Numbers 15:32-36

Now notice how this context begins. Then, in verse 32, after the stage has been set:

I think that the conclusion is almost inescapable that the man who sinned here did so presumptuously. It was something of which he was well aware and the sin was NOT forgiven. Instead, the death penalty was carried out. Let's go on, because (in a way) the story does not stop here.

I think all of us are aware of the tassels that the Hebrew people wore on their clothing. But again looking at the context here, what seems to be the primary motivation that God had in mind whenever He gave them this command? Remember that this was something that they wore right on their clothing. It was a part of their every day dress. It was something that they had to look at every time they put their clothes on, every time they took their clothing off, all the while they were on the street, all the while they were doing business. Everyone who was following this command had a tassel, which everybody could look at—to remind them of the commandments of God. But the context indicates that the primary motivation was because this man broke the Sabbath presumptuously!

We all break the Sabbath [from time to time], but to do it presumptuously is not something that we want to do. I don't think most of us are going to do that. We will break it out of ignorance. We will break it out of weakness. But I don't think that very many of us are going to set our minds to do it, like this man apparently did.

So God wanted to remind His people not to be negligent in carrying out their responsibilities before Him. And if these people who were wearing the tassels were aware of the context in which this tassel commandment appeared, then they would understand that the primary motivation seems to be the Sabbath. "You'd better keep the Sabbath."

Numbers 15:35-36

Nobody was ever executed any closer to the Temple nor the Tabernacle than 2,000 cubits. That was outside the camp. It could be ten miles outside, and that would be fine, but not within that imaginary circle measured from that dot between the Menorah and the Showbread. Jesus was crucified near the city, but Paul in Hebrews 13 said it was outside the gate, meaning the eastern gate. It was outside the camp. It was outside of that circle because He was a "transgressor" and He had to be crucified outside the camp. From that vicinity it was very near to the top of the Mount of Olives, and therefore was in clear sight of the Temple.

That one in Numbers 15 involved a Sabbath breaker, so God ordered the person to be put to death outside the camp. Recall that is only 6/10^th of a mile.

In Numbers 5:16 there is an incident there that concerns an adulteress, and in that context God gave this sentence. She had to be brought before the Lord for judgment. Any person in Moses' day and in Jesus' day would have understood what that meant. It would have meant that they were to be brought to the east side of the Tabernacle in line of sight of the Holy of Holies, because God judges from His seat there; thus Jesus, who was guilty, according to the Jews, of blasphemy—a far more serious charge than that sin in Numbers 5:16—would have been brought exactly to this place.

Numbers 15:33-36

All you have to do is reflect back to Exodus 35. God specifically pointed out that they were not to go out and gather wood on the Sabbath day. Now again, because of where that appears, they were just beginning to do the construction on the tabernacle, and so the building of a fire on the Sabbath, or at anytime, was going to be required to smelt the metals in order to make the artifacts that were going to be made to be put into the tabernacle, and so He gave the law, and He said "Do not build a fire." The connection is obvious. "Do not build a fire to do your work, your labor, even on the tabernacle on the Sabbath day." This person went out and gathered sticks on the Sabbath day.

It was a presumptuous sin, done with knowledge, regardless of what was said. This seems of course to point to something else. Let us go back to Hebrews 10. Verse 25 sets part of the context.

Numbers 15:32-36

These words—"his iniquity shall be upon him"—means that he cannot be cleaned up. There is no sacrifice for sin for that person. This is directly referred to in Hebrews 10, from what we just turned. There is no forgiveness for deliberate and defiant sin. What is kind of interesting here is that the very next paragraph, beginning in verse 32 and going on to verse 36, appears to be deliberate and defiant Sabbath-breaking as an example.

Look also at Deuteronomy 17:2-7. This parallels Deuteronomy 13:6. This particular sin we call in the New Testament apostasy, and there is no forgiveness for that.

Numbers 15:29-36

Let us go back to Numbers 15, a very interesting thing here. Numbers 15, and the context involves sinning presumptuously, just taking it on ourselves to do what we good and well feel like doing.

Now, the implication is from the context that that breaking of the Sabbath may have been, probably was, presumptuous. The major evidence being that he was put to death. It was not something that he just slipped up on. It was something that he must have premeditated about, and then deliberately, in the face of the command to rest, in which the whole nation was supposed to be resting, he went out and did what he did.