Tyndale Open Study NotesNumbers 5

These legal matters were meant to protect the purity of the Israelites, their priests, and the tabernacle. Purity here refers to being clean and set apart for worship.

These rules helped the people remember who they were. Israel was a theocracy (a nation ruled directly by God). God was their true king.

Moses served as God’s main spokesman. Through him, God gave laws and instructions to the people.

These laws speak about cleanliness, repayment, and staying faithful in marriage.

• Modern Western people may find it difficult to understand the Old Testament laws of purity. Today, things like skin diseases, bodily discharges, or contact with a dead body are viewed mainly as health concerns. But in the Old Testament, the main concern was protecting God’s holiness from ceremonial uncleanness (see Leviticus 11–15).

  The community had to keep the camp holy. Nothing unclean could touch what belonged to the Lord (Numbers 5:2–3). They had to choose between having God in the camp or allowing a ceremonially polluted person stay. Both could not remain (5:3).

• The importance of purity continues from Leviticus and Numbers to the book of Revelation. Nothing ceremonially unclean will enter the New Jerusalem where God lives (see study note on Revelation 21:27). In the New Testament, impurity most often refers to what is morally impure (Acts 10:28; Ephesians 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:3; 4:7).

• skin disease: The Hebrew word here describes various, contagious skin diseases (compare Leviticus 13–14).

• bodily discharge: This refers to fluids associated with sexual organs (Leviticus 15; compare Luke 8:43–48).

• a dead person: See Numbers 6:6–11; 19:11.

The laws about confession and restitution show the strong Hebrew concern for moral behavior (Leviticus 6:1–7).

Confession means admitting one’s sin before God. Restitution means making things right by repaying what was taken or damaged. A person who wronged another had to return what was stolen and often add more as a penalty.

Harming another person is also betraying the Lord (literally to act unfaithful in unfaithfulness; compare Leviticus 5:8). Being right with God leads to being right with others. If we treat others wrongly, it shows our relationship with the Lord is not right.

This restitution and the guilt offering for the sin were intended to teach personal responsibility to live holy with God (see Leviticus 6–7).

• Since sin is ultimately against God, the one doing wrong must make restitution to the LORD (Leviticus 5:6; Psalm 51:4). God allowed the human victims of the sin to receive this payment. If no victims were alive, the priest would receive the payment on behalf of the LORD. Those doing wrong must also offer a valuable sacrifice to restore their ceremonial purity and their relationship with God (Numbers 5:1–4).

• the atonement is made for him: See study note on Leviticus 1:4.

Priests partially supported their families by receiving a share of the sacrifices. Sometimes, they could sell extra sacrifices to fund the priesthood, maintain the sanctuary, and help with other religious needs (see 1 Corinthians 8:4–13).

This detailed test for adultery, a "trial by ordeal," is the only one in the Old Testament. Yet, trial by ordeal was common in the ancient Near East. God had a special interest in protecting marriage. It was the foundation of Hebrew society.

The ordeal was intended to promote marital faithfulness. We do not know how often such ordeals actually happened. This procedure relied on God to intervene so that justice occurred when evidence was lacking (see 1 Corinthians 5:5).

The husband presented his case to the priest, and the “law of jealousy” (5:29) transferred the husband's jealousy and suspicion to a higher court of appeal.

The holy water and the dust were sacred because of their association with the sanctuary.

making your thigh shrivel and your belly swell: Thigh is a polite way to speak about the reproductive organs (compare Genesis 24:2; 47:29). Something would stop her ability to have children. The punishment matched the crime, as sexual immorality led to infertility.

The image of drinking curses appears again in Ezekiel 2:8–3:3 and Revelation 10:8–11.

The law describes a trial by ordeal (a test in which God was asked to show guilt or innocence). In this case, a husband could bring his wife to the priest if he suspected adultery.

The summary of the law makes one point clear. If the husband raised questions about his wife’s guilt or innocence, he was not considered guilty simply for asking.

Some readers may notice what seems like a double standard. Ancient laws often focused on the woman’s failure in cases of adultery. This pattern was common in the ancient world.

However, Israel’s legal system did not excuse the man involved. The law required punishment for both parties in an affair (as in Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:21–22).