Originally Posted by Starman
Originally Posted by DBT

There is no way to know the circumstances, the account is too brief.

However, it is unlikely that in the history of the tribe of Israel that he was the first to careless on the Sabbath. ....

Perhaps the gatherer of sticks was just unlucky to be caught in an activity that his captors thought was excessive..


Israelites began breaking the Sabbath from the Get Go.
God described them as 'hard headed' and finding the need to repeatedly remind them of the importance
of keeping the sabbath.
thus its reasonable to suggest the Lord finding it hard to get it through to Israelites, decided to single out
the stick gatherer to set a harsh example to all other blasphemers.

The rules were already made repeatedly clear that working on the sabbath meant death, ..and blasphemers
had already been stoned to death ....So why the need to consult the Lord as to what punishment the stick
gatherer should receive..?.




How would 'work' even be defined....is everyone supposed to abstain from cooking meals on a Sabbath because cooking is work, lighting a fire is work? If gathering sticks is work and means a death sentence, why not lighting a fire, cooking meals, tending to family needs?

Who policed these things on the Sabbath....is that a kind of work?

Maybe everyone was supposed to stay in bed for the day in order to avoid the death penalty.