The verse marks the beginning of the Lord's speech and instructions to Moses that make up the account of events and instructions covered in Numbers 15. That chapter follows Israel's rebellion and belongs with Numbers 14 in the larger span of Numbers 14-32. It begins the second half of the February 20 portion with Numbers 14 and shows God's pardoning mercy.
The instructions introduced include laws about meal offerings, drink offerings, and offerings for sins of ignorance. The law introduced concerning sin committed in ignorance teaches that such sin still required atonement, and when the sinner became aware of it the required offering had to be made for forgiveness. The chapter also includes the account of a man who deliberately violated the fourth commandment by breaking the Sabbath in gathering sticks, whose act was open, defiant, presumptuous sin, not ordinary sin or mere transgression. Numbers 15 distinguishes special regulations for the wilderness and penalties for flagrant, presumptuous sin from the enduring moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments, with the stoning of the stick-gatherer on the Sabbath as an example of such a special case.
The verse marks the beginning of the Lord's speech and instructions to Moses that make up the account of events and instructions covered in Numbers 15. That chapter follows Israel's rebellion and belongs with Numbers 14 in the larger span of Numbers 14-32. It begins the second half of the February 20 portion with Numbers 14 and shows God's pardoning mercy.
The instructions introduced include laws about meal offerings, drink offerings, and offerings for sins of ignorance. The law introduced concerning sin committed in ignorance teaches that such sin still required atonement, and when the sinner became aware of it the required offering had to be made for forgiveness. The chapter also includes the account of a man who deliberately violated the fourth commandment by breaking the Sabbath in gathering sticks, whose act was open, defiant, presumptuous sin, not ordinary sin or mere transgression. Numbers 15 distinguishes special regulations for the wilderness and penalties for flagrant, presumptuous sin from the enduring moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments, with the stoning of the stick-gatherer on the Sabbath as an example of such a special case.