Bible Contradiction? How should Sabbath-breakers be punished?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: How should Sabbath-breakers be punished?

Here are the two answers which the skeptic believes shows a Bible contradiction:

They should be exiled.

“Therefore you are to keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.” (Exodus 31:14)

They should be killed.

“Therefore you are to keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it must be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.” (Exodus 31:14)

“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.” (Exodus 31:15)

“For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a Sabbath of complete rest to the Lord; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.” (Exodus 35:2)

“Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 And those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation; 34 and they placed him in custody, because it had not been decided what should be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him [a]to death with stones, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” (Numbers 15:32-36)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. Remember the context that this an Old Testament ceremonial law for Israel as opposed to church laws.
4. The skeptic tries to pit the passage Exodus 31:14 as affirming the claim “Sabbath-breakers should be exiled” against four passages (Exodus 31:14, Exodus 31:15, Exodus 35:2, Numbers 15:32-36) as affirming “Sabbath-breakers should be killed.”
5. All four passages were properly interpreted by the skeptic as Sabbath-breakers in Israel should be killed.
   1. Three passages (Exodus 31:14, Exodus 31:15, Exodus 35:2) used the phrase “put to death.“
   2. Numbers 15:32-36 is a narrative account of someone actually breaking the Sabbath and getting the penalty of death.  Incidentally this is the only time in the Old Testament one sees the death penalty actually enforced upon a Sabbath-breaker.
6. On the Skeptic Annotated Bible website under Exodus 31:14 cited as proving “Sabbath-breakers should be exiled” the skeptic Steve Wells himself said in his own words: “(Assuming that is what being “cut off” means.).”  I would say that the skeptic made a bad assumption here.
   1. The root verb for “cut off” in Exodus 31:14 is כָּרַת and at times it can mean exile; however that is not the only lexical meaning of the verb. Context of course dictate which meaning is being used.
   2. It is strange to assume “cut off” means exile when this very verse used the phrase “put to death.“
   3. The verb for “cut off” in Exodus 31:14 is a Niphal stem of the verb כָּרַת.  Elsewhere in the Old Testament we see that the verb in the Niphal stem can have the meaning that is not exiled.  Furthermore sometimes the verb in the Niphal form not only have a meaning besides exile, it actually has the idea of putting to death.
      1. Genesis 9:11 states “I establish My covenant with you; and all flesh shall never again be eliminated by the waters of a flood, nor shall there again be a flood to destroy the earth.””  In the context these are the words of God after Noah’s flood.  God here establishes a covenant to not flood the world again.  What is translated as “eliminated”  is Niphal form of the verb כָּרַת.  But to say God will never exile all flesh by water doesn’t make sense; in the context there was destruction and death, not “exile.” 
      2. Obadiah 9 states “Then your warriors will be filled with terror, Teman, So that everyone will be eliminated from the mountain of Esau by murder.”  What is translated as “eliminated”  is Niphal form of the verb כָּרַת.  The meaning here is not exile since the means of eliminating these Edomites warriors is stated as “by murder.”  One does not exile someone by murder; but one does put to death someone by murder; thus this passage also establish that the verb “cut off” can convey putting to death as opposed to exile.
      3. Daniel 9:26 states “When after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.”  This passage actually is a Messianic prophecy of when the Messiah would be killed.  What is translated as “cut off”  is the Niphal form of the verb כָּרַת.  Once more we see this verb having the meaning of put to death, instead of sending someone to exile.
7. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
8. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”