Questo articolo è disponibile anche in: Italian English French

Question

Dear Father Angelo,

I read your answer regarding the obligation in the Ten Commandments to keep holy the Lord’s Day. You refer to the fact that in Exodus the death sentence was prescribed for those who did not observe this obligation; how can the Bible teach a behaviour contrary to a Commandment (you shall not kill) in order to comply with another Commandment?

Franco

Answer from the priest

Dear Franco,

1. in the Old Testament it was indeed done that way.

The violation of the Sabbath required the death penalty.

But it was also required and commanded for many other cases.

For example: for those who practiced magic (Ex 22:18).

For those who offered a sacrifice to any god, rather than to the Lord alone (Ex 22:19), for blasphemy: “Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall be put to death. The whole community shall stone him; alien and native alike must be put to death for blaspheming the LORD’S name” (Lev 24:15).

It was prescribed for adultery and other sexual disorders: “If a man commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. If a man disgraces his father by lying with his father’s wife, both the man and his stepmother shall be put to death; they have forfeited their lives. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; since they have committed an abhorrent deed, they have forfeited their lives. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them shall be put to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives” (Lev 20:10-13; cf also Lev 20:15).

Also, for sins against one’s neighbor: “Whoever strikes a man a mortal blow must be put to death” (Ex 21:12).

2. But the death penalty was also prescribed for those who violated the Sabbath.

Well, to understand the meaning of this punishment it is necessary to read the whole text. I will emphasize some of the passages:

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘You must also tell the Israelites: Take care to keep my sabbaths, for that is to be the token between you and me throughout the generations, to show that it is I, the LORD, who make you holy. Therefore, you must keep the sabbath as something sacred. Whoever desecrates it shall be put to death. If anyone does work on that day, he must be rooted out of his people. Six days there are for doing work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of complete rest, sacred to the LORD. Anyone who does work on the sabbath day shall be put to death. So shall the Israelites observe the sabbath, keeping it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant” (Ex 31:12-16).

This punishment was carried out as well, as we read in the book of Numbers: “While the Israelites were in the desert, a man was discovered gathering wood on the sabbath day. Those who caught him at it brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole assembly. But they kept him in custody, for there was no clear decision as to what should be done with him. Then the LORD said to Moses, ‘This man shall be put to death; let the whole community stone him outside the camp.’ So the whole community led him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the LORD had commanded Moses” (Num 15:32-36).

3. As you can see, the motivation for this punishment is also put forward: because the Sabbath is to be the token between you and me.

A token of what? Of the special covenant made between God and his people.

The Sabbath rest was a sign that those people were God’s people in a special way.

The observance of the Sabbath was one of the traits of Israel and of her religion before all peoples.

It would therefore be improper to read these passages with our mindset.

4. And here is a second reason: because for you it is something sacred, that is, a day separate from all other days.

And for this reason, the act is punished as a violation of the alliance.

That alliance that could not be broken under pain of separation from the people of the Alliance.

The fifth precept of the Ten Commandments says “you shall not kill”. It was implied that it applied to the innocent only, because the law of retaliation was in force against the guilty at that time.

5. Therefore, the death penalty in the Old Testament was not applied simply to defend society, as was the case in all other nations, but above all because acts of trespass against the Covenant were involved.

It clearly emerges in chapter 15 of the book of Genesis, when God commands Abraham to take animals and cut them in two. Abraham “split them in two, and placed each half opposite the other” (Gn 15:10).

“When the sun had set and it was dark, there appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch, which passed between those pieces” (Gn 15:17).

The Jerusalem Bible comments: “Ancient rite of the covenant (Jer 34:18): the contracting parties passed between the bleeding pieces of flesh and invoked upon themselves the fate reserved for those victims, if they violated their commitment. (…)

It is a solemn commitment, sealed by a binding oath (the passage between the split animals)” (note to Gn 15:17).

This death penalty was a sign that God’s “gracious commitment” had no effect on these people.

6. We should remember here what we read at the beginning of the Holy Scripture: “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Gn 2:3).

Now, God’s blessing in Holy Scripture is always effective.

The Lord consecrated that day to bless his people.

This is also true today: whoever does not want to keep the Lord’s Day holy shuns the gracious commitment of God and deprives himself of many blessings from God, which are blessings that are always effective, and somehow puts himself at the mercy of his adversary.

I wish you to always be faithful in receiving this blessing from God. You need it and your loved ones need it too.

I remember you in prayer and I bless you.

Father Angelo