How does Numbers 15 distinguish sins through ignorance from actions through pride?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

For ignorant sin it prescribes offerings and priestly prayer, with forgiveness for the whole people or the individual. A person acting through pride is cut off because of rebellion against the Lord, contempt for his word and making his command void.

Chapter breakdown

Numbers 15 gives sacrifice laws, the Sabbath wood-gatherer’s punishment and garment fringes. The Lord tells Moses to instruct Israel that, when they reach the land he gives them, offerings of oxen or sheep may be whole burnt offerings or sacrifices for vows, voluntary gifts or solemn feasts, burning a sweet savour to him. For every lamb, the person sacrificing must give a tenth of an ephi of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil, and the same measure of wine poured as a drink offering. Ephi and hin are the source’s quantity measures.

For every ram, the flour is two tenths, mixed with a third of a hin of oil; the wine drink offering is also a third of that measure, for a sweet savour to the Lord. For an ox offered as a whole burnt offering, to fulfil a vow or for peace, the flour is three tenths mixed with half a hin of oil, and the wine is the same measure. This is an offering of most sweet savour. They must do this for every ox, ram, lamb and kid. Natives and strangers must offer by the same rite, with one law and judgement for both.

The Lord tells Moses to instruct Israel that, on entering the land he gives and eating its bread, they must separate firstfruits to him from what they eat. As they separate firstfruits from their threshing floors, so they must give firstfruits of their dough to the Lord.

If through ignorance they omit things the Lord spoke to Moses and commanded through him from the beginning onward, and the multitude forgets to do them, they must offer a calf of the herd as a whole burnt offering of most sweet savour. Its accompanying offering and drink offerings must follow the ceremonies, and a buck goat must be offered for sin. The priest prays for all Israel’s multitude. They are forgiven because they sinned ignorantly, offering the burnt offering for themselves, their sin and ignorance. Forgiveness includes Israel and the strangers among them, because the fault of all the people was through ignorance.

An individual who sins ignorantly must offer a one-year-old she goat for sin. The priest prays for the person who sinned ignorantly before the Lord, obtains pardon, and the sin is forgiven. The same law applies to natives and strangers who sin through ignorance. But a native or stranger who acts through pride must be cut off from the people because he has rebelled against the Lord. He has despised the Lord’s word and made his command void; therefore he will be destroyed and bear his iniquity.

In the wilderness, Israel finds a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath. They bring him to Moses, Aaron and the whole multitude and put him in prison because they do not know what to do with him. The Lord tells Moses that the man must die and the whole multitude must stone him outside the camp. They bring him out, stone him, and he dies as the Lord commanded.

The Lord tells Moses to instruct Israel to make fringes on the corners of their garments, putting blue ribbons in them.

Challoner says the Pharisees enlarged these fringes through hypocrisy to appear more zealous for God’s law than others, citing Matthew 23:5. This is the annotation’s later comparison.

Seeing the fringes is to remind them of all the Lord’s commands, instead of following their own thoughts and eyes astray after various things. Remembering the commands, they must do them and be holy to their God. The Lord declares that he brought them out of Egypt to be their God.

The story inside

The wood-gatherer’s case records a pause before a judgement. The people find him gathering sticks on the Sabbath, bring him before Moses, Aaron and everyone, and put him in prison because they do not know what to do. The Lord then names both death and stoning outside the camp, and the people carry it out. The text does not narrow their uncertainty to the method of execution or tell us the man’s private intention. The nearby law contrasts ignorance and pride, but it must not be used to invent his motives or turn this one case into an unstated universal legal precedent.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The offerings have exact proportions. A lamb, ram and ox have distinct flour amounts and matching oil and wine measures, so a general phrase about gifts would lose the law’s requirements.
2
Ignorance has both a communal and individual provision. The community offers a calf and buck goat, while the individual offers a one-year-old she goat, with priestly prayer and the stated forgiveness.
3
The fringes have a stated purpose. Seeing them should lead to remembering and doing the commands rather than following wandering thoughts and eyes; their required blue ribbons are part of that instruction.

Test your recall

How do the offerings for an ignorant fault of the multitude differ from the offering for an individual’s ignorant sin?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 15844–15864
Numbers Chapter 15 Certain laws concerning sacrifices. Sabbath breaking is punished with death. The law of fringes on their garments. 15:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 15:2. Speak to the children of Israel and thou shalt say to them: When you shall be come unto the land of your habitation, which I will give you, 15:3. And shall make an offering to the Lord, for a holocaust, or a victim, paying your vows, or voluntarily offering gifts, or in your solemnities burning a sweet savour unto the Lord, of oxen or of sheep: 15:4. Whosoever immolateth the victim, shall offer a sacrifice of fine flour, the tenth part of an ephi, tempered with the fourth part of a hin of oil: 15:5. And he shall give the same measure of wine to pour out in libations for the holocaust or for the victim. For every lamb,
Lines 15866–15890
15:6. And for every ram there shall be a sacrifice of flour of two tenths, which shall be tempered with the third part of a hin of oil: 15:7. And he shall offer the third part the same measure of wine for the libation, for a sweet savour to the Lord. 15:8. But when thou offerest a holocaust or sacrifice of oxen, to fulfil thy vow or for victims of peace offerings, 15:9. Thou shalt give for every ox three tenths of flour tempered with half a hin of oil, 15:10. And wine for libations of the same measure, for an offering of most sweet savour to the Lord. 15:11. Thus shalt thou do 15:12. For every ox and ram and lamb and kid. 15:13. Both they that are born in the land, and the strangers 15:14. Shall offer sacrifices after the same rite. 15:15. There shall be all one law and judgment both for you and for them who are strangers in the land.
Lines 15892–15904
15:16. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 15:17. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say to them: 15:18. When you are come into the land which I will give you, 15:19. And shall eat of the bread of that country, you shall separate firstfruits to the Lord, 15:20. Of the things you eat. As you separate firstfruits of your barnfloors: 15:21. So also shall you give firstfruits of your dough to the Lord.
Lines 15906–15924
15:22. And if through ignorance you omit any of these things, which the Lord hath spoken to Moses, 15:23. And by him hath commanded you from the day that he began to command and thenceforward, 15:24. And the multitude have forgotten to do it: they shall offer a calf out of the herd, a holocaust for a most sweet savour to the Lord, and the sacrifice and libations thereof, as the ceremonies require, and a buck goat for sin: 15:25. And the priest shall pray for all the multitude of the children of Israel: and it shall be forgiven them, because they sinned ignorantly, offering notwithstanding a burnt offering to the Lord for themselves and for their sin and their Ignorance: 15:26. And it shall be forgiven all the people of the children of Israel: and the strangers that sojourn among them: because it is the fault of all the people through ignorance.
Lines 15926–15941
15:27. But if one soul shall sin ignorantly, he shall offer a she goat of a year old for his sin. 15:28. And the priest shall pray for him, because he sinned ignorantly before the Lord: and he shall obtain his pardon, and it shall be forgiven him. 15:29. The same law shall be for all that sin by ignorance, whether they be natives or strangers. 15:30. But the soul that committeth any thing through pride, whether he be born in the land or a stranger (because he hath been rebellious against the Lord) shall be cut off from among his people: 15:31. For he hath contemned the word of the Lord, and made void his precept: therefore shall he be destroyed, and shall bear his iniquity.
Lines 15943–15956
15:32. And it came to pass, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness, and had found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day, 15:33. That they brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole multitude. 15:34. And they put him into prison, not knowing what they should do with him. 15:35. And the Lord said to Moses: Let that man die, let all the multitude stone him without the camp. 15:36. And when they had brought him out, they stoned him, and he died as the Lord had commanded.
Lines 15958–15962
15:37. The Lord also said to Moses: 15:38. Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt tell them to make to themselves fringes in the corners of their garments, putting in them ribands of blue:
Lines 15964–15965
Fringes.... The Pharisees enlarged these fringes through hypocrisy, Matt. 23.5, to appear more zealous than other men for the law of God.
Lines 15967–15977
15:39. That when they shall see them, they may remember all the commandments of the Lord, and not follow their own thoughts and eyes going astray after divers things, 15:40. But rather being mindful of the precepts of the Lord, may do them and be holy to their God. 15:41. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that I might be your God.