15:32 When the Israelites were 1 in the wilderness they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 2 15:33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole community. 15:34 They put him in custody, because there was no clear instruction about what should be done to him. 15:35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; the whole community must stone 3 him with stones outside the camp.” 15:36 So the whole community took him outside the camp and stoned him to death, 4 just as the Lord commanded Moses.
5:16 Now because Jesus was doing these things 14 on the Sabbath, the Jewish leaders 15 began persecuting 16 him.
1 tn The preterite of the verb “to be” is here subordinated to the next, parallel verb form, to form a temporal clause.
2 sn For this brief passage, see A. Phillips, “The Case of the Woodgatherer Reconsidered,” VT 19 (1969): 125-28; J. Weingreen, “The Case of the Woodgatherer (Numbers XV 32-36),” VT 16 (1966): 361-64; and B. J. Bamberger, “Revelations of Torah after Sinai,” HUCA 16 (1941): 97-113. Weingreen argues that there is something of the Rabbinic method of setting a fence around the Law here; in other words, if this sin were not punished, the Law would have been violated in greater ways. Gathering of wood, although seemingly harmless, is done with intent to kindle fire, and so reveals a culpable intent.
3 tn The sentence begins with the emphatic use of the infinitive absolute with the verb in the Hophal imperfect: “he shall surely be put to death.” Then, a second infinitive absolute רָגוֹם (ragom) provides the explanatory activity – all the community is to stone him with stones. The punishment is consistent with other decrees from God (see Exod 31:14,15; 35:2). Moses had either forgotten such, or they had simply neglected to (or were hesitant to) enact them.
4 tn Heb “stoned him with stones, and he died.”
5 tn Heb “to make holy,” that is, to put to special use, in this case, to sacred purposes (cf. vv. 13-15).
6 tn There is some degree of paronomasia (wordplay) here: “the seventh (הַשְּׁבִיעִי, hashÿvi’i) day is the Sabbath (שַׁבָּת, shabbat).” Otherwise, the words have nothing in common, since “Sabbath” is derived from the verb שָׁבַת (shavat, “to cease”).
7 tn Heb “in your gates”; NRSV, CEV “in your towns”; TEV “in your country.”
8 sn The irony is that Jesus’ “work” consisted of merely touching the woman. There is no sense of joy that eighteen years of suffering was reversed with his touch.
9 tn Grk “on which it is necessary to work.” This has been simplified in the translation.
10 tn The participle ἐρχόμενοι (ercomenoi) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.
11 tn Grk “answered him and said.” This is redundant in contemporary English and has been shortened to “answered him.”
12 tn Grk “from the manger [feeding trough],” but by metonymy of part for whole this can be rendered “stall.”
13 sn The charge here is hypocrisy, but it is only part one of the response. Various ancient laws detail what was allowed with cattle; see Mishnah, m. Shabbat 5; CD 11:5-6.
14 sn Note the plural phrase these things which seems to indicate that Jesus healed on the Sabbath more than once (cf. John 20:30). The synoptic gospels show this to be true; the incident in 5:1-15 has thus been chosen by the author as representative.
15 tn Or “the Jewish authorities”; Grk “the Jews.” See the note on the phrase “Jewish leaders” in v. 10.
16 tn Or “harassing.”
17 sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).
18 tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”
19 tn Grk “dies.”
20 sn An allusion to Deut 17:6.
21 tn Grk “tramples under foot.”
22 tn Grk “regarded as common.”
23 tn Grk “by which he was made holy.”