This is part of a video series covering the entire Bible in 4 years, one chapter at a time. Start at the beginning with Genesis 1 (Youtube link: https://youtu.be/wC2qD4RGOdo) and work through the playlist. Or go to https://www.peace.org.au/bible.html for more information.
In this video listen to Numbers 15 read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.
In Numbers 15 we consider defiant sin, the tassels on the clothing of Jews, and whether the law was excessive when it killed a sabbath breaker for collecting wood.
FIrstly, defiant sin is not only wilful, but deliberately wilful. All people at some time have committed willful sin, but in their minds they were not rejecting God, even if practically they were doing so. Defiant sin is the deliberate chosen rejection of God and it bears consequences.
The Law seems at times to us overly tough. Yet the law was a precious gift to not just Israel, but to all humanity. Without the law grace could never have been given. If God wanted to give grace, against a backdrop of no law, that is against a backdrop of lawlessness, then there would never be anyone righteous. Nobody would know of the seriousness of sin, nobody would know how righteous living was needed, and nobody would feel bad after doing anything at all. Without the law grace would just be what was already there, it would be an approval of lawlessness.
So the law had to come, and it had to be a real law, that is it had to have real consequences. This passage shows us that the law of God did have real consequences, and during the forty years in the desert the Lord applied the law not just for the benefit of those there at the time, but for all humanity to follow.
Later in the Psalms, especially in Psalm 119, the Law of the Lord is extolled. It is a lamp unto our feet. This remains true to this very day.
Finally we consider the tassels worn by the Israelits, and we note that the Lord Jesus wore such tassels. In Matt 9:21 the story is told of a woman who had been bleeding for 12 years, and who touched the “hem” of his garment. In greek it seems it was the tassel that she touched.
May 17, 2021 | Message by David Alley