Struggling with very difficult scripture
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In Numbers 15:32-36 there is an account of a man found gathering firewood on the Sabbath. His action was contravening the law concerning what should be done on the Sabbath day and so he was brought to Moses for judgement. In verses 35-36 it states: ‘Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.” So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord commanded Moses.’
How do we respond to this apparently shocking command from God? One would be to ignore it and confine it to the dustbin of Old Testament history. Why? On the very straightforward grounds that, surely, this is a barbaric and extreme judgement for such a small misdemeanor, and, in any case, as Christians, we are subject to a new covenant with God which is not bound to follow these kinds of rules and regulations. Instead, we follow Christ’s instructions in Mark 2:27 which proclaims: ‘the Sabbath was made for human beings, not human beings for the Sabbath’ and so make a clear distance between ourselves and ancient history; and we can do this, in the name of Christ (not Moses). Another response would be more subtle, and is typically used in many sermons I have heard. That is, to concede to the first response, but add something like, even though it would not be right to stone people to death for these kinds of reasons today, the truth of God’s lesson in his command at the time, still carries weight for us today, metaphorically speaking. In this case, that God’s word in our lives demands obedience over all aspects of our lives, including the small things. Regarding the Numbers passage more precisely, the metaphorical lesson is that if we don’t look after the small things of obedience we will never be able to obey God in the big things. The third response would be to try and defend God’s original command at the time, and so defend it ‘head-on’, as it were. Often the strategy here is to rely on scholarly interpretation and historical knowledge to explain why, at the time, the stoning would be the only sensible option, and so an understandable and justifiable option, given the context. So, I have heard it argued that on a superficial reading the act of gathering firewood looks trivial from our point of view, the man would have been willfully and defiantly giving the proverbial ‘finger’ to both God and the community he was part of, by gathering firewood. This act of defiance, then, demanded an extreme response. In addition, God, in other parts of the Old Testament, often showed mercy toward wrong-doers, but there were other times when a more harsh judgement was obviously needed, in order to set an example to the rest of God’s people.
Of course, you have to make up your own mind about the response you would make to this kind of very difficult scripture. For my part, and for what it’s worth, I think there is truth in all the responses above, and so we need to take all the positions seriously, and meditate and reflect on them accordingly. Most importantly, we need to take these responses and our own preference (whatever which way) to God in prayer, anticipating that he will allow us to grow through these meditations, and change and develop our understanding of him. Moreover, in the process, we must give ourselves permission to struggle with God in these prayers and meditations, and to not expect, or rely on, ready-made once-and-for all ‘solutions’ to these difficult questions and issues. One of my prayerful struggles with this scripture, finished with me insisting: “But God, even if it was right for the man to be stoned to death, so demonstrating your uncompromising character (which, if I am honest, I still find hard to believe); and even if the man was willfully and dangerously defiant, I, as a Christian (following Christ’s example), would still want to exercise mercy, and even to be there with him as he was stoned to death!” God’s response shut me up and also made me laugh, given his response was so surprising and decisive: “My son, don’t you think I was there with him? You will never understand fully my ways and often they seem crazy to you for sure (and even for good reason), but don’t believe that I wasn’t in pain when he was being stoned; just as I was in pain when my son was nailed to the cross and left to die.” Where this response from God to me leaves it all, I don’t know, but it has certainly given me something to chew on that’s for certain!
