Numbers 15:32 – 36 is a very hard passage to know and understand.
At first glance it seems like God is unusually cruel with a judgment; and the people are asked to kill a member of the congregation for his sin of picking up sticks on the Sabbath.
How could this be true of a kind and merciful God?
A HARD PASSAGE TO UNDERSTAND
Here is the passage:
NUMBERS 15:32-36
While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 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. 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.
Pretty shocking punishment; huh?
The man was only gathering sticks on the Sabbath.
So what are we to make of this?
SOME VERY HARD TRUTHS
We have come to a place where we have to look at some very hard truths.
First we must understand that God is always patient, kind, merciful and forgiving. He gives us grace when we repent.
He listens to our regrets when we repent and he forgives our sins.
ALL ONE HAS TO DO IS REPENT, ASK AND TURN
Apparently this man had refused to ask forgiveness for repeated sins.
He wasn’t keeping God’s Sabbath properly. It wasn’t the first time he had been seen picking up sticks on the Sabbath. The sin was a constantly repeated sin.
He was blatantly disobeying God’s instructions to Moses. There was no attempt to hide his disregard for the law.
Everyone KNEW the Sabbath laws.
WHY SUCH A SEVERE PUNISHMENT?
We have all been guilty of breaking the commandments though; so why was this man’s punishment so severe?
Reading between the lines; it would seem that he had no intentions of ever changing.
The scriptures speak of people like this.
They are called the incorrigible wicked.
THE INCORRIGIBLY WICKED
Such people are so bent on having their own ways over God’s ways and they don’t care what God thinks about it.
What happens to such people?
We are told in Romans 6:22 that the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Did you read the first part – that the wages of sin is death?
This man would not repent of his sins, nor would he bring a sacrifice to the altar of God and ask forgiveness; therefore he reaped what he sewed; death.
THERE IS ALWAYS A JUDGEMENT DAY
God was building a righteous people, a nation that would eventually produce the Savior of the World. He had certain requirements and they needed to be met.
God had gone to great lengths to explain this to the people through the leadership of Moses.
The people needed to put away their sins.
If this had already happened for the whole camp; they would already be living inside the Promised Land instead of wandering out in the wilderness.
SOME WILL ALWAYS REBEL
This man heard the words of God through Moses.
He refused to conform to what God desired.
His acts were not just once; but continually rebellious.
It seems there was no intention, ever, to turn and go God’s way.
He was (for some crazy reason) living right in the midst of a people that God was forming into a holy nation, yet he hated the ways of God and refused to conform.
MANY WILL NEVER CHANGE
There are cases like this where people will never conform to God’s best ways; no matter what.
These people are rebellious over and over again. They will never be useful for God’s Kingdom; though they are given grace and time to turn over and over and over.
They never do.
A FUTURE JUDGEMENT WILL ALSO COME
The Book of Revelation speaks of seven bowls that will be poured out on the earth at the end of time. God’s people react to these by repenting and turning from their sins; but the incorrigibly wicked do not turn or repent.
The bible tells us their hatred for God and His ways will continue and intensify.
These people will be destroyed by plagues in the end times. This is because the wages of sin is death.
The man in our story represents these types of people.
SOME WILL REFUSE THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS
He did not have the advantage of the sacrifice of Jesus like we do.
Our turning is so much easier.
This man had to change his ways after repentance and then he had to bring the proper sacrifice to the altar of God. It was the only way to live after committing continual sins.
He refused.
The man refused the same way that a lot of people refuse today to accept the sacrifice that Jesus made with his own life.
They never repent, they never turn, they would not do this even if they were living in eternity with eternal life.
God cannot allow continual sinners to live forever and ever.
A FAIR AND MERCIFUL GOD DOES THE RIGHT THING
It would not be fair and just for those who HAVE turned, who are trying to live their lives God’s way in righteousness and who care about increasing God’s will and working for The Kingdom of Heaven.
So, God does the merciful thing.
Once He sees who will not ever change; He removes those who do not care about the benefit of all of those around them.
You cannot rebel forever and get away with it.
Eventually the punishment for sin happens.
There is always a day of Judgement.
NO MAN IS ABOVE THE WAYS OF GOD
In this case, this man was making a statement (much the same as Pharaoh made when God brought the people out of Egypt) that he was above the ways of God and he seemed to think his ways were more important than God’s ways.
If he had been allowed to continue in this way of life while living among the people in the camp; maybe others would have thought the ways of God were not important too.
God was at a pivotal point with the people already. He was allowing them grace while he was teaching them that His ways mattered more than anything else.
CONFORM OR SUFFER THE CONSEQUENCES
They could decide to conform; or they would sufferer the consequences.
God had already given them much grace and mercy by bringing them to the Promised Land and their rebellious ways had kept them from reaping its benefits.
Their rebellion was why they were still stuck out in the wilderness.
It was a critical time when all rebellion needed to stop.
The attitude of this man could not continue if they expected God to stay with them.
THE FACTS ARE OBVIOUS
What sounded like a cruel and unusual punishment for one person was actually God teaching many people the results of continuous and rebellious sin.
When the people saw this, the facts that the wages of sin is death was made very plain and obvious.
It was definitely time for them to realize that God’s laws were not made to be broken and to know if they loved Him they would conform to his ways.
IF YOU LOVE ME; KEEP MY COMMANDMENTS
Had the man repented and changed; he would still be alive and with them, learning more every day about how God’s ways are the best ways.
The same could be said of us today.
We, as a modern day nation of God’s people, also have to learn how to follow God’s ways.
It is vitally important that we understand that God doesn’t overlook the fact that we live in continuous sins and that we break every commandment all day long every day.
As a nation; we must come to know and keep God’s Sabbaths.
We must repent of our sins and turn to His ways above our ways.
The people of our land must learn how to be honest and truthful and humble before God.
Our nation must once again come to understand family values and commitments and how to keep sacred vows made before God.
We should consider how precious and valuable the gift of life is; and never take it for granted. The murders must stop; including the murders of abortion.
Our land should not take God’s name in vain; we should honor it with our ways as well as our speech and speaking.
The idols of materialism and self-worship need to disappear, and we should be turning toward a God who is very willing and happy to show us a good and perfect life.
TURN TOWARD A LOVING GOD AND LIVE
We do not want to go to that same place where the people of Israel were in that day that they had to go out and throw stones against their own brother in order to continue down the right path.
Things need to change way before we get to that point.
Each man and woman should consider their own heart and their ways and turn toward God’s ways.
Everyone should be teaching the next generation to do this.
If we all learn to follow God together; there is no limit to what He will do for us.
A SIMPLE SOLUTION
Always remember this man who would not return from his sins and go in the other direction. He died in the wilderness because he was stubborn and unrepentant.
None of us want to be the one who has to provide the lesson for what happens when God’s people are disobedient today.
The solution is very simple.
Jesus has provided a way.
Repent.
Turn.
Obey God.
Even a five year old can do it; if they really want to.