[145] Num. 15:30.
[146] Eze. 20.
[147] Hengstenberg, a distinguished German Anti-Sabbatarian, thus candidly treats this text: “A man who had gathered wood on the Sabbath is brought forth at the command of the Lord, and stoned by the whole congregation before the camp. Calvin says rightly, ‘The guilty man did not fall through error, but through gross contempt of the law, so that he treated it as a light matter to overthrow and destroy all that is holy.’ It is evident from the manner of its introduction that the account is not given with any reference to its chronological position; it reads, ‘And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day.’ It stands simply as an example of the presumptuous breach of the law, of which the preceding verses speak. He was one who despised the word of the Lord and broke his commandments [verse 31]; one who with a high hand sinned and reproached the Lord. Verse 30.”—The Lord’s Day, pp. 31, 32.
[148] Deut. 5:1-3.
[149] See the pledges of this people in Ex. 19; 24.
[150] See the [second chapter] of this work.
[151] See [chapter third].
[152] Deut. 5:12-15.
[153] Compare Ex. 19; 20; Deut. 1.
[154] Ex. 20:8-11.