In Numbers 15:32-41, we read about a man who was out gathering sticks on the Shabbat, well after the commandment about not doing any work on the Shabbat was known to all, and he did this in full view of all the people. His punishment, which Moses asked God to proclaim, was to be taken outside of the camp and then stoned to death by all the people.
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Many years later, after the people had entered the land and destroyed Jericho, in Joshua 7 we read about a man named Akhan who disobeyed God’s commandment regarding the booty of Jericho, which resulted in God abandoning the people at their very next encounter during their attack on the city of Ai, causing the death of 36 Israelites.
God had told Joshua that no one was to take any of the booty from Jericho, it was all to be destroyed or dedicated to God. But Akhan took some silver, a block of gold, along with some nice clothing and buried them all in his tent.
The people didn’t know of this, and when they went to attack a much smaller, easier target – a town called Ai- they were routed, with 36 of the Israelites killed. After their miraculous victory at Jericho, this loss had them totally demoralized, wondering why God had abandoned them. Not only that, but now they were scared for their lives, knowing that once this defeat was known, the other people they were to fight would have a renewed sense of courage.
God told Joshua what had happened, and after throwing lots to find the one person responsible for this defeat, the lot fell to Akhan. The punishment decreed by God was to have him and his entire family stoned to death buy all the people, and then their remains and all their possessions burned to ashes.
What do these two seemingly different events have in common?
They both are examples of the first time someone disobeyed a direct commandment from God. And God came down hard- REALLY hard- to demonstrate to everyone else the terrible consequences of disobeying the LORD.
“But Steve, your title for this message is about God’s compassionate understanding. Sorry to say, he doesn’t sound very compassionate, or understanding from what he did to those people.”
You’re right- the punishment God exacted on those people was terribly harsh, but it was done to set an example for all the others. Although most “compassionate” people don’t want to accept this, the punishment was to show compassion for the rest of the people, in that by this example of the terrible consequences of disobedience, God might put the real fear of him into the people who were thinking they might do the same thing.
Let’s go back to the man stoned for collecting sticks. The very next commandment God gave Moses after they stoned the man was that everyone should make and wear tzitzit-
- because when everyone sees the other person’s tzitzit, they will all be reminded to obey God’s commands.
The compassionate understanding here is that God recognized our weak nature, and how easily we succumbed to “Out of sight, out of mind”, so he ordered us to wear the tzitzit to keep anyone else from making this mistake. He was protecting us from ourselves.
When Akhan took the booty that was to be dedicated to God, not only did he disobey God’s command, but he stole from God! That was a double-sin, and God made the punishment doubly terrible because he wanted the people to realize that even what is done in secret is known to God.
The man who collected sticks wasn’t sneaking out at night- he was in full public view. People could think it was easy for God to know about it. But what Akhan did was in secret, yet God was still well aware of what happened. The people needed to know that nothing- absolutely nothing- is unknown to God.
So where was God’s compassion after Akhan and his family were destroyed?
It was that God decreed that when the people destroy Ai, and from that point on, they may take whatever booty they want. Again, God recognized and compassionately allowed for our weak natures.
Clearly, if Akhan had gotten away with what he did, it would eventually become known, and then others would figure, “Hey! If he could do it, why not me?” So, God headed off that sin by allowing them to take the booty.
Now there will be those who disagree with my understanding, and that’s OK- I am not the “Duty Expert” on the Bible. And there are those people who say they don’t believe in God because he is supposed to be loving and compassionate, but he kills men, women, and children, so something is wrong. They come to their own conclusion that since God kills people, he isn’t compassionate and loving, and since he isn’t what they say he is, he must not be real.
God is compassionate and loving, and that is the very reason why he punishes those who disobey. I think the real reason people choose to reject God, thereby not having to practice any religion, is because they don’t like the idea of someone having absolute power over them.
Pridefulness and obstinacy are the main reasons many people will not have a very enjoyable eternity.
You can decide for yourself if God’s punishments were a loving or unloving thing to do, despite how terrible some of those punishments were. But remember this: God doesn’t exist on the same plane we do- he is eternal, we are mortal, and whereas we can’t really see beyond this existence, he sees things from an eternal viewpoint. As such, he isn’t so much concerned with how long we live this life as he is with where we spend eternity.
The bottom line is this, whether somebody likes it or not: God makes the rules, and we either obey them or get our tuchas in a sling.
The most compassionate and loving thing God has ever done was to send the Messiah to us, so that we have the ultimate means of receiving forgiveness when we repent of the sins we commit.
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That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
