeting, suddenly the cloud covered it and the glory of the LORD appeared. 43Then Moses and Aaron went to the front of the tent of meeting, 44and the LORD said to Moses,
45“Get away from this assembly so I can put an end to them at once.” And they fell facedown.
46Then Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer and put incense in it, along with burning coals from the altar, and hurry to the assembly to make atonement for them. Wrath has come out from the LORD ; the plague has started.”
47So Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already started among the people, but Aaron offered the incense and made atonement for them.
48He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague stopped.
49But 14,700 people died from the plague, in addition to those who had died because of Korah.
50Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, for the plague had stopped.
The Budding of Aaron’s Staff
1
5The staff belonging to the man I choose will sprout, and I will rid myself of this constant grumbling against you by the Israelites.” 6So Moses spoke to the Israelites, and their leaders gave him twelve staffs, one for the leader of each of their ancestral tribes, and Aaron’s staff was among them.
7Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the covenant law. 8The next day Moses entered the tent and saw that Aaron’s staff, which represented the tribe of Levi, had not only sprouted but had budded, blossomed and produced almonds.
9Then Moses brought out all the staffs from the LORD ’s presence to all the Israelites. They looked at them, and each of the leaders took his own staff. 10The LORD said to Moses, “Put back Aaron’s staff in front of the ark of the covenant law, to be kept as a sign to the rebellious. This will put an end to their grumbling against me, so that they will not die.”
11Moses did just as the LORD commanded him. 12The Israelites said to Moses, “We will die! We are lost, we are all lost! 13Anyone who even comes near the tabernacle of the LORD will die. Are we all going to die?”
Duties of Priests and Levites 1The LORD said to Aaron, “You, your sons and your family are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the sanctuary, and you and your sons alone are to bear the responsibility for offenses connected with the priesthood. 2Bring your fellow Levites from your ancestral tribe to join you and assist you when you and your sons minister before the tent of the covenant law. 3They are to be responsible to you and are to perform all the duties of the tent, but they must not go near the furnishings of the sanctuary or the altar. Otherwise both they and you will die.
4They are to join you and be responsible for the care of the tent of meeting—all the work at the tent—and no one else may come near where you are. 5“You are to be responsible for the care of the sanctuary and the altar, so that my wrath will not fall on the Israelites again. 6I myself have selected your fellow Levites from among the Israelites as a gift to you, dedicated to the LORD to do the work at the tent of meeting.
7But only you and your sons may serve as priests in connection with everything at the altar and inside the curtain. I am giving you the service of the priesthood as a gift. Anyone else who comes near the sanctuary is to be put to death.”
Offerings for Priests and Levites
8Then the LORD said to Aaron, “I myself have put you in charge of the offerings presented to me; all the holy offerings the Israelites give me I give to you and your sons as your portion, your perpetual share.
9You are to have the part of the most holy offerings that is kept from the fire. From all the gifts they bring me as most holy offerings, whether grain or sin
10Eat it as something most holy; every male shall eat it. You must regard it as holy.
11“This also is yours: whatever is set aside from the gifts of all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I give this to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it. 12“I give you all the finest olive oil and all the finest new wine and grain they give the LORD as the firstfruits of their harvest.
13All the land’s firstfruits that they bring to the LORD will be yours. Everyone in your household who is ceremonially clean may eat it.
14“Everything in Israel that is devoted
16When they are a month old, you must redeem them at the redemption price set at five shekels
19Whatever is set aside from the holy offerings the Israelites present to the LORD I give to you and your sons and daughters as your perpetual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt before the LORD for both you and your offspring.”
20The LORD said to Aaron, “You will have no inheritance in their land, nor will you have any share among them; I am your share and your inheritance among the Israelites. 21“I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the tent of meeting. 22From now on the Israelites must not go near the tent of meeting, or they will bear the consequences of their sin and will die. 23It is the Levites who are to do the work at the tent of meeting and bear the responsibility for any offenses they commit against it. This is a lasting ordinance for the generations to come. They will receive no inheritance among the Israelites.
24Instead, I give to the Levites as their inheritance the tithes that the Israelites present as an offering to the LORD . That is why I said concerning them: ‘They will have no inheritance among the Israelites.’ ” 25The LORD said to Moses, 26“Speak to the Levites and say to them: ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I give you as your inheritance, you must present a tenth of that tithe as the LORD ’s offering. 27Your offering will be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor or juice from the winepress. 28In this way you also will present an offering to the LORD from all the tithes you receive from the Israelites. From these tithes you must give the LORD ’s portion to Aaron the priest.
29You must present as the LORD ’s portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.’ 30“Say to the Levites: ‘When you present the best part, it will be reckoned to you as the product of the threshing floor or the winepress. 31You and your households may eat the rest of it anywhere, for it is your wages for your work at the tent of meeting. 32By presenting the best part of it you will not be guilty in this matter; then you will not defile the holy offerings of the Israelites, and you will not die.’ ”
The Water of Cleansing 1The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 2“This is a requirement of the law that the LORD has commanded: Tell the Israelites to bring you a red heifer without defect or blemish and that has never been under a yoke. 3Give it to Eleazar the priest; it is to be taken outside the camp and slaughtered in his presence. 4Then Eleazar the priest is to take some of its blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting. 5While he watches, the heifer is to be burned—its hide, flesh, blood and intestines. 6The priest is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool and throw them onto the burning heifer. 7After that, the priest must wash his clothes and bathe himself with water. He may then come into the camp, but he will be ceremonially unclean till evening.
8The man who burns it must also wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he too will be unclean till evening. 9“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a ceremonially clean place outside the camp. They are to be kept by the Israelite community for use in the water of cleansing; it is for purification from sin.
10The man who gathers up the ashes of the heifer must also wash his clothes, and he too will be unclean till evening. This will be a lasting ordinance both for the Israelites and for the foreigners residing among them. 11“Whoever touches a human corpse will be unclean for seven days. 12They must purify themselves with the water on the third day and on the seventh day; then they will be clean. But if they do not purify themselves on the third and seventh days, they will not be clean.
13If they fail to purify themselves after touching a human corpse, they defile the LORD ’s tabernacle. They must be cut off from Israel. Because the water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, they are unclean; their uncleanness remains on them. 14“This is the law that applies when a person dies in a tent: Anyone who enters the tent and anyone who is in it will be unclean for seven days,
15and every open container without a lid fastened on it will be unclean.
16“Anyone out in the open who touches someone who has been killed with a sword or someone who has died a natural death, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days. 17“For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them. 18Then a man who is ceremonially clean is to take some hyssop, dip it in the water and sprinkle the tent and all the furnishings and the people who were there. He must also sprinkle anyone who has touched a human bone or a grave or anyone who has been killed or anyone who has died a natural death. 19The man who is clean is to sprinkle those who are unclean on the third and seventh days, and on the seventh day he is to purify them. Those who are being cleansed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and that evening they will be clean. 20But if those who are unclean do not purify themselves, they must be cut off from the community, because they have defiled the sanctuary of the LORD . The water of cleansing has not been sprinkled on them, and they are unclean.
21This is a lasting ordinance for them. “The man who sprinkles the water of cleansing must also wash his clothes, and anyone who touches the water of cleansing will be unclean till evening. 22Anything that an unclean person touches becomes unclean, and anyone who touches it becomes unclean till evening.”
Water From the Rock 1In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. 2Now there was no water for the community, and the people gathered in opposition to Moses and Aaron. 3They quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead before the LORD ! 4Why did you bring the LORD ’s community into this wilderness, that we and our livestock should die here?
5Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!” 6Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them. 7The LORD said to Moses,
8“Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.” 9So Moses took the staff from the LORD ’s presence, just as he commanded him. 10He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”
11Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.
12But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”
13These were the waters of Meribah,
Edom Denies Israel Passage 14Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardships that have come on us. 15Our ancestors went down into Egypt, and we lived there many years. The Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors,
16but when we cried out to the LORD, he heard our cry and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. “Now we are here at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.
17Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway and not turn to the right or to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
18But Edom answered: “You may not pass through here; if you try, we will march out and attack you with the sword.”
19The Israelites replied: “We will go along the main road, and if we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. We only want to pass through on foot—nothing else.”
20Again they answered: “You may not pass through.” Then Edom came out against them with a large and powerful army.
21Since Edom refused to let them go through their territory, Israel turned away from them.
The Death of Aaron 22The whole Israelite community set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. 23At Mount Hor, near the border of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, 24“Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I give the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. 25Get Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up Mount Hor.
26Remove Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar, for Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there.” 27Moses did as the LORD commanded: They went up Mount Hor in the sight of the whole community. 28Moses removed Aaron’s garments and put them on his son Eleazar. And Aaron died there on top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain, 29and when the whole community learned that Aaron had died, all the Israelites mourned for him thirty days.
Arad Destroyed
1When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked the Israelites and captured some of them.
2Then Israel made this vow to the LORD : “If you will deliver these people into our hands, we will totally destroy
3The LORD listened to Israel’s plea and gave the Canaanites over to them. They completely destroyed them and their towns; so the place was named Hormah.
The Bronze Snake
4They traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea,
5they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” 6Then the LORD sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.
7The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you. Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8The LORD said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.”
9So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived.
The Journey to Moab 10The Israelites moved on and camped at Oboth. 11Then they set out from Oboth and camped in Iye Abarim, in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the sunrise. 12From there they moved on and camped in the Zered Valley. 13They set out from there and camped alongside the Arnon, which is in the wilderness extending into Amorite territory. The Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
14That is why the Book of the Wars of the LORD says: “…Zahab
15and
16From there they continued on to Beer, the well where the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people together and I will give them water.”
17Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well! Sing about it,
18about the well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people sank— the nobles with scepters and staffs.” Then they went from the wilderness to Mattanah, 19from Mattanah to Nahaliel, from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
20and from Bamoth to the valley in Moab where the top of Pisgah overlooks the wasteland.
Defeat of Sihon and Og 21Israel sent messengers to say to Sihon king of the Amorites:
22“Let us pass through your country. We will not turn aside into any field or vineyard, or drink water from any well. We will travel along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.” 23But Sihon would not let Israel pass through his territory. He mustered his entire army and marched out into the wilderness against Israel. When he reached Jahaz, he fought with Israel. 24Israel, however, put him to the sword and took over his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, but only as far as the Ammonites, because their border was fortified. 25Israel captured all the cities of the Amorites and occupied them, including Heshbon and all its surrounding settlements.
26Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and had taken from him all his land as far as the Arnon.
27That is why the poets say: “Come to Heshbon and let it be rebuilt; let Sihon’s city be restored.
28“Fire went out from Heshbon, a blaze from the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the citizens of Arnon’s heights.
29Woe to you, Moab! You are destroyed, people of Chemosh! He has given up his sons as fugitives and his daughters as captives to Sihon king of the Amorites.
30“But we have overthrown them; Heshbon’s dominion has been destroyed all the way to Dibon. We have demolished them as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.”
31So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. 32After Moses had sent spies to Jazer, the Israelites captured its surrounding settlements and drove out the Amorites who were there.
33Then they turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army marched out to meet them in battle at Edrei.
34The LORD said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.” 35So they struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army, leaving them no survivors. And they took possession of his land.