then it shall be, when ye eat of the bread of the land, that ye shall offer a heave-offering to Jehovah;
Numbers 15 turns from judgment to promise: after Israel had refused the land and been sent back to the desert, God starts giving instructions for the day they would sit down and eat its harvest. Verse 19 fixes on the ordinary act of eating home-grown bread, and asks what belongs to God in it — what the older translations call a "heave offering" and the ESV a "contribution."
Notice where this law sits. God had just told Israel that their bodies would fall in the desert. Now He speaks about their arrival.
After all this sad history, the LORD spoke to Moses. Unbelief was at work through the whole people of God. Israel had just suffered a crushing defeat that shamed them before the enemies who hated them. Even so, the LORD told Moses to speak to the children of Israel about the day they would come into the land He was giving them — a fresh pledge of bringing them into Canaan. That is exactly its force. It is repeated again in the middle of the chapter... This was His answer to the unbelief which thought that all must perish — a double witness that God would surely bring them in.
Another writer reads the same words as proof of God's fixed purpose:
By speaking this way, God made it plain that His purpose for them stood firm despite all they had done. He would bring them in at last.
The offerings named before this one belong to public worship. Verse 19 moves to the kitchen table — the loaf a family eats at home.
The ordinances of offerings which follow are for the land. There and then they were to bring burnt offerings, offerings for fulfilling a vow, and freewill offerings, which all belong to public worship. But daily life was included too: when they ate the bread of the land, they were to offer a heave offering to the LORD. The priest's family were to eat the heave offering at home... Here the whole congregation are to eat of it. They will be a kingdom of priests.
The term covers several different gifts, and they all share one feature.
The heave offering included the right shoulder of the peace offering... the first of the dough (Num. 15:20), and the tithes (Num. 18:24)... These offerings differ from one another, yet they share one feature. Each is a portion taken out of a larger amount — of fruits, of animals, of money, or of land. That is why they are called heave offerings.
Commentators differ on how far to press the picture. One reads the lifting itself as significant:
This is one case where a blood offering is not mentioned along with a meal offering... But the stress here falls on the person of Christ in His perfect humanity, pictured by the meal — and on Christ raised from the dead, which is what the lifting up of the offering shows.
Another writer finds no picture of God's plan here at all, only a plain lesson for good times:
From its place here, this offering does not seem to picture a stage in God's plan, as the sheaf of firstfruits or the loaves of Pentecost do. It seems instead to press God's claim to be remembered first when we share in the blessing His hand has given. A very simple lesson — and yet there is more danger of forgetting Him when we are blessed than when we are in need. It is easier for us to pray when we are suffering than to sing praise when we are cheerful.
The same writer adds that the gift is mercy on God's side and safety on ours:
So it is His mercy that reminds us of the claim of His mercy. His mercy lets us bring our gift to Him, and in this way He shares with us in His own bounty. It is love stooping low, not need, that makes Him do so. For us, it is the only thing that sanctifies and makes our blessing safe.
The bread of the land feeds the people themselves. Even so, they bring the first of it to Him.
This bread is mainly for their own nourishment and blessing. Yet even here they have the privilege of bringing a cake of the first of their dough to the LORD as a heave offering. He feeds us with the food of His own land. It gladdens the heart to know that what He feeds us with is acceptable to Him. The pot of manna, the food of the wilderness, was laid up before the LORD. In the same way the bread of the land is offered to Him, even though it fed Israel there.
- Promise first. The command assumes arrival in a land Israel had just refused. God's purpose stood firm despite all they had done.
- Table next. The offerings before this verse belong to public worship. This one belongs to daily life: the bread of the land, eaten at home.
- Portion lifted. A heave offering is a part taken out of a larger amount — of fruit, animals, money or land. Here it is the first of the dough.
- Memory tested. We forget God more easily when we are blessed than when we are in need. Praying in trouble comes easier than singing praise when life is good.
- Blessing made safe. Bringing Him the first is what sanctifies the rest. Love stooping low, not need, makes Him share the loaf He gave.
the first of your dough shall ye offer, a cake, for a heave-offering; as the heave-offering of the threshing-floor, so shall ye offer this.
God had just told Israel that the generation who refused Canaan would die in the desert. Then He speaks about baking bread in that same land, and asks for the first of the dough — why now, and why a piece of the household loaf?
Commentators start with where this chapter sits: right after Israel refused the land.
The people had shown all this unbelief. God had declared that the earth would be filled with His glory, and He had cut off the rebellious congregation. One might have supposed they had forfeited the land for ever. Then, in chapter 15, it is perfectly beautiful to see the Lord returning into the perfect rest of His purposes settled beforehand, and of His unchangeable being. He gives instructions about the time when the people will have entered the land He has given them... The firstfruits belong to Him.
Another writer counts this very command among the surprises of the chapter:
How wonderful and well-timed the grace! Right there it drops these evil ways of Israel and the chastenings they could not avoid. It turns instead to instruct them (Num. 15) what to do when they have come into the land of their dwellings which Jehovah gives them! To offer fire-offerings to Him with the drink-offering of joy! To offer Him the first of their dough as a heave-offering throughout their generations!
The word rendered "contribution" here is also translated "heave offering." It covers a whole family of gifts, and one idea ties them together:
The heave-offering included the right shoulder of the peace-offering... the first of the dough (Num. 15:20), and the tithes (Num. 18:24)... These offerings differ from one another. But they have one feature in common. They are all portions taken out of a larger amount, whether of fruits, of animals, of money, or of land. That is why each of them is called a heave-offering.
One note on these offerings marks how far the giving goes:
In heave-offerings there seems to be a more decided consecration. The thing is not simply presented for service; it is given up altogether... The heave-offering was an offering of gift, except the heave-shoulder; such as the heave-offering of dough in Numbers 15:19-21.
Why a heave offering rather than a wave offering here? Writers answer that question by contrast, explaining why the Nazarite's portion at the end of his vow was waved instead of heaved:
In the ordinary peace-offerings the shoulder was heaved with the cakes, here it was waved; for this offering did not spring from a thankful heart rejoicing in its blessings, and wanting to present something of its substance to the Lord in recognition of His goodness: but it was the public declaration that the time of special separation to God had ended.
This command reaches into the kitchen, to the ordinary loaf the family will eat. One writer draws out what that means for us:
He also looks ahead to their eating of the bread of the land. This is more for their own sustenance and blessing. Yet even here they have the privilege of bringing a cake of the first of their dough as a heave-offering to the Lord. He nourishes us with the food of His own land, and it gladdens the heart to know that what He feeds us with is acceptable to Him. The pot of manna, the food of the wilderness, was laid up before the Lord. In the same way the bread of the land is offered to Him, though it fed Israel there. He always has His own share in the preciousness of Christ with which He feeds us.
This was not a rule for one harvest. The same command appears again in a promise about a restored land:
"You shall also give to the priest the first of your dough, that he may cause the blessing to rest in your house."... There is no need to prove that these regulations are wholly outside Christianity. Yet they will certainly be in force when the glory of Jehovah visits and governs the earth.
Commentators differ on how far such rules touch believers today. Kelly places them outside Christianity and looks on to that coming day. Others draw a present lesson: God has His share in the food He gives us.
- Grace first. The command comes right after Israel forfeited the land. God returns to His own settled purpose, not to their record.
- Gift second. A heave offering is a portion lifted out of a larger amount and given up altogether. It is an offering of gift, not simply something presented for service.
- Firstfruits third. The portion comes off the top, from the first of the dough, because the firstfruits belong to Him.
- Ordinary bread. The claim reaches past the altar into the household loaf, and the heart is glad that what He feeds us with pleases Him.
- Every generation. The rule was permanent. It appears again with a promise of blessing resting on the house, and it will stand when the glory of Jehovah governs the earth.
Of the first of your dough ye shall give to Jehovah a heave-offering throughout your generations.
Israel had just refused to enter the promised land. God answered by giving them rules for life inside it. This verse asks a small thing: a piece of the first batch of dough. It raises two large questions. Why does God speak of the land to people who have just lost it? And why does He ask for the first of anything?
The setting makes this law startling. God had just told this generation that their bodies would fall in the desert. Then He spoke to them about life in the land.
So the opening lines of Numbers 15 must be read in the light of the whole volume of God. It falls in with the entire history of God's ways with man in this world. Israel had forfeited all title to the land. They deserved nothing better than that their bodies should fall in the wilderness. And yet such is the large and precious grace of God that He could speak to them of coming into the land, and instruct them as to their ways and works there.
Another writer notes that God "goes on with His own intentions just as quietly as if nothing of chapter 14 had happened" (J. N. Darby).
Older translations call this a heave offering. The word links this verse to a whole family of gifts. What ties them together is not the material but the method.
The heave-offering included the right shoulder of the peace-offering…, the first of the dough (Num. 15:20), and the tithes (Num. 18:24)… These offerings differ from one another, but they share one feature. They are all portions taken out of a larger amount, whether of fruit, animals, money, or land. That is why they are called heave-offerings.
So the cake was never the whole batch. It was one portion lifted out of the rest.
Commentators differ over how far to press the picture. Some read the ingredients closely.
Again the Lord gives instructions to Moses. When Israel came into the land of promise, as soon as they ate the produce of that land, they were to offer up a heave offering to the Lord: a cake of the first of their ground meal… the emphasis here is on the person of Christ in His perfect humanity (the meal), yet as raised from the dead, as the heaving shows. We are to treasure all the life of the Lord Jesus in lowly grace and suffering. Yet we no longer know Him in that relationship (2 Cor. 5:15), but as raised from among the dead.
Others read it more plainly. One writer sets this law apart from the sheaf of firstfruits and the Pentecost loaves.
From its place here it does not seem to have any prophetic significance, as the sheaf of first-fruits or the loaves of Pentecost do. Rather it seems to press God's claim to be remembered first when we enjoy the blessing His hand has given. A very simple lesson, and yet there is more danger of forgetting Him amid our blessings than in our need. It is easier for us to pray when we are suffering than it is to sing praise when we are cheerful. So it is His mercy too that reminds us of the claim of His mercy. His mercy lets us bring our gift to Him, and He will share with us in His own bounty. Certainly it is condescending love, not need, that makes Him do so. For us, it is the only thing that sanctifies and makes safe our blessing.
The bread of the land was Israel's own food. Even so, God kept a share in it — in every generation.
Eating the bread of the land is more for their own nourishment and blessing. Yet even here they have the privilege of bringing a cake of the first of their dough to the Lord as a heave-offering. He nourishes us with the food of His own land, and it gladdens the heart to know that what He feeds us with is acceptable to Him. Israel laid up the pot of manna, the food of the wilderness, before the Lord. In the same way they bring Him the bread of the land, even though that bread is what feeds them in the land. He has always His own share in the preciousness of Christ with which He feeds us.
- First — the grace. Israel had just forfeited the land. Even so, God "could speak to them of coming into the land, and instruct them as to their ways and works there."
- First — the gift. A heave offering is a portion "taken out of a larger amount." The cake is lifted out, and the rest of the batch stays at home.
- First — the Person. The ground meal speaks of Christ's perfect humanity. The lifting of it points to Him "as raised from among the dead."
- First — the remembering. God asks to be remembered first at the table, because "there is more danger of forgetting Him amid our blessings than in our need."
- First — then safety. Giving God His share is "the only thing that sanctifies and makes safe our blessing." He always keeps "His own share in the preciousness of Christ with which He feeds us."