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.

Final Instructions of Jehovah

(Exodus 31:1 - 31:18)

Jehovah instructed Moses further:

I personally single out Bezaleel, the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, for I have endowed him not only with a righteous character, wisdom, and understanding, but with expertise in a variety of crafts; I appoint him to be in charge of all the work to be done in gold, silver and bronze, as well as the cutting, setting, and engraving of gemstones and the carving of wood.  Indeed, he is a master of many arts!  For his assistant I have chosen Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach of the tribe of Dan.  I have lent skill to every worker so that they can construct all the things exactly as I have ordered them, the Tabernacle, the Chest of Sacred Records, the Judgment Seat that is its cover, all the furnishings of the Tabernacle, the table and vessels upon it, the menorah and its utensils, the incense altar and the sacrificial altar, the wash basin and its stand, the finely made garments, the sacred vestments for the priesthood of both Aaron and his sons, the Sacred Oil of Anointment and the fragrant Sacred Incense for the Sanctum, all in accordance with my instructions. 

Jehovah advised Moses:

Speak to the people of Israel and tell them, "See that you keep the Sabbath faithfully, for it is an everlasting sign between me and you and your descendants that you recognize me as your god and that I sanctify you.  Therefore, you must observe the Sabbath and regard it as sacred.  Anyone who profanes it should be put to death; anyone who does work on that day must be eradicated from the community.  You must accomplish all your work in six days, for the seventh day is the Sabbath, a day of rest holy to Jehovah.  Whoever does work on the Sabbath should certainly be put to death.  It will then be a perpetual contract with the people of Israel and all those in coming generations to observe the Sabbath,   For all times to come it must be a sign between me and the people of Israel: for six days Jehovah labored to create the earth and sky and on the seventh day he ceased from work to rest and refresh himself.

When Jehovah had concluded his audience with Moses on Mount Sinai, he put into his hands two tablets of stone personally inscribed by Jehovah and containing lists of the laws to be observed by the Israelites as a part of their contract with him. 

Notes
1.  That Jehovah seems familiar with the skills of his people and who is best able to accomplish the works of craftsmanship he has ordered is impressive, but, after all, he is supposed to be omniscient, (although there has been little evidence of that).  The men chosen have skill and good sense, not due to any virtue or effort on their part, but only because Jehovah has specifically saw fit to endow them with such abilities and faculties.  Everything seems to be a gift from Jehovah,everyone must be grateful to Jehovah for everything.  No one can even develop skill as a craftsman without it being a divine endowment, rather than a personal achievement.

2. As we have seen, Jehovah reveals himself to be a surprisingly nut-and-bolts fellow, not above micro-managing the dull, technical stuff.  Apparently he doesn't think Moses is competent enough to know who among his people is a good carpenter or goldsmith.  But that might really be the case.  It must be considered that Moses did not live with his enslaved people, but with the Egyptians and the  Midians.  He might not have many acquaintances or contacts or be very savvy about the ways and doings of his people, as, say, Aaron would certainly be.  (A fact Jehovah was probably aware of when he made Aaron Moses' spokesman and intercessor.)   Moses, though a Hebrew by birth and now, by adoption, would have been perceived as an outsider by the Israelites he led. 

3. Again Jehovah harps on the observance of the Sabbath.  Now, the death penalty for anyone who works on his day!  There is nothing in the rationale for the observance of the Sabbath that concerns the well being of man, for instance, the physical and mental health benefits of taking a day off once a week.  It is, as always, all about Jehovah, his prerogatives and his worshipers’ duties to him.

4.  As a departing gift, Jehovah places into Moses’ hands two tablets on which are written the laws that were to observed by the Israelites as part of their contract with Jehovah.  (The Hebrew is somewhat vague here, resulting in translations like “tables of testimony,” or “tablets of the covenant.” I have, consequently, added quite a few words to make the meaning clear.)  The stone tablets, which are later said to be have written on both sides, were presumably inscribed or engraved by Jehovah himself.  (Was this done as an honor to the Israelites, or did Jehovah not have a scribe handy?)  It is not clear, but suggested that the first tablet contained a list of the laws and that the second tablet was a duplicate of the first.  As we have commented before, they could not have been written in Hebrew, a language that would not exist for hundreds of years, but must have been written in some form of Egyptian hieroglyphics, unless Jehovah wrote them in his own language, whatever that might be.