Ceremonially Unclean Persons Isolated
“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse. You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.” And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
Confession and Restitution
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty, then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged. But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. And every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”
Concerning Unfaithful Wives
And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught— if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself— then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.
‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord. The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”— then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell; and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.”
‘Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”
‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar; and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people. But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.
This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her. Then the man shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her guilt.’ ”
At first, this chapter seems really unfair. Why isolate lepers, people with discharges, and people who have handled corpses? Well, Moses has two million people living closely together in tents. Leprosy is spread by close contact and by droplets when people sneeze and cough. Discharges such as impetigo are spread by direct contact with infected people or items. And what kinds of germs might someone acquire by having handled a corpse? Those who have had to handle corpses can bathe and become ritually clean; however, those in the other categories are being isolated to avoid epidemics. God is also trying to discourage the Israelites from copying the death-focused religious practices of the Egyptians.
Regarding confession and restitution: Here God is being kind. The one who has sinned is to make 120% restitution to the person whom he has offended or to the family or to the priest if the offended person is dead and there are no remaining family members. Without such regulations, an individual or family who feels offended might try to kill the offender, instigating an endless round of blood feuds.
What about the laws of jealousy? Again, God is providing a way of escape for a faithful wife who has been wrongly accused. At the same time, God is also establishing a strong enough punishment that any woman tempted to commit adultery is going to think twice before doing so. At this point, many of the women reading these verses might be asking, “Fine, but what if the MAN commits adultery? What happens to him?” David Guzik in his Enduring Word Commentary suggests the following: “This ceremony only dealt with an adulterous wife and not a husband because, for the most part, the law of Moses was “case law.” It was not meant to anticipate every potential situation, but to give examples that set precedence for other cases. Though not stated, it is likely that a similar ceremony would be practiced if a wife became suspicious of a husband’s adultery.” The good thing about this ritual is that once the wife has survived unscathed, the husband and the community must assume she is innocent and treat her as such.
Personally, I seriously doubt that any man ever underwent this ceremony. For a man to go through this ritual, his wife would have to get the priests and elders to agree. On the other hand, Guzik goes on to quote a source indicating that the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi ordered a presumed unfaithful woman to fling herself into the Euphrates River. If she drowned, she was guilty; if innocent she would survive and return to her husband! Compared to the Babylonians, God’s commands to the Israelites are amazingly kind. We should note that the reference to the thigh rotting actually is a euphemism for the womb rotting so the woman, if truly guilty, will be barren. Barren women might suffer discrimination and isolation simply due to their lack of children.
In the interests of brevity, I am not addressing the details of the temple ceremonies. For an in-depth discussion of the symbolism involved in these rituals, please see David Guzik’s excellent explanation: https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/numbers-5/ I find Guzik’s material to be highly informative.
APPLICATION: When necessary, the medical community still isolates certain sicknesses. These days, multiply drug resistant tuberculosis and MRSA are becoming more common, forcing medical personnel to isolate such patients. Thanks to modern leprosy drugs, leprosy is far less common than it used to be and most leprosariums have closed.
Jealous spouses and domestic abuse continue to be a problem, and battered women’s shelters unfortunately remain full much of the time. Sometimes jealous husbands follow their wives to the shelters and murder them on the doorstep. Experienced police officers will tell you that calls for domestic disturbances are very dangerous. At times, an attacking spouse will turn to attack the police answering the call. Sometimes the spouse who initiated the call will also side with his/her attacker and challenge the police officer. Compared to such violence, the temple rituals described here are far more sane.
God’s purpose in all these regulations is to maintain healthy relationships among people as well as healthy relationships between people and God. Jesus told his disciples, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” Sometimes people assume that this verse must refer to material prosperity; however, there are rich people who are miserable. God’s will for us is for us to live in close communication with Him and in peace with those around us. Our income level has little bearing on our relationship with God; in fact, many times, wealth can become a stumbling block.
Today, let’s thank God for His love and watch care and ask Him to help us live as He wants us to in close communion with Him.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to receive Your Word into our hearts and minds so that we can find fellowship with You and those around us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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