They are to be stoned or shot with arrows; not a hand is to be laid on them. Whether human or animal, they shall not be permitted to live. Such offenders shall be stoned or shot with arrows. Only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain. The method of execution — stoning or arrows — prevents the executioner from directly touching the one who has touched the holy. The contamination is communicable; the distance is protective. The ram's horn blast that signals when approach is permitted is the same horn that announces sacred assemblies and jubilee years in the later Levitical calendar. The blast is God's invitation — without it, no approach; with it, the community may draw near. Revelation 8:2 introduces seven angels with seven trumpets — the eschatological version of the same pattern: divine signal, authorized approach.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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