Numbers 15:34

_AND WHILE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE IN THE WILDERNESS, THEY FOUND A MAN THAT GATHERED STICKS UPON THE SABBATH DAY._ A man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. This incident is evidently, narrated as an instance of presumptuous sin. The mere gathering of sticks was not a sinful act, and might be necessary for fuel to warm him, or to make ready his food. But its being done on the Sabbath altered the entire character of the action. The law of the Sabbath being a plain and positive commandment, this transgression of it was a known and willful sin, and it was marked by several aggravations: for the deed was done with unblushing boldness in broad daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority-in flagrant inconsistency with the man's religious connection with Israel, as the covenant people of God; and it was an application to improper purposes of time which God had consecrated to...

30-36 Those are to be reckoned presumptuous sinners, who sin designedly against God's will and glory. Sins thus committed are exceedingly sinful. He that thus breaks the commandment reproaches the Lord. He also despises the word of the Lord. Presumptuous sinners despise it, thinking themselves too great, too good, and too wise, to be ruled by it. A particular instance of presumption in the sin of sabbath-breaking is related. The offence was gathering sticks on the sabbath day, to make a fire, whereas the people were to bake and seethe what they had occasion for, the day before, Exodus 16:23. This was done as an affront both to the law and to the Lawgiver. God is jealous for the honour of his sabbaths, and will not hold him guiltless who profanes them, whatever men may do. God intended this punishment for a warning to all, to make conscience of keeping holy the sabbath. And we may be ass...

Death had indeed been assigned as the penalty Exodus 31:14; Exodus 35:2; but it had not been determined how that death was to be inflicted....

EXPOSITION THE SABBATH-BREAKER (Numbers 15:32-4). NUMBERS 15:32 And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness. It is maintained by some that these words were intended to mark the contrast between the previous laws, which were only to be observed when the people came into their own land, and the law of the sabbath, which was strictly enforced during the period of wandering. There is no doubt that such a distinction existed in fact, but there is no reason to find the intentional assertion of it in this expression. The simpler and more natural, and therefore more _probable, _explanation _is, _that the incident was recorded after the people had left the wilderness. At the same time, ther

AND THEY PUT HIM IN WARD,.... In a certain prison in the camp; perhaps the same in which the blasphemer was put, Leviticus 24:12; and for much the same reason: BECAUSE IT WAS NOT DECLARED WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HIM: that is, what kind of death he should die, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra; it had been before declared that the sabbath breaker should die, but not what death he should die, Exodus 31:15; though some think it was a matter of doubt whether gathering of sticks was a breach of the sabbath, or at least such a breach of it as required death; and the answer of the Lord seems to confirm this sense, as follows....

5. VARIOUS LAWS, THE SABBATH-BREAKER, AND THE TASSELS ON THE GARMENTS CHAPTER 15 _ 1. Concerning offerings in the land (Numbers 15:1)_ 2. The second communication concerning offerings (Numbers 15:17) 3. The Sabbath-breaker (Numbers 15:32) 4. The tassels on the garments (Numbers 15:37) The historical account is here interrupted. What the critics have to say about this chapter speaking of it as an evidence of the patchwork of different persons, we care not to follow. Our space is too valuable for that. The chapter is beautifully in order at this point. God gave two communications to M

NUMBERS 15. A NUMBER OF DETACHED REGULATIONS (from P). NUMBERS 15:1. THE QUANTITIES OF FLOUR, OIL, AND WINE APPROPRIATE TO VARIOUS SACRIFICES. The practice of adding such accompaniments to flesh-offerings preserves the primitive idea that certain sacrifices were meals of which the deity partook (_cf._ Judges 9:13; 1 Samuel 1:24, Bel. 3- 6). The use of corn and wine in sacrifice could have come into vogue only after Israel had ceased to be a pastoral and had become an agricultural people. Wine probably replaced milk, which, though it does not occur among the offerings prescribed in the Jewish law, was offered by the Arabs, as also by the Carthaginians (a Phœ nician race). Milk formed the libation at the earl

DECLARED. Hebrew. _parash,_ make known. This is the meaning of Greek. _sunkrino,_ rendered "comparing" in 1 Corinthians 2:13. WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HIM: i.e. what death he should die. It had been made known that he was to die, but not in what manner. Exodus 31:15; Exodus 35:2....

_The penalty for breaking the Sabbath_. This section was perhaps placed by the compiler next to the preceding because it relates a signal instance of deliberate transgression....

DISCOURSE: 160 THE SABBATH-BREAKER STONED Numbers 15:32. _And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath-day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation: and they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death: all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses._ IN great communities, instances of flagrant transgression will occur; nor can any mercies or judgments from God prevent them. Nothing but divine grace can keep individuals in the path of duty. The presumption of those, who, in opposition to the divine comm