does not cease to be evil because done in ignorance. Whatever is commanded ought to be done, and if omitted there is lose somewhere in God's universe because of the omission. We must not plead ignorance of the commandment, for the reason of that ignorance lies with man, and not with God. It may not lie with the particular transgressor, but still it lies with man, and therefore the transgression must be con- fessed and atoned for; and when we humble ourselves in confession of sin committed and service omitted, there is need that we should dwell with much self-examination and seeking for light on the things that have been left undone through ignorance. What we have done that we ought not to have done is much more discoverable than what ought to have been done, yet has been left undone. Many conscientious, earnest, and enlightened Christians have been transgressors through ignorance. Prayer for the doing of God's will on earth as it is done in heaven must be accom- panied by an incessant seeking for the knowledge of his will. Assuredly we suffer by our ignorance in this matter, even though, in a certain sense and to a certain extent, this ignorance cannot be helped. This provision here made for atonement, this prophecy, as it were, that many transgressions unconsciously committed would be discovered in due time, is a reminder to us how much we may still have to dis- cover of God's will concerning us. Much as we may know, and much as we may do, there may be large fields of obedience where we have not taken a single step. The great essentials, of course, if we be Christians at all, we cannot be ignorant of, but it is quite possible to know them, yet be ignorant of other things God would also have us know. We are not to look for the laws of life in Scripture only; God has put there such things as are not to be found in nature and the dealings of his common providence. We must look for his will in every place where intimations of it are to be found, and be quick in discovering "'hat has been revealed to others. Mark these words of Joseph Sturge :-" It seems to be the will of him who is in.finite in wisdom thnt light upon great subjects should first arise, and be gradually spread through the faithfulness of individuals in acting up to their own convictions."-Y.
EXPOSITION. THE SAJIBATB-BREAKER (vers. 32--36). suppose him to h,ave written it at the end ot Ver. 32. - And while the children of his life, when the people were encamped in Israel were in the wildeme11. It is main- the steppes of Moab. It seems _prob11b1e that tained by some that these words were intended the record of the incident was mserted bent to m11rk the contrast between the previoUB as an example of a "presumptuoUB" sin, and laws, which were only to be observed when of its pumshment. A man that gathered the people came into their own land, and sticks upon the sabbath day. This was the lllw of the sabbath, which was strictly clearly presumptuous, because the prohibition enforced during the period of wandering. to do any work for oneself on the sabbath There is no doubt that such a distinction had been made so clear, and was so constantly existed in fact, but there is no reason to find forced upon their attention by the failure of the intentional assertion of it in this ex- the manna on that d11y, that ignorance could pression. The simpler and more n11tural, not possibly be pleaded here. and therefore more probable, expln.n11tion is, Ver. 33.-Unto all the congregation, i. e. that the incident was recorded after the unto the council of elders, who were the people had left the wilderness. At the same congregation by representation (soe on E:tod. time, there is nothing unreasonable in 11Scrib- xviii. 25, 26). ~g the narrative to Moses himself if we Ver. 34. -They put him in ward (cf. 1()0 THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. [~. xv. 32-36.
Lent.. xxiv. 12), because itwaa not declared disproportioned a punishment for such nn what should be done to him. This is per• offence without a further appeal. If it bi! plering, because the punishment of death said that such unwillingness to carry out " had been decreed in Exod. xxxL H, 15, and plain command would have been sinful, it is xxxv. 2. It seems an evasion to say that sufficient to answer that Moses and Aaron .although death had been decreed, the mode and the el.ders were human beings, and must of death had not been fixed ; for (2) it was have shrunk from visitingwith a cruel death clearly part of the Divine answer that the the trivial breach of a purely arbitrary com- ,offence was really capital (see ver. 85 a.), mandment. and (2) it was understood that in such cases Ver. 85.-Without the oamp. That it deat~ was to be . inflicted by st~~ng (s~e might not be defiled (cf. Acts viL 68, and Levit. :r.x. 2; xnv. H; Josh. vu. 25; m Heb. xiii. 12). the last case the command was to burn the Ver. 86.-And he died. He was killed -delinquents with fire, yet it was rightly not for what he did, but for doing it pre• taken for granted that they were to be stoned sumptuously, in deliberate defiance of what to death first). There are only two explana• he knew to be the will of God. If the tions which a re satisfactory because they are covenant relation was to be maintained be- honest. 1. The incident may possibly have tween God and Israel, the observance of the occurred between the first institution of the sabbath, which was an integral part of that Mbbath (Exod. xvi. 23, 29) and the decree covenant, must be enforced, and he who ,of death to those that broke it. There is wilfully violated it must be cut off; and thi1 nothlng in the record as it st.a.nds here to consideration was of exceptional force in thia contradict such an assumption. 2. It is more case, as the first which had occurred, ond ns likely that it occurred after the departure the one, therefore, which would govern all the from Sinai, and that the hesitation in deal· rest (cf. Acts v. 6, 10). On the punishment ingwith the crimma.l was due not to any real of stoning see Levit. XL 2 ; xxiv. 14 ; Acts uncertainty as to the law, but to unwilling- vii. 58. ness to inflict so extreme and so (apparently)