Numbers 15:35

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Numbers 15:35. The man shall surely be put to death — One reason why the breach of the sabbath was punished with such severity by the Jewish law is, that it was an implicit denying of God to be the Creator of the world. For the sabbath being a sign, (Exodus 31:13,) whereby the worshippers of the one true God, who created the world, were distinguished from the idolatrous nations, who believed the world was eternal, and who worshipped the sun, moon, and stars, and a multitude of nominal gods, the violation of this institution implied or led to a defection from the true religion to polytheism and idolatry.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:30-36 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, Ex 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 assured that no command was ever given for the punishment of sin, which, at the judgment day, shall not prove to have come from perfect love and justice. The right of God to a day of devotion to himself, will be disputed and denied only by such as listen to the pride and unbelief of their hearts, rather than to the teaching of the Spirit of truth and life. Wherein consists the difference between him who was detected gathering sticks in the wilderness on the day of God, and the man who turns his back upon the blessings of sabbath appointments, and the promises of sabbath mercies, to use his time, his cares, and his soul, in heaping up riches; and waste his hours, his property, and his strength in sinful pleasure? Wealth may come by the unhallowed effort, but it will not come alone; it will have its awful reward. Sinful pursuits lead to ruin.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

35, 36. The Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death—The Lord was King, as well as God of Israel, and the offense being a violation of the law of the realm, the Sovereign Judge gave orders that this man should be put to death; and, moreover, He required the whole congregation unite in executing the fatal sentence.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the Lord said unto Moses,.... Who consulted the Lord upon this affair, in the tabernacle, even at the most holy place, from above the mercy seat, where he promised to meet him, and commune with him about whatsoever he should consult him, Exodus 25:22,

the man shall surely be put to death; for as no fire was to be made throughout their habitations on a sabbath day, gathering sticks for such a purpose was a work that was a violation of the sabbath, punishable with death, Exodus 35:2; and the kind of death follows:

all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp; as afterwards without the city: of the place and manner of stoning; see Gill on Acts 7:58.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 35. - Without the camp. That it might not be defiled (cf. Acts 7:58, and Hebrews 13:12). Numbers 15:35

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The History of the Sabbath-Breaker is no doubt inserted here as a practical illustration of sinning "with a high hand." It shows, too, at the same time, how the nation, as a whole, was impressed with the inviolable sanctity of the Lord's day. From the words with which it is introduced, "and the children of Israel were in the wilderness," all that can be gathered is, that the occurrence took place at the time when Israel was condemned to wander about in the wilderness for forty years. They found a man gathering sticks in the desert on the Sabbath, and brought him as an open transgressor of the law of the Sabbath before Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation, i.e., the college of elders, as the judicial authorities of the congregation (Exodus 18:25.). They kept him in custody, like the blasphemer in Leviticus 24:12, because it had not yet been determined what was to be done to him. It is true that it had already been laid down in Exodus 31:14-15, and Exodus 35:2, that any breach of the law of the Sabbath should be punished by death and extermination, but the mode had not yet been prescribed. This was done now, and Jehovah commanded stoning (see Leviticus 20:2), which was executed upon the criminal without delay.