Numbers 15:34

34 the which closed, or put, him into prison, and they knew not what they should do to him. (and they enclosed him in prison, and they did not know what they should do with him.)

Numbers 15:34 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 15:34

And they put him in ward
In a certain prison in the camp; perhaps the same in which the blasphemer was put, ( Leviticus 24:12 ) ; and for much the same reason:

because it was not declared what should be done to him:
that is, what kind of death he should die, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra; it had been before declared that the sabbath breaker should die, but not what death he should die, ( Exodus 31:15 ) ( 35:2 ) ; though some think it was a matter of doubt whether gathering of sticks was a breach of the sabbath, or at least such a breach of it as required death; and the answer of the Lord seems to confirm this sense, as follows.

Numbers 15:34 In-Context

32 Soothly it was done, when the sons of Israel were in wilderness, and they had found a man gathering wood in the sabbath day, (And it was done, when the Israelites were still in the wilderness, and they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day,)

33 they brought him to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the multitude;

34 the which closed, or put, him into prison, and they knew not what they should do to him. (and they enclosed him in prison, and they did not know what they should do with him.)

35 And the Lord said to Moses, This man die by death; all the company oppress him with stones without the tents. (And the Lord said to Moses, This man must be put to death; take him away from the tents, and have all the people kill him with stones.)

36 And when they had led him withoutforth, they killed him with stones, and (so) he was dead, as the Lord commanded (to Moses).