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Very little, if any thing was left unsaid--or, to chance. Two or three examples might suffice: The description of the tabernacle, the materials that went into it and the processes involved in its building, in addition to who was to be responsible for its maintenance and transport, etc. were precise. The various sacrifices were explicitly enumerated with clear instructions concerning how they were to be offered, by whom and under what distinct circumstances they were to be accomplished. Nothing was left to the imagination even within the realm of very personal behaviors. Leviticus 18:, 19: and 20: illustrate how even intimate and casual interactions among the people in a wide variety of circumstances were to be carefully managed and regulated.
And so it shouldn’t surprise anyone that what God deemed to be sin, how it was to be viewed and what must be done to appropriately deal with it, would also be the subject of extensive and painstaking instruction. The book of Numbers (chapters 5:, 6:, 9: and 12:-31:) offers especially clear and direct instructions on sin, its consequences (through what we might consider, extreme measures) and what Israel was required to do to avoid those consequences.
In the past year or so, this chapter has especially intrigued me. I admit that I am still in a ‘quandary’ regarding this passage and its implications for us today. So, if you will be patient with me, this post will consist of a few comments regarding an issue I consider vital, interspersed with several questions that I still have not fully processed or answered. The quote enumerates the kinds of sins with which Moses, the priests and people of Israel faced, and its clear assertions seem to indicate that God places sin in two distinct categories. As far as Yahweh God is concerned, sin is a reflection of the heart and for Him, all sins are either intentional or unintentional. There seems be no place for some nebulous, in-between category. Is that an appropriate conclusion? [if you will, read Numbers 15:15, 22-31]. Particular sacrifices were specified to be offered for unintentional sins. But for intentional sins--sins emanating from a heart of defiance and deliberate blasphemy, there was no provision for pardon. The only option available for a person in this circumstance, was that he/she be "cut off from [among-(KJV)] his people" (v.30). This is a recurring phrase throughout Scripture and may, depending on the context of the reading, refer to a temporary exclusion from the community of Israel, a permanent exclusion or actual execution (usually by stoning) of the guilty party. From God’s perspective, no sin was to be absolved save those He deemed unintentional. Now comes the really ‘sticky’ part of the whole issue of sin–an issue that I believe is both very important and one that I have had a great difficulty resolving in my own mind. Just what distinctions must be made between intentional and unintentional sin? We can understand how the inadvertent touching of a corpse or walking over a grave (Numbers 19:16) might be considered unintentional. But what about the vast majority of sins that people commit? How is it possible to place them within the realm of unintentional sin? (Never mind the human propensity and capacity to do this very thing). Take the whole sordid affair (literally) between King David and Bathsheba (see II Samuel 11:). David saw the lovely form of Bathsheba’s body as she bathed atop a nearby building. He made arrangements to have her brought to him. He had sex with her. Once it was learned she was pregnant with his child, he saw to it that Uriah, her husband was hustled back to Jerusalem from the battlefield so that David’s sin could be covered up. His scheme was stymied by the honorable behavior of Uriah who refused to enjoy the comforts and pleasures of being home with his wife, and so David returned Uriah to the battle field with the very instructions to Joab, his commander, that eventually resulted in his own death. Now, how could these sins of David be anything but intentional?! Is it at all possible that any of them might fit the profile of an unintentional sin? With the clear understanding that David consciously chose to do the things he did, how are we to decide? Do we reasonably conclude that a person’s inappropriate behavior that is the result of consciously deliberate choices are intentional sins while all the rest are not? If that becomes our primary criteria in determin-ing what is and is not intentional, what is left?! It just seems to me that there remains only a minuscule number of sins that we could even begin to place within the realm of unintentional sins. [What do you think God thinks about all of this? Part II's answer!]  |
