Episode #10

Stick-Picker Gets Stoned

Back in the day (in recent generations) and maybe even still today,

getting stoned means getting drunk or being under the influence of a drug.

Be stoned impairs your thinking, mostly causing you to be happy (or

paranoid,) lazy, confused and creates a basis for bad decisions.

Much further “back in the day” like thousands of years ago, getting

stoned meant you were pummeled with rocks until you were dead. Stoning

was a form of capital punishment. Today’s Bible Short is about a guy who

was sentenced to death by stoning. What was his horrible crime that

deserved the death penalty you ask? He picked up sticks on the wrong

Day!

There are some passages in the Bible that seem to defy logic,

common sense or compassion. Truth be told folks, as it always should,

God had some good reasons for this guy to receive the ultimate

punishment.

First let’s look at the Bible verses we’re talking about and then go

deep within them to find some answers.

“While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man

gathering wood on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering

wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community. They

placed him in custody because it had not been decided what should

be done to him. Then the Lord told Moses, “The man is to be put to

death. The entire community is to stone him outside the camp.” So

the entire community brought him outside the camp

and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.”

Numbers 15:32-36 HCSB

The law the man broke was the 4th Commandment which says:"

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy: You are to labor six days

and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord

your God. You must not do any work — you, your son or daughter,

your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is

within your gates. For the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the

sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the

seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day

and declared it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11 HCSB
If the guy had just made a mistake and forgot or maybe had an
emergency need to build a fire, he wouldn’t have been stoned. God had
made allowances for folks who inadvertently sinned. Let’s look at the
backdrop for this story in the preceding verses:
“When you sin unintentionally and do not obey all these commands
that the Lord spoke to Moses — all that the Lord has commanded you
through Moses, from the day the Lord issued the commands and
onward throughout your generations — and if it was done
unintentionally without the community’s awareness, the entire
community is to prepare one young bull for a burnt offering as a
pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and drink offering
according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering. The
priest must then make atonement for the entire Israelite community
so that they may be forgiven, for the sin was unintentional. They are to
bring their offering, one made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering
before the Lord for their unintentional sin. The entire Israelite
community and the foreigner who resides among them will be
forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally. “If one
person sins unintentionally, he is to present a year-old female goat as
a sin offering. The priest must then make atonement before the Lord
on behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and
when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven. You are to
have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an
Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you. “But the person who
acts defiantly, whether native or foreign resident, blasphemes the
Lord. That person is to be cut off from his people. He will certainly be
cut off, because he has despised the Lord’s word and broken His
Command; his guilt remains on him.” Numbers 15:22-31 HCSB

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see there’s a huge difference
between unintentional sin and outright defiance. Notice how verse 31
speaks of a defiant person being cut off is immediately followed verses
32-36 and the story of the stick-pickers demise. The stick picker dude was
in outright defiance. He was guilty of “high-handed sin.”

The high hand brings a haughty attitude that says “God’s way
doesn’t matter. I have my own power.” The man picking up sticks on the
wrong day was most likely high-handed, hard-hearted and his attitude
revealed the haughtiness in his head. He was revolting against God’s
guidelines. One revolting attitude can become contagious and corrupt a
whole nation. Sin brings pollution. "
Think of how one revolting person can cause a revolting history and
create suffering for multitudes of people. Consider the carnage caused by
Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Pol Pot and Ghengis Khan. These guys
capitalized on weak cultures to create suffering on a global scale.
It may be just my personal opinion, but it’s almost as if God is
saying, “It’s better for one revolting man to die than to allow him to lead a
nation into revolting behaviors.”
The stick-picker was guilty of “high-handed sin” and if he had no
intention of keeping one commandment, he surely wouldn’t give any
respect to the other nine. It’s not mentioned here, but he was also guilty of
breaking all the commandments because they are all about honoring God.
The Hebrew word for hand is, “yad” and it has many meanings.
Picture an athlete who just defeated an opponent and he raises a fist as if
to say to his vanquished foe, “In your face you loser!” The stick-picker was
basically giving God the finger and saying, “Screw you God! I have no
intention of following your rules and You can’t make me!”
Well folks, we know you don’t mess around with God. His laws are
about our protection. God knew the Israelites were about to enter a pagan
land where they sacrificed children to fake gods and committed horrible
other atrocities. If these wandering nomads couldn’t learn to keep ten
rules for their protection, they would be easy prey for the devil’s minions in
tempting them to join in atrocious behaviors.
The stick-picker got stoned for sticking up his middle finger in a
high-handed sin. The people learned a valuable lesson about God’s
boundaries. Folks, let it be said of me that I told you to stay in God’s
boundaries. Think of getting stone as having a heart hardened toward
God. Don’t go there.
People with high-hands show the condition of their hearts and reveal
what’s in their heads. Let’s raise our hands high in surrender and praise.
Let’s fold our hands in prayer.
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