Presumptuous Sin and the Sabbath
By D. A.
3571 — Num. 15:32-36. D. A. — The story there told is simply the record of an example which forcibly illustrates God's injunction against presumptuous sin. In verse 30 we are told that "the soul that doeth aught presumptuously, . . . that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord." The Lord had commanded (Ex. 35:2, 3) that no fire should be kindled on the Sabbath day. Fire was not needed in that very warm climate. But presumptuously, and in defiance of the Lord's command, this man went out and gathered sticks on the Sabbath day. He was brought to Moses; but inasmuch as the man had not transgressed any regular law, he was put in ward until the mind of the Lord was declared. The Lord declared, He "shall be surely put to death." He had committed presumptuous, daring sin against God. That was all it was — not a general law; neither was the prohibition against fire building a general law. It was applicable to the warm climate through which the Jews were then passing.