The Bible in a Year – 17 February

If this is your first viewing, please see my Introduction before reading this.

17 February. Numbers chapter 15.

Among the repeated detailed arrangements for sacrifices and offerings, two principles stand out. One is that an offering may be made for forgiveness for an unintentional sin, but deliberate sin is a different matter. Acting  ‘high handedly’ (NRSV) / ‘presumptuously’ (KJV) / ‘defiantly’ (NIV) in violation of a known command cannot be forgiven.  At best such a sinner was to be ‘cut off’ (shunned by society) or at worst, stoned to death. The distinction still matters: Jesus said that all sins can be forgiven (by his death, rather than animal sacrifices) except ‘the sin against the Holy Spirit’, which is usually taken to mean this sort of deliberate and defiant turning against God. Even in personal relationships we find that it is far harder to forgive someone who deliberately sets out to defy us or make life difficult for us, than someone who has accidentally caused us harm.

 

 

The other point is that the offerings for atonement were available not only to the tribes of Israel but to foreigners (servants, presumably) living among them. Even at this early stage of the religion there was no sense that God’s laws, or his mercy, are restricted to one group. Israel was favoured by having these things revealed to them, but not for their exclusive benefit.