The Torah tells of a man who was collecting wood on Shabbos.
Once, when the Israelites were in the wilderness, a fellow was found gathering wood on the sabbath day. Those who found him as he was gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the whole community. (N. 15:32-33)
G-d sentences this man to death.
Doesn’t that seem like an overreaction?
My brother points out that this word (kosheish, translated as “gather,”) is only found in one other episode in the Torah – back when the people were slaves in Egypt, and we were assigned extra punishing work:
“You shall no longer provide the people with straw for making bricks as heretofore; let them go and gather straw for themselves. (E. 5:7) … Then the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. (E. 5:12)
The man was not merely collecting sticks. He was not sinning by accident.
No. The linkage of these words shows that the scofflaw was publicly demonstrating his desire to be back in Egypt, to prefer the worst slavery in Egypt to serving G-d. That he would rather be massively oppressed in Egypt than be in the wilderness living with G-d’s commandments.
And so he must die.
We are reminded that we are not entitled to life: they come with conditions and requirements. So when a person goes out of his way to make it clear that he rejects everything G-d has done for him, he no longer serves a productive or holy purpose by living. As with the Flood generation, G-d takes life away in order to steer humanity in a positive direction.
Notably, the verses immediately preceding the story of the man are all about people who sin by accident, unknowingly. There are 14 verses about the ways in which we can remediate our errors, use conscious correction to fix our unwitting oversight. Oversight can be repaired through positive and conscious action.
But a person who sins specifically to reject all that G-d stands for (including the creation of the world), has rejected all positive meanings for life itself, and is treated accordingly.