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Numbers 15 · a question people ask

Why was a man put to death for gathering sticks?

In the text

The chapter doesn't give a reason of its own; it tells what happened. "They found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day" (15:32) and brought him "to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation" (15:33). "They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him" (15:34). Then the LORD spoke to Moses: "The man shall surely be put to death" (15:35). Exodus had already said, "Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death" (Exodus 31:15), and had called the Sabbath "a sign between me and you throughout your generations" (Exodus 31:13). Numbers sets the story straight after the law on the one who sins "with a high hand" and "has despised the LORD’s word" (15:30-31), but it doesn't say whether this man was one. Christians read what the Sabbath means for them in different ways; the main views are set out with the Sabbath command in Exodus 20 (Exodus 20:8-11).

The verses

““Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Most certainly you shall keep my Sabbaths; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.”
Exodus 31:13-15 · World English Bible
““Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.”
Exodus 20:8-11 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Numbers 15

Numbers 15: A cord of blue

In "that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes" (15:39), the Hebrew word for follow is tur, the word for the spies sent to "spy out the land" (13:2). And the "cord of blue" on every Israelite's fringe (15:38) is the same Hebrew as the lace of blue that held "HOLY TO THE LORD" on the high priest (Exodus 28:36-37).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions