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Numbers 5

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Maintaining Camp Holiness 1–4

1
And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
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Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is unclean by the dead: ​
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both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camp, in the midst whereof I dwell. ​
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And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp; as Jehovah spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.

Restitution for Trespass 5–10

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And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
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Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Jehovah, and that soul shall be guilty; ​
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then he shall confess his sin which he hath done: and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him in respect of whom he hath been guilty. ​
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But if the man have no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made unto Jehovah shall be the priest’s; besides the ram of the atonement, whereby atonement shall be made for him. ​
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And every heave-offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present unto the priest, shall be his.
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And every man’s hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.

The Law of the Jealousy Offering 11–31

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And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,
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Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man’s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, ​
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and 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, and she be not taken in the act;
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and 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: ​
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then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and shall bring her oblation 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 a meal-offering of jealousy, a meal-offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. ​
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And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before Jehovah:
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and the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water. ​
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And the priest shall set the woman before Jehovah, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal-offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal-offering of jealousy: and the priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that causeth the curse. ​
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And the priest shall cause her to swear, and shall say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou have not gone aside to uncleanness, being under thy husband, be thou free from this water of bitterness that causeth the curse.
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But if thou have gone aside, being under thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee besides thy husband:
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then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, Jehovah make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when Jehovah doth make thy thigh to fall away, and thy body to swell; ​
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and this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, and make thy body to swell, and thy thigh to fall away. And the woman shall say, Amen, Amen.
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And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness: ​
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and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causeth the curse; and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.
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And the priest shall take the meal-offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal-offering before Jehovah, and bring it unto the altar:
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and the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
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And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. ​
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And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. ​
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This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;
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or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then shall he set the woman before Jehovah, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
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And the man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Numbers 5

Verse 2

every leper… defiled by the dead — Three causes of uncleanness are named: leprosy (tsara'), a flowing issue (zub, Lev 15:2) and contact with a dead person (nephesh; compare Num 9:6). The leper already had to 'dwell alone; without the camp shall his habitation be' (Lev 13:46); the command applies the same removal to all three.

Verse 3

in the midst whereof I dwell — The reason given is the LORD's own presence in the camp, the ground also of Deut 23:14: 'the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp… therefore shall thy camp be holy.' Male and female alike are put out. Paul draws on the same principle for the church: 'put away from among yourselves that wicked person' (1 Cor 5:13).

Verse 6

a trespass against the LORD — Ma'al is breach of faith. A wrong done to a neighbour is counted as unfaithfulness to God, as in Lev 6:2: 'commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour.' The same word names the wife's offence in vv.12 and 27, 'a trespass against him'.

Verse 7

add unto it the fifth part — Confession (yadah, the verb of Lev 5:5) comes first; then restitution of the principal plus a fifth, given to the one wronged. Lev 6:5 sets the same measure for goods falsely sworn about, paid 'in the day of his trespass offering'. Repayment accompanies the offering and does not replace it.

Verse 8

no kinsman — Go'el is the near relative who redeems, as in Lev 25:25. If none survives to receive the payment, it is made 'unto the LORD, even to the priest', in addition to 'the ram of the atonement'. A wrong is not left unrepaid because the injured party is gone.

Verse 12

go aside — Satah, to turn from the right way. It is used four times in this chapter of the wife (vv.12, 19, 20, 29) and elsewhere only in Prov 4:15 and 7:25 ('go not astray in her paths'). The offence is again ma'al, 'a trespass against him', as in v.6; Prov 2:17 calls such a wife one who 'forgetteth the covenant of her God'.

Verse 14

the spirit of jealousy — Qin'ah is jealousy, and 'spirit' (ruach) makes it a rising impulse in the husband; 'jealousy is the rage of a man' (Prov 6:34). The verse states both cases, she defiled or not defiled, because the rite that follows serves each: the curse for the guilty (v.27), freedom for the clean (v.28).

Verse 15

barley meal — An ordinary meal offering was 'fine flour', with oil and frankincense (Lev 2:1). This has neither, like the flour sin offering brought in place of birds (Lev 5:11); barley is named as an offering nowhere else in the Law. It is 'an offering of memorial' (zikkaron), 'bringing iniquity to remembrance' (zakar), as in 1 Kgs 17:18.

Verse 17

the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle — The water is 'holy' and the vessel is clay (cheres); the dust is taken from the tabernacle's own floor. What the woman drinks has thus been in the place of the LORD's dwelling (v.3), where the oath is sworn 'before the LORD' (v.18).

Verse 18

uncover the woman's head — The verb is para, to let go bare; it is used also of the leper's 'head bare' (Lev 13:45) and of the uncovered heads forbidden to Aaron's sons in mourning (Lev 10:6). She stands 'before the LORD', with the offering of memorial in her hands and the priest holding 'the bitter water that causeth the curse'.

Verse 21

a curse and an oath — Alah, curse, and shebu'ah, oath: if guilty, her name becomes a form of swearing by which others pray evil, as with Zedekiah and Ahab, 'The LORD make thee like Zedekiah and like Ahab' (Jer 29:22). 'Rot' renders naphal, the common verb 'to fall'; the thigh is made to fall, and the belly to swell.

Verse 23

blot them out — The priest writes the curses 'in a book' (sepher) and wipes the writing off into the water (machah), which she then drinks (v.24). The same verb is used of the LORD forgiving, 'I… am he that blotteth out thy transgressions' (Isa 43:25), and of Moses' prayer, 'blot me… out of thy book' (Ex 32:32).

Verse 27

shall be a curse among her people — The result matches the oath of vv.21–24: the water 'become bitter' (v.24), the belly swells, the thigh rots, and she becomes 'a curse'. The sentence is the LORD's own: in v.21 'the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot'.

Verse 28

she shall be free, and shall conceive seed — Naqah, to be clear or unpunished: the verb of v.19, 'be thou free from this bitter water', and of v.31, where the man is 'guiltless from iniquity' and the woman, if guilty, 'shall bear her iniquity'. The clean wife is not harmed, and the promise of seed is given to her.