Penalties for Disobedience

(Book of Numbers 15:22 - 15:41)
"If you as a people unintentionally fail to observe any of the commandments Jehovah imparted to Moses, including any of Jehovah's commands conveyed to you by Moses (that remain in force from the time that Jehovah gave them to Moses through future generations) -- if it was done unintentionally and without the knowledge of the congregation, the whole congregation must offer a young bull as a burnt offering (to create an aroma pleasing to Jehovah), along with the requisite grain and drink offering, and then a male goat as a sin offering. The priest will make atonement for the entire congregation of Israelites -- and they will be forgiven since it was unintentional, and to compensate for their error they have presented to Jehovah their offerings, the food offerings and the sin offering.  The entire community of Israel will be forgiven, including the foreigners living among them, for they all were guilty of the error.

A single individual who has likewise sinned unintentionally must present as a sin offering a yearling nanny goat.  The priest will make atonement for this person who has sinned unintentionally and after the atonement, the person will be forgiven.  (This applies to native-born Israelites and foreign residents.)

However, those who intentionally act in defiance of Jehovah's will, whether a native or a foreign resident, have committed blasphemy against Jehovah and must be banished from the community.  Since they have treated the word of Jehovah with contempt and deliberately disobeyed his commands, they must absolutely be banished and forever bear the guilt of their transgressions.

There was an occasion while the Israelites were living in the desert, that a man was found gathering firewood on the Sabbath.  The people who caught him brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the entire congregation and held him under close arrest until it became clear what should be done with him.  Jehovah ordered Moses, "The man must be executed!  The whole congregation should stone him to death outside of camp."  And so the whole congregation took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, exactly as Jehovah had commanded Moses.

Jehovah instructed Moses, "Tell the Israelites that throughout the ages they must attach tassels to the four corners of their cloaks.  Each corner tassel should include a thread of turquoise blue. The sight of the tassels will be a constant reminder to obey my commandments and keep yourself holy and not defile yourselves by submitting, as you are wont, to the lusts of your hearts and eyes.  Then you will remember to obey my commandments and to dedicate yourself to your god.  Remember I am Jehovah, your god, who brought you out of Egypt so that I might be your god. Thus says Jehovah, your god!"

Notes
1. The "sins" referred to here are not of a moral nature, but merely failures to follow proper ritual.  Jehovah has dictated certain mandatory religious practices, protocols of worship.  Not to observe them is an act of defiance, a repudiation of Jehovah as the Israelite god, and, therefore, of the gravest consequence.  (A great deal more emphasis has been thus far placed upon observance of ritual than upon moral behavior.)  The rules that Jehovah sets down are more about ensuring his position as a national god than about improving the character of his worshipers.  The prerogatives of the deity are of the utmost importance, and Jehovah takes any slights personally.  Attributing this attitude to the divinity is not unique among the Hebrews.  What all the ancient gods wanted and demanded above all was worship -- and proper worship.  The ancient Greeks and Romans distinguished between that which was morally wrong and that which was wrong in the eyes of the gods (nefas in Latin).  To commit a wrong against the gods was obviously more serious and would be more severely punished. That included errors in worship.

2. Jehovah at least cuts some slack to those who unintentionally or forgetfully fail to observe the proper rituals.  (Most anything can be compensated for by slaughtering a few animals.)  The intentional transgressor, though, is out on his ear: anyone who fails to obey Jehovah cannot be a member of the Israelite community.

3. An example of how strictly Jehovah punishes violations of orders and practices is the Sabbath-breaker who is stoned to death.  Collecting firewood would not seem to be a capital offense, nor would it even seem to qualify as work.  The offender was not given a warning, fined or flogged.  No, his life was forfeit because he probably needed some firewood to stay warm and forgot to collect enough for himself on Friday.  Is washing dishes on a Sabbath also worthy of the death penalty to the merciful, loving Jehovah?

4. The tassels or tzitzits were prepared in a certain way (four threads of eight strands knotted so that eight threads hang down).  These would be attached to the corners of undergarments, shawls, and cloaks (which, like Scots plaids, were large square pieces of material worn as outer garments).  The turquoise (tekhelet) thread would be colored from a dye extracted from an exotic and, as yet unidentified sea creature (snail?) called a hillazon.  The hue is technically not blue, as is rendered in nearly all translations.  Other strands would usually be white.  In later practice, the turquoise strand was omitted due to an inability to secure the hillazon dye.

5. The mandate that Israelites must adorn the corner of their garments with these tassels to remind them of Jehovah and to make them be moral is curious.  Why should a tassel and not something else be the reminder?  The Hebrews must be assured that all their customs arise from divine dictate, that Jehovah is the originator of every law, every tradition, every sartorial element; it is their obsession.  It, however, is often the case that customs, especially those peculiar to a certain ethnic group, have a provenance that is uncertain: no one can remember where they came from or when they came to be observed.  Their reason for being and purpose, if there ever was one, has been forgotten.  Thus to explain them, a myth comes into being, to justify them, a god usually plays a part in it.  Ordained by Jehovah, the tzitzits thus become an important element of Judaic tradition.