Yesterday we talked about the offerings for unintentional sins committed by individuals or by the community as a whole. Today we learn what Numbers 15 says the Israelites must do about a particular type of intentional sin. For this special type of sin there is no offering to bring that will allow the person to remain in the congregation of Israel.
"But anyone who sins defiantly, whether native-born or foreigner, blasphemes the Lord and must be cut off from the people of Israel. Because they have despised the Lord's word and broken His commands, they must surely be cut off; their guilt remains on them." (Numbers 15:30-31) The word rendered "defiantly" (or "presumptuously" in some versions such as the KJV) in the original language means something like: "to exalt oneself, to lift high, to be lifted up in pride". A Bible commentary I often consult is one by David Guzik, who says of this passage: "Literally, to sin presumptuously means to sin 'with a high hand'. It speaks of a flagrant rebellion against God, the law of Moses, and the nation as a whole." Another commentator whose writings I sometimes read, Adam Clarke, says the defiant and presumptuous sin of verses 30 and 31 is this type: "Bold, daring acts of transgression against the fullest evidence, and in despite of the Divine authority".
Our passage is talking about those who set themselves up above God by speaking out against Him and by trying to lead others astray from Him. Verses 30 and 31 come at a time when ten men have just lost their lives for inciting rebellion against God and against Moses and Aaron whom God has, at this juncture in history, appointed as the human political and religious leaders of Israel. These ten men set almost the entire community into an uproar to the point that many of them wanted to stone Moses and Aaron to death, select a leader who would do their will instead of God's will, and return to slavery in Egypt under a cruel and wicked king. The type of people the Lord commands Israel to excommunicate are the type who, as verses 30 and 31 says, blaspheme the Lord, despise His word, and break His commandments. The ten men who lost their lives in our previous chapter blasphemed the Lord by saying He could not and was not going to enable Israel to take the promised land; they called God a liar. They accused God of having bad intentions toward Israel by saying He had brought them to the borders of the promised land with the intention of allowing their soldiers to fall by the sword and their children and wives to be taken captive. The ten men turned the people against Moses and Aaron, almost causing their assassination. The ten men made slavery and oppression look better to the people than liberty and prosperity in a new land.
God Himself excommunicated these ten men by allowing them to die, for they were too dangerous and held too much sway over the people to be allowed to continue living. But in the future the Lord says that Israel is to put out of the congregation anyone who speaks blasphemy against the Lord and who tries to entice others to turn against the Lord along with them.
In the New Testament we find the Apostle Paul recommending the excommunication of a church member. The man in question was having an affair with his own stepmother. This fact was common knowledge and the members of the church knew the man was openly living in blatant, unrepentant sin, yet no one took any action to ensure that this man wasn't allowed to be a bad influence on the congregation. The church leadership should have taken him aside privately to lovingly counsel him about his lifestyle and urge him to repent. The church leadership or the congregation---or both---should have objected to this man taking part in their services while he was living proudly and brazenly in sin. But no one said a word. On the contrary, Paul says, "You are proud!" (1 Corinthians 5:2) The word translated as "proud" is similar in meaning to the word translated as "defiant" or "presumptuous" in our text from Numbers 15. It means to "lift oneself up, to bear oneself loftily, to be puffed up". The congregation wasn't mourning that one of their members had fallen into sin, as Paul says they should be in 1 Corinthians 5, but instead they had the attitude of, "So what?" Instead of being sad, they were defiant. Paul called them out on their wrong attitude and advised them to put the man out of their congregation for the purpose of causing him to feel sorrowful and repentant. Later, in 2 Corinthians 2, we learn that the man did repent and that Paul advised the church to accept him back into the congregation lovingly and as their brother in Christ. He said, "You ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed with excessive sorrow. I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love for him." (2 Corinthians 2:7-8)
It would not be Christlike if the congregation refused to accept the repentant man back into church. The Lord has accepted his repentance; the church would be hypocritical not to do likewise. They aren't to berate him by saying, "You should have known better!" What would that accomplish? He's already come to see that he should have known better. He's sorry for his sin. He's made things right with the Lord and now he's trying to make things right with his brothers and sisters in Christ. If they refuse to accept his apology in the right spirit, they are sinning against him and against the Lord who has already forgiven him.
What are we to do when someone realizes the error of their ways, repents to the Lord, and seeks the forgiveness of their fellow believers whom they have wronged? Here is the answer: "Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently." (Galatians 6:1a) When someone comes to us in guilt and sorrow, we aren't to haughtily pronounce, "I told you so!" We aren't to exclaim, "You got what you deserved!" We aren't to put them down by saying, "What did you expect? How did you not see this was going to go horribly wrong?" Is that what Christ says when we come to Him and confess our mistakes? No, He restores us gently in love. A person who realizes they have erred greatly is already beating themselves up for it. They already feel terrible. They already feel like a fool. They already wish they hadn't sinned against the Lord and/or against their fellow man. Why would we want to heap more guilt and grief upon them? What would that accomplish except exalting ourselves by being able to say, "I told you so! I was right and you were wrong! If only you'd listened to me!"
No one has the right to say things like that except the Lord whose laws and commandments have been broken. And yet He offers forgiveness instead. He extends mercy instead. How can we refuse to do likewise?
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