Numbers 9:13

13. Forbeareth to keep the passover For sins of omission resulting from obstinate unbelief the wicked will be sentenced to everlasting punishment. See Matthew 25:45-46; John 3:18; John 16:9.

Shall be cut off It is not easy to determine the precise meaning of these words. The original terms are too strong for the idea of excommunication, and they legitimately imply capital punishment. This was done by the sentence of the judge when the crime is known, otherwise it is implied, say the Jewish writers, that he should fall by the hand of Jehovah cutting him off prematurely. See Leviticus 17:10, note. But several of the rabbinical writers, as Maimonides, interpret these words as signifying not only temporal but eternal death. The threatening is a severe one, and is designed to inspire the deepest reverence for the divine ordinances.

Shall bear his sin The punishment of sin. Leviticus 10:17; Leviticus 22:9, notes. Dr. Hodge asserts that “when נשׂא , nasah, is construed with sin, it plainly means, ‘to bear sin’ in the sense of being personally responsible for it.” According to this, Jesus Christ was punished for our sins, a statement which we cannot receive. We prefer a broader signification of the phrase. (1.) One bears his own sin by suffering its punishment. (2.) He may bear another’s sin by suffering in consequence of it. (3.) He may bear another’s sin aimed against himself by withholding his displeasure and treating the offender graciously. See Leviticus 10:17, note. (4.) Or he may endure sufferings which are not penal, but a conditional substitute for the penal sufferings of guilty persons. Such were the sufferings of Christ in taking away the sin of the world. For an exhaustive discussion see Bibliotheca Sacra, 18: 284, 30:422; 32:475; and Dr. Miley’s Atonement in Christ.