Protecting the camp and Marriage

Numbers Chapter 5

The Lord lumped instructions for two things in this chapter: keeping the camp free from disease and marital faithfulness.

Moses was commanded by God to remove anybody from the camp who had a contagious skin disease or discharge or who had been defiled by touching a dead person. This applied to men as well as women.

Then the Lord gave the instructions to Moses, that if anyone of the people betray the Lord by doing wrong to another person, they are guilty and must confess their sin and make restitution for what they have done and add a penalty of 20 percent and return it to the person who was wronged. If the person wronged is now dead and has no relatives, then restitution must be given to the Lord through a priest along with a ram for atonement. All the sacred gifts brought to a priest will belong to him and each priest may keep the sacred donations that he receives.

The Lord told Moses to relate to the people that if a man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to her husband by sleeping with another man, but she was not caught in the act, her suspicious husband must bring her to the priest with an offering of two quarts of barley flour presented on her behalf- an offering of inquiry to find out if she is guilty.

The priest will present the woman to the Lord, take holy water in a clay jar and mix it with the dust from the Tabernacle floor. Then he presents her to the Lord and unbinds her hair and places the offering of inquiry -the jealousy offering- in her hands to determine whether or not her husband's suspicions are justified. The priest will hold the jar of bitter water before her, the water that brings a curse to those who are guilty. He will put the woman under oath and tell her that if no other man slept with her, she would not be defiled and may be immune to the effects of the bitter water. But if she has been unfaithful, the water will bring the curse upon her body and make her infertile. The woman will be required to say, "Yes, let it be so." Then the priest will write the curses on a piece of leather and wash them off into the bitter water and make the woman drink the water.

Then the priest will take the jealous offering from the woman's hand, lift it up to the Lord and carry it to the altar. He will take a handful as a token portion and burn it on the altar. If she has defiled herself by being unfaithful, the water will cause bitter suffering. If she is innocent, she will be unharmed and remain fertile.

This is the ritual for dealing with jealousy.

BIBLE NOTES show God included restitution, which was unique, and the guilty party must restore loss to the victim and pay interest.
The test for adultery served to remove a jealous husband's suspicions. Trust between the couple had to be completely eroded for a man to bring his wife to the priest for this test.

How does this chapter relate to today? In our society today, we wrong people and only apologize. But we should look for ways to set the matter straight and leave the innocent party better off than when we harmed him or her. We should seek restoration instead of seeking revenge.

The test for adultery is a far cray from ministers of today who help restore marriages by counseling. Counseling which works, often helps to restore a marriage. The thing to remember here is that jealousy and suspicion must be removed or the marriage will continue to erode. God knew that fact, that is why he had the problem be taken before the priest who gave the ritual. The ritual was powerful stuff. Child bearing was at stake.I'm sure the women involved were shaking in their boots. Very effective way to protect the sanctity of marriage.

Yours in Christ,
Mary