Numbers 15:36
And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the LORD commanded Moses.
The Sabbath was made for man, for man's benefit. In ancient times those who committed knowing sins, such as breaking the seventh commandment, were taken without the camp and stoned to death. The offense here was wilfully gathering wood to make a fire or doing other unnecessary work on the Sabbath before the congregation, acting against the commandment of the Lord.
Knowingly working on the seventh day, deliberately transgressing the holy commandment forbidding labor on that day, is a great crime in the sight of Heaven, of such magnitude under the Mosaic law as to require the death of the offender, who was cut off from the people. The temporal death by stoning was not the whole punishment, for God will not take a transgressor of His law to heaven. One deemed unworthy to live must also suffer eternal death, the second death, which is the full and final penalty for transgressing the law of God.
The abolishing of the penalty of stoning to death does not make the sin smaller. Because that penalty is gone the sin is indulged in beyond measure and regarded as a small offense, when it remains an enormous knowing sin that will receive the awful visitation of God and bring His frown and curse upon the camp. God is very particular regarding observance of His holy law, and though the death penalty is not now required, a time is coming when everyone must answer for every disregard of God's law. There rests therefore a solemn duty to study how to observe the Sabbath and to teach others its sacredness.