Law Enforcement

 Moses was given the Covenant of the law. The law was strictly enforced. If laws were broken blood was shed, either of the sinner or a substitute sin offering by the sacrifice of an animal. Israel was to learn to respect God and his laws. If laws are not enforced then people sin with no respect for their creator. If left alone to do their own will, there is no respect for laws or the law giver. We see a lot of this in a rebellious people. There is a better way.

Num 15:27  “If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. 

Num 15:28  And the priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven. 

Num 15:29  You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the people of Israel and for the stranger who sojourns among them. 

Num 15:30  But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the LORD, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. 

Num 15:31  Because he has despised the word of the LORD and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.” 

 What does it mean to be high handed?  The dictionary defines high handed  as having or showing no regard for the rights, concerns, or feelings of others : arbitrary, overbearing. In this context a contempt for God and his laws. Those who willfully disobeyed God's commands were severely punished, especially as the first examples. Laws are often tested and they must be enforced to prevent others from transgressing.

Num 15:32  While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. 

Num 15:33  And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. 

Num 15:34  They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. 

Num 15:35  And the LORD said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 

Num 15:36  And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses. 

Num 15:37  The LORD said to Moses, 

Num 15:38  “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. 

Num 15:39  And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the LORD, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. 

Num 15:40  So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. 

Num 15:41  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the LORD your God.” 

God made it clear that we are to follow his will and not our own. We are "not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after." The New Covenant with the sacrifice of God's son Jesus, is a covenant of mercy and grace. All who trust in Jesus will not receive the wrath of God for sins.  We are forgiven and made the children of God, inheriting eternal life in the love of God. The laws of God are to be written in our hearts so that we do not intentionally break them.