🔢WEB · Numbers 15:36
What does Numbers 15:36 mean?
"All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as Yahweh commanded Moses."
— Numbers 15:36 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation.
They put him in custody, because it had not been declared what should be done to him.
Yahweh said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside of the camp.”
All the congregation brought him outside of the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as Yahweh commanded Moses.
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them that they should make themselves fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations, and that they put on the fringe of each border a cord of blue:
and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’ t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to play the prostitute;
Explanation
This verse concludes a brief but sobering narrative found in Numbers 15:32-36. In plain terms, it describes the moment when the entire community of Israel, camped in the wilderness, carried out a death sentence on a man who had been found gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. They took him outside the camp and stoned him, and the text is careful to note that they did this because Yahweh had specifically commanded Moses to have it done, not because the people acted on their own initiative or anger.
The context is important for understanding why this happened. This event takes place during Israel's forty years of wandering in the wilderness after the exodus from Egypt, not long after God had given the nation the law through Moses, including the command to keep the Sabbath holy by resting from all work. When the man was discovered gathering sticks, the people did not know what to do with him, so they brought him to Moses and Aaron and the rest of the congregation, and he was kept in cust
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