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Numbers

About this book
Chapter 15

1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land where you are to live, which I am giving you, 3 and you make an offering by fire to the Lord from the herd or from the flock (whether a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a freewill offering or in your solemn feasts) to create a pleasing aroma to the Lord, 4 then the one who presents his offering to the Lord must bring a grain offering of one-tenth of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of olive oil. 5 You must also prepare one-fourth of a hin of wine for a drink offering with the burnt offering or the sacrifice for each lamb. 6 Or for a ram, you must prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with one-third of a hin of olive oil, 7 and for a drink offering you must offer one-third of a hin of wine as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 8 And when you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice for discharging a vow or as a peace offering to the Lord, 9 then a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of finely ground flour mixed with half a hin of olive oil must be presented with the young bull, 10 and you must present as the drink offering half a hin of wine with the fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 11 This is what is to be done for each ox, or each ram, or each of the male lambs or the goats. 12 You must do so for each one according to the number that you prepare. 13 “‘Every native-born person must do these things in this way to present an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 14 If a resident foreigner is living with you—or whoever is among you in future generations—and prepares an offering made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he must do it the same way you are to do it. 15 One statute must apply to you who belong to the congregation and to the resident foreigner who is living among you, as a permanent statute for your future generations. You and the resident foreigner will be alike before the Lord. 16 One law and one custom must apply to you and to the resident foreigner who lives alongside you.’” 17 The Lord spoke to Moses: 18 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land to which I am bringing you 19 and you eat some of the food of the land, you must offer up a raised offering to the Lord. 20 You must offer up a cake of the first of your finely ground flour as a raised offering;⁠ as you offer the raised offering of the threshing floor, so you must offer it up. 21 You must give to the Lord some of the first of your finely ground flour as a raised offering in your future generations. 22 “‘If you sin unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses— 23 all that the Lord has commanded you by the authority of Moses, from the day that the Lord commanded Moses and continuing through your future generations— 24 then if anything is done unintentionally without the knowledge of the community, the whole community must prepare one young bull for a burnt offering—for a pleasing aroma to the Lord—along with its grain offering and its customary drink offering, and one male goat for a purification offering. 25 And the priest is to make atonement for the whole community of the Israelites, and they will be forgiven, because it was unintentional and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their unintentional offense. 26 And the whole community of the Israelites and the resident foreigner who lives among them will be forgiven, since all the people were involved in the unintentional offense.⁠ 27 “‘If any person sins unintentionally, then he must bring a yearling female goat for a purification offering. 28 And the priest must make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally—when he sins unintentionally before the Lord—to make atonement for him, and he will be forgiven. 29 You must have one law for the person who sins unintentionally, both for the native-born among the Israelites and for the resident foreigner who lives among them. 30 “‘But the person who acts defiantly, whether native-born or a resident foreigner, insults the Lord. That person must be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the Lord’s message and has broken his commandment, that person must be completely cut off. His iniquity will be on him.’” 32 When the Israelites were in the wilderness they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.⁠ 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community. 34 They put him in custody, because there was no clear instruction about what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses. 37 The Lord spoke to Moses: 38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make tassels for themselves on the corners of their garments⁠ throughout their generations,⁠ and put a blue thread on the tassel of the corners.⁠ 39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord⁠ and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness.⁠ 40 Thus you will remember and obey all my commandments and be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Numbers 15:38 and Matthew 23:5

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Numbers commands the use of tassels as a visual reminder of the commandments in the Torah. Their use appears in Matthew in a rabbinic debate, where Jesus criticizes misusing them for public displays of wealth or honor.

Passages

Numbers 15:38

Hebrew Bible
36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord commanded Moses. 37 The Lord spoke to Moses: 38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them to make tassels for themselves on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and put a blue thread on the tassel of the corners. 39 You must have this tassel so that you may look at it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and obey them and so that you do not follow after your own heart and your own eyes that lead you to unfaithfulness. 40 Thus you will remember and obey all my commandments and be holy to your God.
750–400 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Numbers

Matthew 23:5

New Testament
3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach. 4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them. 5 They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long. 6 They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues 7 and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’
70–90 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Matthew

References

"... Jesus, too, wore this fringed garment. Our English Bibles, however, don’t make this little detail particularly clear. Look, for example, at Matthew 9. The context of this chapter is striking, which we will discuss more in the next chapter. For now, let’s focus on verse 20. The woman with the problem of bleeding reaches out to Jesus and touches “the edge of his cloak.” Cloak? Is he Gandalf? What the Greek actually says is that she reaches out and touches the kraspedon (literally, tassels or fringes) of his garment. Ah, that’s interesting. Tassels. Just like the tassels commanded in Numbers 15. The same word is used in the parallel passage in Luke 8:44, as well as in Matthew 14:36 (and, parallel, Mark 6:56) where the sick are healed by touching the tassels on Jesus’ garment. In each of these instances, most English translations say “hem” or “edge” of his cloak or garment. However, when the same Greek word appears in Matthew 23:5 - where Jesus is censuring the Pharisees for their showiness - the word tassel is used. See what’s happening? Our English Bibles would have us believe that those hypocritical and “legalistic” Pharisees wear tassels, but Jesus Gandalf wears a cloak. What often gets missed is that this is the exact same word. This is merely one instance in which the English translation serves to obscure Jesus’ connection to Jewish practices and distance Jesus from the customs of the Pharisees. In reality, wearing tassels was (and is) common Jewish practice - that Jesus and the Pharisees both adhered to. As my friend Matthew Thiessen writes, Jesus was indeed “that Jewish” ..."
Jennifer M. Rosner, Finding Messiah: A Journey into the Jewishness of the Gospel (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2022), 45–46.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Numbers 15:38 and Matthew 23:5

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