This page offers Bible study questions for Numbers 15, with a leader’s answer or discussion note for each one. Numbers 15 is a chapter of laws: instructions for grain and drink offerings, a provision for unintentional sin, a warning about deliberate rebellion, a short story about a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath, and the command to wear tassels with a blue cord. Use these questions for a small group, a Sunday class, or personal study.
Numbers 15 at a Glance
The chapter opens with the LORD speaking to Moses about offerings the people will bring once they enter the land. Fine flour, oil and wine accompany animal sacrifices, and the measures change depending on whether the animal is a lamb, a ram or a bull. The same rules apply to the foreigner living among Israel, so that one law governs everyone in the community.
The chapter then turns to sin. It describes what happens when someone sins unintentionally, what happens when someone sins defiantly, and how a man gathering wood on the Sabbath is judged. It closes with the tassel command, a reminder meant to keep the people from following their own hearts and eyes.
Observation Questions
Begin here, before anyone offers an opinion. These questions ask only what the text says. Read the passage aloud once, then let people answer from the words on the page.
Numbers 15:3
And will make an offering by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to accomplish a vow, or as a freewill offering, or in your set feasts, to make a pleasant aroma to the LORD, of the herd, or of the flock…
(WEB)
This verse frames the offerings as a pleasant aroma to the LORD, which invites the group to think about worship as something offered to God rather than merely performed. Use it to open the discussion of the chapter’s sacrificial details.
Numbers 15:15-16
15 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 the LORD. 16 One law and one ordinance shall be for you, and for the stranger who lives as a foreigner with you.’”
(WEB)
These verses establish one statute for the native-born and the foreigner alike. Reading them aloud sets up the conversation about inclusion and the community God forms among different peoples.
Numbers 15:25
The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and they shall be forgiven; for it was an error, and they have brought their offering, an offering made by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD, for their error.
(WEB)
This verse speaks of atonement for an unintentional error and of forgiveness that follows. It is a good place to pause and let the group talk about what it means to be forgiven for sins they did not fully see.
Numbers 15:31
Because he has despised the LORD’s word, and has broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off. His iniquity shall be on him.’”
(WEB)
This verse names the seriousness of despising God’s word. Reading it aloud early in the session helps the group take the rest of the chapter’s warnings with appropriate weight.
Numbers 15:40-41
40 So that you may remember and do 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.”
(WEB)
These verses close the chapter with the purpose of the tassels and the reason behind every command. End the reading here so the group leaves with the central claim: they obey because the LORD brought them out of Egypt.
Memory Verse for Numbers 15
Numbers 15:40
So that you may remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
(WEB)
This verse is short enough to memorize and captures the chapter’s aim: remembering God’s commands and living as his holy people. Invite the group to repeat it together and to say it aloud at the start of each day this week.
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we thank you that you gave your people clear instructions and that you remember us even when we fall short. Teach us to give you what is first and best, not what is left over. Where we have sinned without knowing it, we ask for your mercy and your cleansing. Where we have pushed against your word with a stubborn heart, we ask you to soften us and bring us back. Give us reminders that keep us close to your commands throughout our days. Keep us faithful, and let our lives be pleasing to you. Amen.
