(vv. 32-36).
The story of the Sabbath breaker is an “oracular narrative” (e.g., Lev
24:10-23; Num 9:1-14, 27:1-11 . . .) that legislates through its story. The
plot and characters of this narrative not only frame an abstract legal
statement (cf. Num 9:1-14 and 27:1-11) but also emphasize the process and
moment of lawgiving.
A man is caught gathering wood on
the Sabbath. The story presumes that this activity is a violation of the
Sabbath (Exod 35:2). But when the man is brought before Moses and Aaron and the
whole community and placed in custody (vv. 32-34), it was not clear what was to
be done to hum. The ambiguity seemed to arise (1) from whether what he did
constituted “work” or (2) from how the death penalty was to be applied (cf.
Exod 31:14). The oracular verdict in verse 35 directed that the man be stoned
(cf. Lev 24:10-23; 20:1-5, 27): a more severe penalty that being cut off from
the community (cf. vv. 30-31). Stoning was to be carried out by the whole
community (Lev 24:14, 16, 23) outside the camp in order to avoid ritual
contamination (Num 19:11, 14) and bloodguilt (Gen 9:5-6; Num 35:33). (Dale
Launderville, “Numbers,” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary for the
Twenty-First Century, ed. John J. Collins, Gina Hens-Piazza, Barbara Reid,
and Donald Senior [3d ed.; London: T&T Clark, 2022], 324)
