Numbers 5:1-31
1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
2 Command the children of Israel, that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:
3 Both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the LORD spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.
5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
6 Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person be guilty;
7 Then they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it the fifth part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.
8 But if the man have no kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be recompensed unto the LORD, even to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby an atonement shall be made for him.
9 And every offeringa of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.
10 And every man's hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his.
11 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
13 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, neither she be taken with the manner;
14 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:
15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering 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 an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:
17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:
18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:
19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
20 But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:
21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot,b and thy belly to swell;
22 And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.
23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:
24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.
25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:
26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.
27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.
29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
30 Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.
31 Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.
Numbers 5:2. Defiled by the dead. They were unclean seven days. The whole of Shem's race in India, keep this custom to the present day.
Numbers 5:6. Any sin that men commit; through ignorance, or inadvertency. This law is more largely illustrated in the sixth chapter of Leviticus.
Numbers 5:7. They shall confess their sin. This law respects all kinds of fraud in business, and in all the intercourse of life, among the depraved and unregenerate race of men. There can be no peace of conscience without confession and restitution. The law is holy, for God is holy. It is noble and manly in those who have defrauded the king's revenue, to come forward and make restitution. But justly does a heathen complain of the knave that wears a mask:
Spem vultu simulat, premit alto corde dolorem
Nil conscire sibi, nullâ pallescere culpa.
Daring and bold in face, but sad in heart;
He owns no shame, for crimes affect no smart.
Numbers 5:12. If any man's wife go aside, and commit adultery, the law enjoined that she and her seducer should be stoned. When there was no witness, she must drink the bitter waters. All Shem's race in Asia have their ordeals, of red hot iron or of boiling water; and all Ham's race in Africa are compelled to drink the red draught, which kills in the course of twelve hours.
Numbers 5:17. Holy water. That is water from the laver. The dust mixed among it would of course contain a portion of the scattered ashes of the altar, which would give the water a saline or bitter taste. Besides, this water had washed off the curse, written on the table with gall and ink.
Numbers 5:27. Her thigh shall rot. The modesty of the Hebrew language puts one part of the body for another. How remarkable are the judgments of God, that he visits the crimes of impurity with rottenness in the flesh, and particularly in the members here implied.
Numbers 5:31. The man shall be guiltless; which he would not have been, had he suffered his wife to proceed in her course. This woman shall bear heriniquity; shall die of disease; and if not stoned, shall be excommunicated from the synagogue. See Josephus.
REFLECTIONS.
Having considered the law of the leper, and of trespasses in the book of Leviticus, we proceed at once to the miraculous test instituted of God to preserve the Israelites from the most dreadful crime of adultery. And let us well remark, that a spirit of unfounded jealousy on any subject, or against any person, is cautiously to be checked and discouraged. But a quiet and well disposed man, sustaining an imaginary dishonour of this kind, afflicts himself with all the calamities of a real dishonour, and greatly augments his anguish by concealing the wound. His imagination roves, his passions are all successively excited by the objects of fear, hatred and grief. He wears out health by tracing every thought, and marking every incident; the joys of life are all imbittered; sleep departs from his eyes, and melancholy gloom settles on all his soul. Perhaps for a moment he affects to disbelieve, and immediately abandons his hope to indulge in grief. How detestable is the man, how vile is the woman, who can actually bring a deserving character into this suffering situation!
A spirit of jealousy may also be an impression from the Lord. Hence he most graciously favoured his own peculiar people with a miraculous test of a woman's innocence, or of her guilt. This extraordinary institution relieved the husband, by allowing him to open his mind; it also afforded an injured woman the infallible means of attesting her innocence before the Lord and his church. Striking the guilty with swelling, burning, rottenness, and the rapid approaches of death, it produced confession and repentance, that the soul might be saved in the day of the Lord. On the public, the effects would not be less salutary. Who would blindly follow the basest of passions, while the vengeance of the Lord was at the door? A good woman is a crown of glory to her husband, but a wicked woman makes him ashamed, and is like corruption in his bones. However salutary the institution was, when wickedness increased before the Babylonian captivity it fell into total disuse; for the prevalence of vice, and the loss of discipline, are companions in apostasy.
It may here be asked, why this test was not established for men as well as for women? In general it is not well to ask more than is revealed; but in this case reason seems adequate to decide the question on several grounds, for women being the weaker vessel are apt to be more suspicious than men. A woman going astray might bring an alien child to inherit her husband's wealth; but the law was chiefly intended to protect a woman from the cruel treatment of a jealous husband. And a wicked man undetected is but reserved for a heavier scourge.
To the christian church no such tests of guilt or of innocence are given; for we have before us the perfect example of Christ, and the spotless lustre of his doctrine. Consequently, purity is required of all his members. Not only the adulterer, but he who indulges an unchaste desire is, without repentance, excluded from the kingdom of God. And what man is able to prove from the new testament, that repentance will be accepted without confession, and without reparation and its fruits? Let men consider this before they rush into sins so hateful in the sight of God, and opposed to every code of civil law. May all the Israel of God be chaste and holy as the bride of Christ, that he may betroth us in righteousness for ever.