Numbers 5:3

3 you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp; they must not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.

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 spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Command the Israelites to put out of the camp everyone who is leprous, or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with a corpse;

3 you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp; they must not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.

4 The Israelites did so, putting them outside the camp; as the Lord had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.

5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: