Numbers 5

1 ADONAI said to Moshe,

2 "Order the people of Isra'el to expel from the camp everyone with tzara'at, everyone with a discharge and whoever is unclean because of touching a corpse.

3 Both male and female you must expel; put them outside the camp; so that they won't defile their camp, where I live among you."

4 The people of Isra'el did this and put them outside the camp - the people of Isra'el did what ADONAI had said to Moshe.

5 ADONAI said to Moshe,

6 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'When a man or woman commits any kind of sin against another person and thus breaks faith with ADONAI, he incurs guilt.

7 He must confess the sin which he has committed; and he must make full restitution for his guilt, add twenty percent and give it to the victim of his sin.

8 But if the person has no relative to whom restitution can be made for the guilt, then what is given in restitution for guilt will belong to ADONAI, that is, to the cohen - in addition to the ram of atonement through which atonement is made for him.

9 "'Every contribution which the people of Isra'el consecrate and present to the cohen will belong to him.

10 Anything an individual consecrates will be his own [to allocate among the cohanim], but what a person gives to the cohen will belong to him.'"

11 ADONAI said to Moshe,

12 "Tell the people of Isra'el, 'If a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him;

13 that is, if another man goes to bed with her without her husband's knowledge, so that she becomes impure secretly, and there is no witness against her, and she was not caught in the act;

14 then, if a spirit of jealousy comes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she has become impure - or, for that matter, if the spirit of jealousy comes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she has not become impure -

15 he is to bring his wife to the cohen, along with the offering for her, two quarts of barley flour on which he has not poured olive oil or put frankincense, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a grain offering for remembering, for recalling guilt to mind.

16 The cohen will bring her forward and place her before ADONAI.

17 The cohen will put holy water in a clay pot, and then the cohen will take some of the dust on the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water.

18 The cohen will place the woman before ADONAI, unbind the woman's hair and put the grain offering for remembering in her hands, the grain offering for jealousy; while the cohen has in his hand the water of embitterment and cursing.

19 The cohen will make her swear by saying to her, "If no man has gone to bed with you, if you have not gone astray to make yourself unclean while under your husband's authority, then be free from this water of embitterment and cursing.

20 But if you have in fact gone astray while under your husband's authority and become unclean, because some man other than your husband has gone to bed with you . . ."

21 then the cohen is to make the woman swear with an oath that includes a curse; the cohen will say to the woman, ". . .may ADONAI make you an object of cursing and condemnation among your people by making your private parts shrivel and your abdomen swell up!

22 May this water that causes the curse go into your inner parts and make your abdomen swell and your private parts shrivel up!"- and the woman is to respond, "Amen! Amen!"

23 The cohen is to write these curses on a scroll, wash them off into the water of embitterment

24 and make the woman drink the water of embitterment and cursing - the water of cursing will enter her and become bitter.

25 Then the cohen is to remove the grain offering for jealousy from the woman's hand, wave the grain offering before ADONAI and bring it to the altar.

26 The cohen is to take a handful of the grain offering as its reminder portion and make it go up in smoke on the altar; afterwards, he is to make the woman drink the water.

27 When he has made her drink the water, then, if she is unclean and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that causes the curse will enter her and become bitter, so that her abdomen swells and her private parts shrivel up; and the woman will become an object of cursing among her people.

28 But if the woman is not unclean but clean, then she will be innocent and will have children.

29 This is the law for jealousy: when either a wife under her husband's authority goes astray and becomes unclean,

30 or the spirit of jealousy comes over a husband and he becomes jealous of his wife, then he is to place the woman before ADONAI, and the cohen is to deal with her in accordance with all of this law.

31 The husband will be clear of guilt, but the wife will bear the consequences of her guilt.'"

Numbers 5 Commentary

Chapter 5

The unclean to be removed out of the camp, Restitution to be made for trespasses. (1-10) The trial of jealousy. (11-31)

Verses 1-10 The camp was to be cleansed. The purity of the church must be kept as carefully as the peace and order of it. Every polluted Israelite must be separated. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. The greater profession of religion any house or family makes, the more they are obliged to put away iniquity far from them. If a man overreach or defraud his brother in any matter, it is a trespass against the Lord, who strictly charges and commands us to do justly. What is to be done when a man's awakened conscience charges him with guilt of this kind, though done long ago? He must confess his sin, confess it to God, confess it to his neighbour, and take shame to himself; though it go against him to own himself in a lie, yet he must do it. Satisfaction must be made for the offence done to God, as well as for the loss sustained by the neighbour; restitution in that case is not enough without faith and repentance. While that which is wrongly gotten is knowingly kept, the guilt remains on the conscience, and is not done away by sacrifice or offering, prayers or tears; for it is the same act of sin persisted in. This is the doctrine of right reason, and of the word of God. It detects hypocrites, and directs the tender conscience to proper conduct, which, springing from faith in Christ, will make way for inward peace.

Verses 11-31 This law would make the women of Israel watch against giving cause for suspicion. On the other hand, it would hinder the cruel treatment such suspicions might occasion. It would also hinder the guilty from escaping, and the innocent from coming under just suspicion. When no proof could be brought, the wife was called on to make this solemn appeal to a heart-searching God. No woman, if she were guilty, could say "Amen" to the adjuration, and drink the water after it, unless she disbelieved the truth of God, or defied his justice. The water is called the bitter water, because it caused the curse. Thus sin is called an evil and a bitter thing. Let all that meddle with forbidden pleasures, know that they will be bitterness in the latter end. From the whole learn, 1. Secret sins are known to God, and sometimes are strangely brought to light in this life; and that there is a day coming when God will, by Christ, judge the secrets of men according to the gospel, ( Romans 2:16 ) . 2 In particular, Whoremongers and adulterers God will surely judge. Though we have not now the waters of jealousy, yet we have God's word, which ought to be as great a terror. Sensual lusts will end in bitterness. 3. God will manifest the innocency of the innocent. The same providence is for good to some, and for hurt to others. And it will answer the purposes which God intends.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO NUMBERS 5

This chapter contains a repetition of some former laws, concerning putting unclean persons out of the camp, Nu 5:1-4; making restitution in case of trespass against another, Nu 5:5-8; and of giving the offering of all holy things and all hallowed things to the priests, Nu 5:9,10; and a new law concerning jealousy, in a man, of his wife, Nu 5:11-14; when she was to be brought to the priest, and various rites and ceremonies to be used, Nu 5:15-23; who was to give her bitter water as a trial of her chastity, which, if guilty, would have a strange effect upon her, and make her accursed, but if not, would not affect her, and she would be free and happy, Nu 5:24-31.