Numbers 15:34

It had been declared in Exodus 31:14 f., Numbers 35:2 (both P) that Sabbath-breaking must be punished with death, but the method of execution had not been laid down. If, however, the meaning is that they did not know what the man's punishment should be, the present passage is independent of those in Exodus. The Jews who laid down this law in the period after the exile were sternly acting in accordance with the dictates of their conscience. But (though in early days stern punishments may have been salutary) no Christian is compelled to believe that because the law stands in the Bible it is now in accordance with the mind of God. One effect of Christian civilization has been to confine the death penalty to murderers.