Imagine that some additions to the book of Numbers have been found. [They have not; this is only a flight of fancy.] The following comments lie between Numbers 15:34 and 35. The man was brought to Moses to see what should be done to him for gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Moses asked him, “Were you unaware of the law commanding that the Sabbath be kept holy—that no work should be done on this day?” The man answered, “Well, sure, but I wasn’t working. I was just gathering a few sticks. It was a day when nothing else was happening, and I thought I may as well make good use of the time.”
“But gathering sticks is work,” Moses protested. “All such work is supposed to be accomplished in six days’ time—but not on the seventh.”
“Are we talking about something so insignificant as picking up a few sticks?” Moses assured him that even a small job still constituted work. Then the man replied, “But that’s just your interpretation. I don’t understand the law the way you do. You surely don’t think you can hold me to your own private opinion as to what the Law says.”
“What is there about not working that you don’t understand?” Moses pleaded. “I didn’t make up this law; God did.” The man responded, “But the law says to keep the Sabbath holy, and I do regard it as a holy day. I have finished my work in six days. The idea that one cannot do anything at all on the Sabbath is just an implication on your part that the law excludes anything—even something incidental. That’s why I said it’s just your interpretation.”
Moses nearly tore his clothes. “Man, just listen to yourself,” he said. “You’re trying to justify unlawful behavior.” The man insisted, however: “I’m not a legalist. I did no harm to anyone. My intent was pure. I see nothing wrong in what I did. My conscience is clear, and I will undoubtedly be totally exonerated. Just because you’re in a position of authority over the people does not mean you get to impose your interpretations on the rest of us who are keeping the spirit of the law. We must have the liberty to abide by our own understanding of the Law.”
He might have argued further, but at this point the Lord said to Moses, “The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” Those extra (fictional) verses might be useful any time someone is tempted to undermine the plain meaning of the Scriptures.