Numbers 5:1-4
The tabernacle was the place where mankind met God and God interfaced with mankind through the priests. The center of the camp, the center of life was the tabernacle. The Levites surrounded the tabernacle with their camp to protect it and isolate it from the common. The children of Israel, those chosen by God through which He would reveal Himself to the world then surrounded the Levites and subsequently the tabernacle. As such, there was an expectation they would maintain ritual purity.
This means people with various conditions common in the world and life were moved outside the camp. These things included skin diseases, bodily discharges and contact with a corpse. The risk of these things within the camp was that of profaning the temple. The impurity invading the holiness of the tabernacle could bring plague, wrath and death. Nadab and Abihu stand as the object lesion of this (Leviticus 10).
Being put outside the camp was to be socially ostracized. You were removed from social interaction, family and community life.
Numbers 5:5-10
There were no jails in the wilderness for the Israelites. While we'd like to think there was no need for jails and that crime wasn't a problem, the fact is there were people there. Where there are people, there is sin, bringing crime and all that goes with it.
This passage deals with the person who used a sacred vow to defraud someone. They were to confess this sin and make restitution plus 20%. If the person to whom restitution was due had passed away, that was to be paid to the priest. The restitution became their possession.
Numbers 5:11-15
We can see from the start that marriage, family and faithfulness were always important to the Lord and remain so today. The function of the community relied faithfulness to the Lord, but also to the commitment of marriage. This is referred to as 'trial by ordeal'. It was common in different forms among other cultures at the time. This was directed by the Lord to provide a means of dealing with a spirit of jealousy. This only applies when there were no witnesses to, nor was she caught in the act, of infidelity. If there were two or more witnesses to adultery the death penalty applied. In this case, God is acting as the witness.
A husband who is overcome with jealously, suspicious that his wife had been unfaithful to him, this would provide a means to deal with it rather than it dragging on and causing damage in the marriage. This is spirit of jealousy is more of an emotional state than anything spiritual. The woman may have already sworn an oath of her innocence. This comes about when there is suspicion, she lied about her oath. This could be that she is found with child and the husband doesn't believe it is his child. However, the application of this is said to be when the matter was concealed. It's hardly concealed if she is pregnant. The issue is a defilement of the womb, the means of continuing the husbands blood line.
The offering he brings appears to be specific only to this circumstance.
Numbers 5:16-22
The woman is set before the Lord. I imagine if she is guilty the idea of being before the Lord would bring conviction and begin to work on her. I wonder how often this was done. I would imagine the guilty women confessed before she ever got to the ordeal. The ingredients to the concoction she would drink were:
- Holy water taken from the laver. This water is ritually pure and used for ritual washing.
- Dust from the floor of the tabernacle. This is holy ground because of its proximity to the ark.
To uncover the woman's head as a posture of mourning. This may have been the posture of humility and brokenness until the Lord's verdict was given. The offering was then put in her hands.
The woman is then put under oath and told of the curse that will befall her if the Lord finds her guilty. She agrees with the conditions the priests informed her of. There was nothing chemically to harm her. However, if the Lord found her guilty, her belly would swell and her thigh would rot. The 'thigh rot' is likely a euphemism for the womb. Spiritually, the holy water and dust of the tabernacle within this woman who defiled her womb would bring this effect. It appears as a mock pregnancy where her belly would swell but she would never deliver.
Numbers 5:23-31
The 'ordeal' was putting someone in the hands of God. In other cultures, there was an assumption of guilt where the person was subjected to death and it was up to their god to save the person. In this case, the woman might be thrown into a raging river of forced to drink poison. She would die unless God intervened. In this case, she is innocent, but this ordeal provides the opportunity for the Lord to find her guilty and impose curses on her.
The curses were written and the words scraped off into the water that she was then directed to drink. The offering is then taken from her and the priest offers the memorial portion. She would then either swell up and her womb cursed or she would be fine and free to go and someday have her husband's children.
The law allows the priest to deal with the accused woman and the spirit of jealousy rather than the husband exposing himself to false accusations of adultery toward his wife and possibly another man.
© 2023 Doug Ford, Calvary Chapel Sweetwater
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