🔢WEB · Numbers 15:17
What does Numbers 15:17 mean?
"Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,"
— Numbers 15:17 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire, of a pleasant aroma to Yahweh; as you do, so he shall do.
For the assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner, a statute forever throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the foreigner be before Yahweh.
One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.’”
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When you come into the land where I bring you,
then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a wave offering to Yahweh.
Of the first of your dough you shall offer up a cake for a wave offering. As the wave offering of the threshing floor, so you shall heave it.
Explanation
Numbers 15:17 is a short introductory formula: "Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying." In plain language, it simply states that God communicated directly with Moses, setting up the instructions that follow. The verse itself contains no content beyond this announcement — it is a literary hinge that signals a new divine communication is about to be given.
This phrase appears repeatedly throughout the book of Numbers and the rest of the Pentateuch, always as a formula introducing fresh legislation or instruction for the Israelite community. Numbers was written in the context of Israel's wilderness wanderings, as Moses served as the mediator between God and the people, receiving laws, regulations, and guidance for how Israel was to live once they entered the land of Canaan. In this specific passage, the words that follow in verses 18-21 give instructions about offerings the Israelites were to bring from the produce of the land they would eventually possess — specifically an offering of the first of their dough. So this verse functions as the doorway into that particular set of instructions
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