Numbers 5:3

3 Send all of these unclean men and women outside the camp. They must not make this camp where I live among you unclean."

Numbers 5:3 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:3

Both male and female shall ye put out
Whether leprous, or profluvious, or defiled by touching a dead carcass: by this law, Miriam, when leprous, was put out of the camp, ( Numbers 12:14 Numbers 12:15 ) ;

without the camp shall ye put them;
which is repeated that it might be taken notice of, and punctually observed:

that they defile not their camps;
of which there were four, the camps of Judah, Reuben, Ephraim, and Dan:

in the midst whereof I dwell;
for the tabernacle, which was the dwelling place of the Lord, was in the midst of the camps of Israel; they were pitched on the four quarters of it; and this is a reason why impure persons were not suffered to be in the camp of Israel, because of the presence of God in the tabernacle so near them, to whom all, impurity is loathsome, and not to be permitted in his sight; and though this was ceremonial, it was typical of the uncleanness of sin, which is abominable to him, and renders persons unfit for communion with him, and with his people.

Numbers 5:3 In-Context

1 The LORD said to Moses,
2 "Command the Israelites to send outside the camp anyone who has a serious skin disease or a discharge or anyone who is unclean from touching a dead body.
3 Send all of these unclean men and women outside the camp. They must not make this camp where I live among you unclean."
4 So the Israelites did as the LORD had told Moses. They sent these unclean people outside the camp.
5 The LORD said to Moses,
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