The Sabbath-Breaker Put to Death

³² While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was found gathering wood on the Sabbath day.³³ Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly,³⁴ and they kept him in custody, because it was not clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, “The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the camp.”³⁶ So the assembly took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD commanded Moses. (via BibleGateway) NIV

I share a name with a character in this section and let me tell you there are certain days I wonder if I was cursed to be given the name of the talker of Israel and Moses. This is the same guy who went on to build a golden calf and cause Moses and God to throw a Holy Fit.  So, I’ve got a complex.  Or something.

You also have to realize this is Old Testament.  This is God UnPlugged.  Or unhinged.  The Old School days were more Wild West than I think we realize.  God was the father of his Children and they were certainly keen to test his patience many time.  I think God was more Bill Cosby in those days.  You know, hit for distance, brought you into this world I’ll take you out and the eternal “What the hell are you doing?!”.  He definitely hit for something as described in the verse.  They found some guy out working on the Sabbath and picked him up.  The Lord said to throw some rocks at him and send him to His Maker and as fast as you can say one verse later he was gone and buried somewhere.

I love the Old Testament because it reminds me of how cool and crazy God is at times.  He’s out of control and wildly unpredictable.  I’ve used the comparison between Him and Aslan before and it is a stark reminder to us all.  I think some Christians out there in the world forget how brain blowing insane God can be in his plans for us.  We think we know Him and have him figured out.  Trust me folks, God’s got an understanding.  The rest of us don’t have a clue.

As the saying goes with Aslan from CS Lewis, God is not safe.  But he is good.  Remember that the next time someone tells you Christianity is safe, wonderful and filled with Rainbows.  Because God’ll be flooding that rainbow filled land.  I guarantee it.  He’s done it before.

When I was growing up (yes Virginia, I did have a childhood) I did my share of what the Israelites did but I learned that despite everything I wasn’t going to get my way no matter how hard I tried to push the will of my parents with my pouting petulant pose.  They wouldn’t budge. This is one of the many things my parents did right as I grew up.  Considering that I’m (for the moment) a well adjusted late twenties bachelor gives proof that I was raised right.  Except for the time my mother let me roll off a changing table in JC Penny…but who’s holding a grudge?

Kidding aside, God practices far too much patience with the stubborn and childish people that are His “Choosen” ones.  Moses reminds his Creator that indeed He is “slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion” but God isn’t having none of it.  He’s had it with them and he’s washing his hands of the toddlers.  What’s hilarious (or depressing depending on how you look at it) is that some people decide they’re going to see it and forget God and all the things He told Moses.

The quote that makes me laugh out loud is found at verse 45 and it goes something like this, “Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and attacked them and beat them down all the way to Hormah.”  You read it right.  It was a beat down all the way to Hormah.  And if you’ve ever been to Hormah you know what they’re talkin’ bout.  It was a heckuva one sided battle.  This could also be a cool t-shirt.  ”I”ll beat you down all the way to Hormah.”

That’s for us Bible Geeks.  That’s how we roll.  Yo.

Anyway, the second part of this verse that stuck to my cerebral cortex was is a part of my devotion that asks, “How might God be calling you to live a different story – to be one who has a different spirit from others, who follows God passionately even though it might involve risks?”  It goes on to ask if I would be willing to do so even if it meant earning less money and coming to be honest about the mistakes I’ve made getting where I am now.

This is a very topical (and honestly a terrifying) question for me.  I’ve been fighting with this very issue in my heart, mind and soul.  And having three part of your body fighting over something is never pleasant or exciting.  I’m trying to get myself together to take one class in January but I think that’s going to slip by due to finances getting thrown down in front of a moving train.  Then again what does that matter?  Some would answer that I need to find a way to make it happen for if I want to serve God in a job that I love beyond belief and serves God to the ends of the Earth…I should do everything in my power to get there.

I’ve come to realize there’s a lot of things I need to change and open myself to between now and January.  I’ve never been good with shuffling out of the comfortable little igloo I’ve built.  My friend Sam basically took a sledgehammer to that over the weekend and made me realize I’ve tap danced enough.  I’ve got to break the mold and light the sucker on fire and toss a Molotov or two in for good measure.

I’ve been turning a deaf ear to God for far too long.  I’ve ignored his urging.  I’ve ignored Him.  Which is never a good thing.  He tends to enjoy reminding me in the most unusual and galling ways.

So, let the adventure begin.  I’m not really sure what that means entirely, but I think it’s time to break free.  And that means I’m putting a youtube video below this to express how I feel.  And because this song by Queen is simply astounding.

See, this is the tricky part of this whole discussion because your relationship (and mine and his and hers and theirs) is deeply personal. I’m not really able to judge, tell or otherwise pontificate on God and your life because that’s nobody’s job but you. So if I start talking about what God is or isn’t I could be making judgments based on my finite plus one resources.

Here’s what I will say on the subject that hopefully most can agree on. God is a father figure. He created us humans and put us on the round green ball o’ insanity (we have Adam and Eve to thank for that) to live out a existence that has never really been explained aside from a genius novel that postulated the answer to the meaning of life was 42.

Which opens up fourteen thousand avenues of argument of which one is probable to be that of, “How in the blue blazes did you combine Douglas Adams and Jesus in the same devotion?” or “YOU HEATHEN!”. The other 13,998 are too enumerable and far to involved, long or otherwise goofy to post or discuss here.

More to the point is that we as humans have a habit of forgetting about God in the most obscene and face palming ways. We neglect Him, we don’t read Him and then somehow we expect him to fix our problems. This is called Man’s consistent inability to follow God. I would trot out the old “Adam and Eve” blame game gag but I think we’re all tired of it. The reality is that we only have ourselves to blame.

Forgetting God and what he means to you is something we’ve all done. We get busy. We fall away for a bit. We muss something up and realize that indeed we enjoyed life with The Big Guy more than whatever it is we’ve found ourselves into.

Which is why Old School (aka Old Testament) has really started to fascinate me to no end. God knew his people needed to remember Him and His rules. And so he made them do things and say things and sing things and do all kinds of things to remind them that He indeed is their God and Father. Never mind that the story of the Israelites is one of hilarity, depressing trips chasing their tale and more hilarity because no matter how hard God tried, they always broke free somehow and He’d be forced to open up a hole in the Earth or freeze someone in salt. It’s really funny when you think of all the signs of God they had throughout the ages and yet how somehow they managed to forget him every so often.

Which brings us to you and me. Do you forget him? Not study your bible for a week because you’re simply a lazy simpleton with nothing else better to do but watch “Dirty Jobs” reruns all flippin’ day long until the cows do or do not come home? Yep. Been there, done that and didn’t get a t-shirt. God’s not a tshirt kinda guy.

What’s the point? Remember Him. Study Him. And talk to him a couple of times a day. And not just those moments where you vainly take his name in vain. You be breakin’ commandments yo!