Lord in Numbers different than Lord in John

[in_servitude]

You took a mighty risk with someone else’s life, but the Abrahamic/Christian God knows every bit of suffering for every human He creates and still does it?

If you knew that your child would die a slow, painful death at an early age, what might your choice have been?

I asked a question. You did not answer. It doesn’t make sense for me to answer your questions if you will not do the same for me.

 

[in_servitude]

I would ask yourself if what the Lord is encouraging is really a breaking of the Sabbath law. This really comes down to what the Sabbath is really all about.

I agree. Is the Sabbath supposed to be a list of rules (like, don’t touch an elevator button)? Or, is it supposed to be a time of rest where we keep our perspectives on life and God together?

 

[Missian_Alyssa]

Numbers 15:32-36

OK, so in this passage, God Himself declares that this person is to die for breaking the Sabbath.

John 5:6-9

Here, the Lord encourages someone to break the Sabbath law.

Is this the same Lord?

Numbers 14:17-19

New English Translation (NET)

17 So now, let the power of my Lord be great, just as you have said, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in loyal love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children until the third and fourth generations.’ 19 Please forgive the iniquity of this people according to your great loyal love, just as you have forgiven this people from Egypt even until now.”

Matthew 12

New American Standard Bible (NASB)

Sabbath Questions

12 At that [a]time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the **consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple [c]break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this [d]means, ‘I desire [e]compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

Lord of the Sabbath

8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

9 Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned [f]Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. 11 And He said to them, “What man [g]is there among you who [h]has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do *good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to [j]normal, like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and [k]conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

15 But Jesus, [l]aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, 16 and warned them not to [m]tell who He was. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

18
“Behold, My [n]Servant whom I [o]have chosen;
My Beloved in whom My soul [p]is well-pleased;
I will put My Spirit upon Him,
And He shall proclaim [q]justice to the [r]Gentiles.

19
“He will not quarrel, nor cry out;
Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

20
“A battered reed He will not break off,
And a smoldering wick He will not put out,
Until He leads [t]justice to victory.

21
“And in His name the Gentiles will hope.”***

 

[MrSnaith]

I agree. Is the Sabbath supposed to be a list of rules (like, don’t touch an elevator button)? Or, is it supposed to be a time of rest where we keep our perspectives on life and God together?

Indeed. And actually, Sabbath actually means “day of rest.” One might say that by healing the sick man, Christ was granting him rest from his affliction, thus another way of considering this as fulfilling Sabbath.

 

[MrSnaith]

Sabbath Questions

12 At that [a]time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to pick the heads of grain and eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what is not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3 But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4 how he entered the house of God, and they ate the **consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5 Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple [c]break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 But if you had known what this [d]means, ‘I desire [e]compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.

Lord of the Sabbath

8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

9 Departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned [f]Jesus, asking, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. 11 And He said to them, “What man [g]is there among you who [h]has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do *good on the Sabbath.” 13 Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” He stretched it out, and it was restored to [j]normal, like the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and [k]conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.

15 But Jesus, [l]aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, 16 and warned them not to [m]tell who He was. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:***

Yes, here you’ve presented two different kinds of Sabbath issues. In the second, Jesus says that it is lawful to do a good deed on the Sabbath.

But in the first, what the disciples are doing can’t correctly be called a “good deed,” so how does Jesus answer it? By referencing David and the lawful actions of a Priest. He says, “something greater than the Temple is here.” He is speaking of Himself. Moreover, David was innocent because he actually acted as a priest (a mediator between God and man) for Israel. By likening his disciples to King David, Jesus was revealing a new priesthood, of which His disciples were part. They were of the priesthood of David, which finds its ultimate fulfillment in Christ.

So, what the disciples were doing was lawful, because they were priests “breaking bread” (so to speak) in the presence of Christ, who is greater than the Temple.