Seeing the aftermath of a car accident can wake you up, in a sad though healthy way, from a sense of escapism and forgetfulness about life’s brevity that vacation trips can produce. They remind you there is much greater journey we are all on. Reading passages such as the one above are to have a similar yet much deeper spiritual impact upon us. They examine us, to see if we are truly ready to meet the holy God one day.

Like traveling down a highway on a vacation trip, only to come upon a grisly accident, reading through the Scriptures can have a jarring impact upon you at times. A short passage in Numbers 15 is one such spot. A man is stoned for gathering sticks on the Sabbath Day.

Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day. Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation; and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him. Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses. (15:32-36).

In some ways, like passing the car wreckage, you want to keep traveling on and forget it. Yet the human curiosity we call “rubbernecking” gets the best of you. Why is such a story in the Bible?

Here are a few thoughts to keep in mind with passages such as these.

Do Not judge God

Before you start questioning the appropriateness of the Bible containing stories such as these, remember that the Scriptures are the very Word of God. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?

All Sin is Worthy of Death

Stories like these shock us because the extreme penalty of death is enacted. Yet consider for a moment that the wages of any sin is death (Genesis 2:15-17; Romans 6:23). All sin is seen as rebellion against the One who made us. That capital punishment is prescribed for some twenty crimes in the Old Testament may seem extreme to our modern sensibilities, yet the Lord would be just in taking life for any offense.

The Sin Was Intentional

Interestingly, this story takes place in a passage detailing what the people were to do with sin that was not intentional (Num. 15:22-31). ,Clearly Moses is here showing the contrast of intentional sin, as it was directly stated in the law that no fire was to be kindled on the Sabbath Day (Exodus 35:3). That others in the congregation of Israel brought this man to Moses and Aaron show they definitely knew he was doing something wrong. This man was not just gathering sticks for a 4-H project. He was being defiant.

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