What Does Numbers 15:15 Mean?
One statute shall be for you of the assembly, and for the sojourner who sojourns with you, a statute for the ages in your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before the LORD.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation, and also for the stranger that sojourneth with you, an ordinance for ever in your generations: as ye are, so shall the stranger be before the LORD.THE KEY
The verse ties the stranger’s identity to dwelling among the congregation, then places both under one ordinance before the LORD.
THE MEANING
Before the LORD, the congregation and the stranger dwelling among it share one ordinance. The verse places their standing in direct parallel: “as ye are, so shall the stranger be.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the assumption that an outsider remains under a lesser measure before the LORD.
THE ROOT
הַגָּר
haggār
GROWS FROM
גור
גּוּר (gūr) means to dwell or sojourn, especially as a resident outsider.
“sojourns” in this verse is haggār. The verse places גֵּר (gēr, “stranger” or “resident sojourner”) beside הַגָּר (haggār, “the one dwelling or sojourning”), repeating the same root in the person’s designation and action. English separates “stranger” from “sojourneth”; Hebrew links the outsider to the act of dwelling among the congregation.
ALSO GROWS
lāgūr: To dwell or sojourn.
לָגוּר
This verbal form shows all three consonants of גור (gūr), making explicit the act named by הַגָּר (haggār).
gēr: A stranger or resident sojourner.
גֵּר
This noun comes from the weak root גור (gūr); its middle ו is not written in this form, linking the resident outsider’s designation to the act of dwelling.
megūrīm: Dwellings or sojournings.
מְגוּרִים
This form retains the root’s three consonants and extends the idea from a person who sojourns to the place or condition of dwelling.
THE PATTERN
Shared standing before God is expressed by placing insiders and resident outsiders under one measure.
One instruction will be for the native of the land, and for the sojourner who sojourns among you.One judgment shall be yours, as for the sojourner, so for the native, for I am the LORD your God.There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither servant nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Jesus the Anointed One.THE THREAD
One instruction will be for the native of the land, and for the sojourner who sojourns among you.Exodus repeats the Hebrew pairing גֵּר (gēr, “stranger” or “resident sojourner”) and הַגָּר (haggār, “the one dwelling or sojourning”), linking the person to the act of dwelling among the community. Numbers makes the shared standing explicit: the stranger is before the LORD as the congregation is.
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