While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day. And 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 made plain what should be done to him. And the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” And all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses. (Numbers 15:32-36 RSV)
What are people doing carrying the man to Moses? Who gave them these powers? Are they being citizens concerned or what? Well, we could say in the Old Testament, given the unstable emotions of their god, what the man was doing could lead to the death of all of those who saw him and did nothing.
In other words, the first lesson here is that: don’t just ignore the evil next door, it might in the long-run knock on your door. So don’t be nosy but be concerned with what is happening in the neighbourhood for we are within the same social-web and floating in the same boat so it is my business if another passenger is drilling a hole in the same boat I am. I could say more here but its day will come.
It is clear in the Old Testament, just like in our times, that the Law without a punishment is not a law at all. What makes the Law a law in the Old Testament is the real danger upon its violation. However, it looks like all the law does is to lead the sinner to some authority. Vs. 34 says:
They put him in custody because it had not been made plain what should be done to him.
The man was held, put into custody but it was not clear what was to be done to him!! Until Moses ruled that the brother be stoned by everyone.
Question: Was this man killed by the Law or by the directive from Moses?
All that the Law has done is to lead the guilty individual to the Judge and what is going to affect the man is not the law but the ruling of the judge. In other words; what matters is not the law but the Judge.
The Law does not judge but merely carries us to the Judge and it is up to the Judge to decide our fate regardless of how guilty or innocent actually we are. Wow!! This is a new revelation. Look at it from this angle:
The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and placing her in the midst. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?”
And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.
But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” (John 8:3-5, 7-11 RSV)
Again, what the Law has done is to carry the guilty individual to the Judge. But this time the Judge doesn’t seem to be concerned with what the culprit did but with the safety of the culprit.
In Numbers 15 and John 8, we have the same guilty sinners, one has violated the fourth law and the other has violated the 7th Law. We also have the same prosecutor which is the public. However, in Numbers 15 and John 8, we have different rulings over the violation of the same legal system. The Judge of Numbers ruled that the guilty individual is stoned to death. However, the judge in John 8 asks who exactly is qualified enough to stone?
The judge in Numbers 15 observes the 4th law (Sabbath day law) by violating the 6th Law (thou shalt not kill). Would the God you know (if you know the one I know), a rational God do such a thing? Isn’t this a controversial ruling?
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” said also, “Do not kill.” If you do not commit adultery but do kill, you have become a transgressor of the law. (James 2:10-11 RSV).
The questions that we should be asking here are: Are the ten laws equal? Is the Judge in Numbers 15 the same Judge in John 8?
The theologically coherent answer to question one is YES (the laws are equal), and to question two is NO (the judges are not the same= John 8:5).
What we see here is that the law is like a metal detector but has no power to deal with the metal itself (Romans 7:7). Yeah, its use is restricted to that of the mirror, but you need water to deal with the dirt that the mirror has shown you.
Wait a minute, do I always need a mirror to see each and every kind of dirt? Nope. In fact, the mirror will show you common dirt (Romans 2:14) which often is not as dangerous as the dirt that only an x-ray will show you (Jeremiah 17:9-10). So that means we Christians who understand the magnitude and extent of human dirt, need something beyond public prosecution, and beyond mirrors of the law.
In Numbers 15, the law wants you stoned, and because it cannot stone you, it leads you to those who can. It doesn’t matter how guilty you are, what matters is to what Judge does the Law lead you to. If it leads you to Moses (Numbers 15:32-36 Law = legally fixing the damage), you are to be stoned but if it leads you to Jesus (John 8:3-5, 7-11 Grace = Presidential Pardon)
This is why if you are a sinner like me (Romans 3:10; 1John 1:8), you do not need the law any more if you have Jesus:
Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:24-26 NAS)
What we need is the Holy Spirit who has the ability to show us both external and internal dirt. We need the Holy Spirit who has the ability to prosecute us privately regardless of whether the public knows about our sin or not. We need the Holy Spirit not just to convict us of sin as the law does but also of righteousness which the law doesn’t.
Listen my friend, in the Old Testament chag Shavuot (Leviticus 23:15-16 = feast of Weeks) is celebration of 50 days since the giving of the Law, and in the New Testament (Acts 2:1-4), Pentecost is a 50 days since the ascension (Acts 1) of Jesus and his arrival in the form of the Holy Spirit.
The Old Testament Judaism cult considered the 10 apodictic laws in Exodus 20 and the thousands of the casuistic laws throughout the Torah (Deuteronomy 31:26) as the will of God, but in Christianity, it is not the will of God that we need, we have God himself dwelling in us (1Corinthians 3:16; Romans 8:9-10; Galatians 2:20; 4:19) and therefore, we are situated in the will of God.
As Christians, we are with the Holy Spirit (God in us) and the Law doesn’t have to lead us to ‘stoning judges’ for the Bible says:
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:1-4 NAS)
Finally, I want you to know that Judge Moses considers the violation of the law to be the SIN that will lead many to hell (1John 3:4) but Judge Jesus interprets SIN to be Unbelief in Him which will send both legal saints and sinners to hell (John 16:9).
The ball is in your hands, if you are really a sinner and fallen like me, to which Judge will you take your case to?
God bless you, I invoke TRUTH, REASON and FAITH
Pr. ITM WHITE
The Gospel Hawker
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 