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It wasn't a "mistake"...he broke the law!

The question isn't whether it was breaking the law or not...the question was, was the law a good one? I.e., do you believe it?

And then the matter of the punishment... stoning the offender. Remember, they said they didn't know what to do with him and the Lord commanded he be killed.

But if you go to the preceding verses (Numbers 15:24-32, the Lord has already stated the punishments for violating one of His laws, and stoning isn't the answer (it was "exile" or "bull/grain/wine/goat-offering/sacrifice" for intentional or unintentional violations, respectively).

Hey, at least they ENFORCED the law!

Yep...as barbarically then as it is now in the Middle East.

If you don't like the law, change it.

AGREED!!! But of course, post hoc application isn't right, either. :-)

So Jesus changed it all? I guess Jews also have reason for changing, without Jesus, but it does seem awfully convenient to stop following some of those laws without believing Jesus came to change their application.

But the YouTube question referred to the KJV...and as such, includes the NT. But I ask more broadly.

" The question isn't whether it was breaking the law or not...the question was, was the law a good one? I.e., do you believe it?"

It was a good law for it's time. It was a very just and humane law. It require the Israelites to have a day of rest. Can you imagine a society that worked all day, every day of the week with no break? That's the kind of unending labor many societies have known. That was not what God intended - He knew people needed to rest - He knew they required it. This person's bad example had to be put down harshly to save the society from devolving into a habit of ceaseless labor.

"the Lord has already stated the punishments for violating one of His laws, and stoning isn't the answer (it was "exile" or..."

The sentence was:

"Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him."

"Utterly cut off" means execution in the Bible. So he knew the penalty before he broke the law.