Read Numbers 5
The Purity of the Camp
5 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. 3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” 4 The Israelites did so; they sent them outside the camp. They did just as the Lord had instructed Moses.
Restitution for Wrongs
5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty 7 and must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitutionfor the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged. 8 But if that person has no close relative to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for the wrongdoer. 9 All the sacred contributions the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him. 10 Sacred things belong to their owners, but what they give to the priest will belong to the priest.’”
The Test for an Unfaithful Wife
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.
16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”
23 “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
29 “‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousycome over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’”
Go Deeper
While Moses and the Israelites are wandering through the Desert of Sinai, Moses passes on the laws that the Lord had given him for the Israelite people. The first laws we read in Numbers 5 are laws on how to keep the camp pure. It can appear cruel that those who are declared unclean are cast out of the camp. Why would God make such laws? There are a few verses in this chapter that give us greater insight.
Verse 3 says that those who are unclean must be sent away “… so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.” God lives in the midst of the Israelites. His presence dwells with the people there. Because of God’s holiness, there cannot be sin in His presence. The ceremonial uncleanliness of people through disease is a reminder of the consequences of sin that separate us from God. Just like leprosy or other skin diseases that can spread and infect others, sin has consequences that are far reaching.
To be near to God we must be cleansed from the disease of sin we’ve all had since Adam and Eve. Verse 6 tells us, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Any man or woman who wrongs another in any way and so is unfaithful to the Lord is guilty.” This verse tells us that our sin is against the Lord and our guilt lies with Him. Our sin is ultimately against God because it causes separation from Him. Our sin not only affects those around us, but it keeps us from the relationship and oneness with God that we were created for.
The law is only a temporary fix for this problem. The Israelites fall short again and again and are required to continually make sacrifices that attempt to pay the cost of their sinful condition. In God’s mercy and grace, He made a way for us to be with Him for eternity by sacrificing His Son in our place. Jesus came, fully man and fully God, to live a perfect life and die on the cross. He did what the law could not do by raising from death to life to give us new life, allowing us to live in relationship with our holy God for eternity. The law God gives the Israelites highlights our desperation for a Savior. Instead of leaving us separated, Jesus paid the cost of our sin.
Questions
- What does it mean that God is holy?
- What sin has been keeping you separated from a right relationship with God and those around you? Take time to confess that to your community and seek repentance.
- Take a moment to thank God for the price He paid for you to be with Him for eternity.
By the Way
Hebrews 12:15 says, “See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled,” This verse reminds us that many can be defiled by the sin of one person. We are each called to pursue holiness and to help the community of believers around us to pursue holiness.
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10 thoughts on “Numbers 5”
15 “it is a grain offering for jealousy”
I’ve never understood this section that extensively discusses the “offering for jealousy” as a test for adultery. Seems kind of hocus pocus to me. Nevertheless, the message is clear not to engage in adultery!
Erik, same for me.
Unclean people
For us it is the blood of Christ that atoned for our sins and His Living water made us clean, “Atonement is the PRICE paid for our sin; purification is the removal of the uncleanness CAUSED by that sin or some kind of contact with impurity.” Tom Bradford.
Confession and Restitiution
1 John 1:5-7 5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Test for Adultery
Marriage is very important to God. He put into place details for all to be able to understand that commitment, in marriage, in faith in God, in Jesus being the Messiah, is a two way street. God wants, you/me, completely and totally.
God thank You for setting out everything for us in writing. Thank You for the knowledge that comes with knowing and following You. God continue to enlighten my eyes so that I can have that wisdom and faith that James tells me is available. God thank You for today, for these minutes of this day, that I can glorify and honor You with all I say and do in Jesus name amen
WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As God is holy, purity matters to him, thus he specifically instructs his people how to respond to impurity. God’s character is unchanging, so it still matters to him in our day. 1 Peter 2:9 reminds believers, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
“The Test for an Unfaithful Wife” certainly seems odd, even unfair in current day. However, here we see God securing just and humane treatment for the accused in an age when “Trial by Ordeal” was accepted practice. (For instance, the “guilty until proven innocent” person might be required to stick their hand in a pot of boiling water; an unscalded hand proved their innocence. 😮)
What strikes me most, though, is just how seriously God takes marital unity, in addressing not only the actions of one spouse, but the attitudes of the other. The sins of BOTH must come to light, whether the infidelity of one — or the jealousy and suspicion of the other.
Ideally, marital intimacy is a private, sacred thing. Once corrupted, though, it becomes a public problem with serious relational and spiritual consequences.
And so it is with our fidelity to God. Our sin and unfaithfulness hurts us and each other — and corrupts our sacred intimacy with God.
Ultimately, in order to reconcile us to God and restore right relationship with Him, CHRIST drank the bitter cup (Mt. 26:39) and bore the curse on our behalf.
Insightful. Thanks.
So glad that was helpful. I found a highly illuminating message on this chapter at https://rts.edu/resources/the-adultery-test/
To honor god with being holy is to removed our shoes in his presence like Moses did with the burning bush when we pray. For this is holy ground!
Thank u Jesus for ur sacrifice. A stream lined process of walking with u is so much more fun and less scary ahah
It’s hard to place myself in the OT doing these rituals.
All glory be to the name of Jesus. Jesus has taken our sins upon Himself to make wretched sinners clean in Him.
“Our sin is ultimately against God because it causes separation from Him. Our sin not only affects those around us, but it keeps us from the relationship and oneness with God that we were created for. In God’s mercy and grace, He made a way for us to be with Him for eternity by sacrificing His Son in our place. Jesus came, fully man and fully God, to live a perfect life and die on the cross. He did what the law could not do by raising from death to life to give us new life, allowing us to live in relationship with our holy God for eternity.“
What a great reminder of the price paid for our eternal life with Christ and the mercy of God!