Numbers 5:1-311And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead: 3Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell. 4And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel. 5And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 6Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be guilty; 7Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed. 8But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the Lord, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him. 9And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his. 10And every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his. 11And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 12Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, 13And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner; 14And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled: 15Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. 16And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord: 17And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water: 18And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse: 19And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse: 20But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband: 21Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; 22And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen. 23And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water: 24And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter. 25Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar: 26And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water. 27And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. 28And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. 29This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled; 30Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. 31Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity. (Numbers 5:1‑31)
Thus far we have had the arrangement of the camp, in preparation for the wilderness march. Now God acts to see that the camp is cleansed from evil in order that He, in whom alone was all their strength, might be with them.
They were to put out of the camp “every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead.” Typically the first two speak of the outbreak of the flesh, unjudged sin. It must be put outside, for “holiness becometh Thine house, O Lord, Forever.” Psa. 93:55Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever. (Psalm 93:5).
Defilement with the dead tells of contact with the world. The world has on it the stamp of death, and so in the Word of God to be connected with the world in any way is to be associated with uncleanness. The world is all around us and we have to pass through it; here we go to school and in it we have our daily occupations, but we are called to walk in separation from it It is attractive still to our old nature, but it is the enemy’s country where “the prince of the power of the air,” works “in the children of disobedience.” We “strangers and pilgrims,” are called to “abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul.” “Our conversation (citizenship) is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ.” Phil. 3:2020For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: (Philippians 3:20).
Next, in the case of a man who had committed a trespass, God was not satisfied merely to have the wrong made up, but the man must add “the fifth part.” He must make restitution above and beyond the wrong inflicted. It is not sufficient to merely go to the one wronged and say, I am sorry. God views every trespass as against Himself. If one has wronged another, he must confess it to God and make full restitution, proving that he has thoroughly judged the matter. Thus God Himself is glorified in it.
The Trial of Jealousy
We now come to the ordinance of “the trial of jealousy,” when a husband suspected his wife had been unfaithful to him. It was not left to natural feelings or human judgment, but the suspected wife was to be set by the high priest in the presence of God as the Searcher of hearts, and she was tried by the bitter water.
Her husband brought for her a meal offering of barley flour — not the fine wheat flour usually used in the meal offering, nor was there any oil or frankincense put on it, for the sad circumstances did not admit of these. Afterward the priest took the meal offering from her hand and waved it before the Lord, and a memorial of it was offered on the altar. By this both husband and wife signified that they had committed the matter to God. The priest then took a vessel containing holy water mixed with dust from the tabernacle floor. The water speaks of the searching power of the Word of God mingled with the dust of death.
The priest read to her the curses that would come upon her if she were guilty. If she was pleased to stand the trial after all the warning, she said, “Amen, amen"; then the priest wrote the curses in a book, blotted them with the bitter water and gave the rest to her to drink. The trial Was then made.
If she had been unfaithful, decay would set in and she would be made a curse among her people. However, if her husband’s suspicions proved groundless, and she had not been unfaithful, none of these things would happen to her. She would be declared innocent and set free, happiness would be restored in the family, and she would enjoy the Lord’s blessing in having children.
Here we have a type of Israel first, unfaithful to Jehovah, her true Husband. But she will be acquitted and set free in the coming day, the result of His faithful and unchanging love who bore all her sin and curse upon the cross, so that He can say, “their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
ML-04/15/1973