Thursday's passage dealt with what many versions of the Bible translate as "presumptuous sin" which was characterized as a sin where the offender blasphemes the Lord, despises Him, and purposely breaks His commands out of hatred and disrespect for the Lord. The Lord said the Israelites were to excommunicate anyone who sins in this manner. A person like this is too dangerous to the congregation of Israel to allow them to remain to keep stirring up strife and rebellion.
In Chapter 14 the Lord allowed a plague to come upon and take the lives of ten of the twelve men who were sent to the promised land on a reconnaissance mission. These ten men returned with faithless, ugly reports. They blasphemed the Lord by accusing Him of rescuing them from Egypt only to cause them to die in the wilderness. They stirred the people into a frenzy of doubt and panic which led to an assassination plot against Moses and Aaron and a plan to return to the land of their oppression instead of moving forward in faith to possess the land the Lord promised them. They intended to appoint a leader in place of Moses---a man who would take them back to Pharaoh where they would become the subjects of the wicked king of Egypt---and I suspect all ten of the men who stirred up the crowd were vying for position of new leader. The Lord Himself excommunicated these men and He did it by death. The threat to Israel was too large and too imminent for Him to allow the men to survive. They were about to bring about the downfall of the entire community and He could not allow that to happen.
But in Chapter 15 the Lord hasn't told the people to put to death a person who sins presumptuously against Him. He simply told them to put the offender out of the congregation. An incident occurs in today's passage that temporary throws the people into confusion. A person purposely breaks one of the ten commandments, and although this is certainly a sin that qualifies him for excommunication, it's also a sin that qualifies for the death penalty.
"While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day." (Numbers 15:32) When giving instructions regarding keeping the Sabbath day holy, the Lord said, "Observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death." (Exodus 31:14-15) Every person in the community was aware of the commandment to observe the Sabbath and the penalty for not observing it. "Moses assembled the whole Israelite community and said to them, 'These are the things the Lord has commanded you to do. For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a day of sabbath rest to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it is to be put to death. Do not light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.'" (Exodus 35:1-3) We can clearly see that the man who gathered wood on the Sabbath was certainly aware that it was the Sabbath and that he was not to work (gathering wood qualifies as work) or light a fire on the Sabbath. Because this incident occurs in a passage of Numbers that deals with those who commit presumptuous sins, Moses is letting us know that the man who gathered firewood on the Sabbath and who intended to build a fire on the Sabbath was doing it in purposeful disobedience to God. This man deliberately broke the Sabbath because he disrespected the holiness of the Lord. The Sabbath was just like any other day to him; he did not regard it as holy because he did not regard the Lord as holy. While picking up the kindling, he probably had the attitude, "Yes, I'm working on the Sabbath! So what? What's the Lord going to do about it?"
Based on what the Lord has previously said about Sabbath-breakers, I believe the community knows what should be done with this man but at the same time I think they may be wondering whether the Lord's instruction to excommunicate presumptuous offenders is an amendment to or overrides His previous instruction to put a Sabbath-breaker to death. After having recovered from and repented of their murderous plot toward Moses and Aaron, they may be loathe to commit any type of harm upon any person---even when the law commands it. We find them unsure how to proceed in our next verse: "Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly, and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him." (Numbers 15:33-34) They want to make sure the Lord still wants a Sabbath-breaker put to death.
This is a death penalty case at this point in the history of ancient Israel. The Lord's word is clear on that. The circumstances are also clear; there's no doubt the man actually did what he's accused of doing. There are at least two witnesses to the man's crime against the Lord, for we are told "those who found him" took him to Moses and Aaron and the assembly. This fulfills the law that no one can be put to death without the eyewitness testimony of two or more persons. (Deuteronomy 17:12, Deuteronomy 19:15) There's no problem with their case against the man. The problem appears to lie in their understanding of whether or not the Lord still wants them to carry out the death penalty for Sabbath-breaking or whether the law has been amended and He only wants them to excommunicate the man. Or perhaps the problem is that they do understand that the death penalty is still the sentence for a Sabbath-breaker but that they are reluctant to impose such a harsh penalty even though the Lord's will is clear on this matter.
When we did our study of Exodus we discussed how imperative it was for the people to regard the Sabbath as holy. Failing to honor the seventh day of the week by setting it aside for the Lord could cause them not to set aside time with the Lord. If they worked seven days a week, time for the Lord wouldn't be prioritized, possibly causing many to completely forego prayer and the study of His laws and commandments. This would lead to some forsaking the Lord entirely and/or falling into idolatrous practices. Also, if the people could not observe one day a week in the Lord's honor, it would be easy to stop ascribing as much honor to the Lord as is due Him. When we stop thinking of the Lord as someone so high above us that we can't even comprehend His glory and holiness and power, we stop walking in His ways. We stop obeying His laws and commandments. We stop setting aside time to commune with Him. We start thinking our will for ourselves is as important (or more important) than God's will for our lives. We stop consulting Him when we have important decisions to make. We follow our own sinful desires instead of following the principles of holy living. If we can't set aside some time each week (preferably each day) to spend in God's word and to spend in prayer, it won't be long before we start drifting from a close relationship from the Lord. And when we fall away from closeness from the Lord, we start falling into sin.
In our passage today no one wants to lay a finger on the Sabbath-breaker without doublechecking whether capital punishment is still the Lord's will for such a crime. Whether or not they should have been confused about this matter, at least they handle their confusion in the right way. They ask the Lord what to do and He tells them, through Moses, that His previous command to put a Sabbath-breaker to death still stands. "Then the Lord said to Moses, 'The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.' So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses." (Numbers 15:35-36)
At this pivotal moment in Israel's history, it's absolutely essential that they deal with various types of sin exactly in the way the Lord prescribes. If this man broke the Sabbath and nothing happened, imagine how many more would be tempted to break the Sabbath. If this man got away with an action that amounts to spitting in the Lord's face, imagine how many more would feel encouraged to be scornful of the Lord. Israel will begin taking over the promised land in the next generation. That land is filled with idolatrous tribes. If Israel does not have the Lord seated on the throne of her heart, and if she does not lift Him up to the highest degree in her mind, she could easily fall away from Him and fall into the idolatry rampant in the land of Canaan. Instead of becoming the powerful nation God promised she would be if she remained loyal to Him, the same punishment would fall on Israel as is going to fall on the sinful pagans of Canaan. The Lord was very clear about that in Leviticus 26:14-46. The Lord intends to uproot the idolatrous tribes of the promised land and plant Israel in their place. But if Israel falls into the same sin as these tribes, He will do to her the same thing He did to those who inhabited the land before her.
The entire community has to take part in putting the Sabbath-breaker to death. This should deeply impress upon them what a serious crime it is to revile the Lord in their hearts and reject His words. This should help keep them from making the same mistake. The man who broke the Sabbath broke faith with the Lord in his heart long before he decided to openly defy one of the ten commandments in the sight of his fellow countrymen. If he had been right with the Lord in his heart, his behavior would have reflected that. But he despised the Lord in his heart and scoffed at the Lord's commandments and felt he was above the Lord's law and not obligated to keep it. He set himself up as god of his own life. He enthroned himself as king of his heart and put himself above God. This is idolatry. This is just as much idolatry as if he made a sacrifice to a false god and bowed on his knees in front of a graven image. Taking part in his execution is intended to show the people they will be in danger of failing to regard the Lord as holy if they stop regarding the Sabbath day as holy. And if they stop regarding the Lord as holy, they will begin doing unholy things, and the blessings of the promised land will be removed from them.
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