Albert Barnes Commentary Numbers 5
Albert Barnes Commentary
Numbers 5
Albert Barnes Commentary
Numbers 5
"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 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: 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. 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." — Numbers 5:1-4 (ASV)
The general purpose of the directions given in this and the next chapter is to attest to and vindicate, by modes in harmony with the spirit of the theocratic law, the sanctity of the people of God. Thus, the congregation of Israel was made to typify the Church of God, within which, in its perfection, nothing that causes offense can be allowed to remain (Revelation 21:27).
The general purpose of the directions given in this and the next chapter is to attest to and vindicate, by modes in harmony with the spirit of the theocratic law, the sanctity of the people of God. Thus, the congregation of Israel was made to typify the Church of God, within which, in its perfection, nothing that causes offense can be allowed to remain (Revelation 21:27).
Compare the marginal references. The precepts of Leviticus 13 and Leviticus 15 are now fully carried out for the first time. They could hardly have been so earlier, during the hurry and confusion that must have accompanied the march out of Egypt and the encampments that next followed.
The general purpose of the directions given in this and the next chapter is to attest to and vindicate, by modes in harmony with the spirit of the theocratic law, the sanctity of the people of God. Thus, the congregation of Israel was made to typify the Church of God, within which, in its perfection, nothing that causes offense can be allowed to remain (Revelation 21:27).
The general purpose of the directions given in this and the next chapter is to attest to and vindicate, by modes in harmony with the spirit of the theocratic law, the sanctity of the people of God. Thus, the congregation of Israel was made to typify the Church of God, within which, in its perfection, nothing that causes offense can be allowed to remain (Revelation 21:27).
Compare the marginal references. The precepts of Leviticus 13 and Leviticus 15 are now fully carried out for the first time. They could hardly have been so earlier, during the hurry and confusion that must have accompanied the march out of Egypt and the encampments that next followed.
"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, 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; 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. 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. And every heave-offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present unto the priest, shall be his. And every man`s hallowed things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall be his." — Numbers 5:5-10 (ASV)
The law of restitution: a passage supplementary to Leviticus 5:5 and following, and Leviticus 6:5 and following.
Recompense his trespass (Numbers 5:7) – that is, make restitution to the person whom he has injured.
Whereby an atonement shall be made for him (Numbers 5:8) – literally, “which shall clear him of guilt as to it,” that is, as to the trespass.
And every man’s hallowed things shall be his (Numbers 5:10) – that is, the priest’s. The heave offerings (Numbers 5:9) and dedicatory offerings (for example, first-fruits) were to be the perquisite of the officiating priests.
"And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man`s wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him, 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; 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: 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. And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before Jehovah: 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. 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. 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. 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: 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; 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. And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness: 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. 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: 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. 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. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed. This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled; 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. And the man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity." — Numbers 5:11-31 (ASV)
The trial of jealousy. Since the crime of adultery is especially defiling and destructive of the very foundations of social order, the whole subject is dealt with at a length proportionate to its importance. The process prescribed has recently been strikingly illustrated from an Egyptian “romance,” which refers to the time of Rameses the Great, and may therefore well serve to illustrate the manners and customs of the Mosaic times. This mode of trial, like several other ordinances, was adopted by Moses from existing and probably very ancient and widely spread institutions.
(Numbers 5:15) The offering was to be of the cheapest and coarsest kind, barley (Compare to 2 Kings 7:1, 2 Kings 7:16, 2 Kings 7:18), representing the abused condition of the suspected woman. It was, like the sin-offering (Leviticus 5:11), to be made without oil and frankincense, the symbols of grace and acceptability. The woman herself stood with head uncovered (Numbers 5:18), as a token of her shame.
(Numbers 5:17) The dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle – This was to show that the water was endowed with extraordinary power by Him who dwelt in the tabernacle. Dust is an emblem of a state of condemnation (Genesis 3:14; Micah 7:17).
(Numbers 5:19) Gone aside... – This literally means “gone astray from” your husband by uncleanness .
(Numbers 5:23) Blot them out with the bitter water – This was done in order to transfer the curses to the water. The action was symbolic. Travelers speak of the natives of Africa as still habitually seeking to obtain the full force of a written charm by drinking the water into which they have washed it.
(Numbers 5:24) Shall cause the woman to drink – Thus was symbolized both her full acceptance of the hypothetical curse (Jeremiah 15:16; Revelation 10:9), and its actual operation upon her if she should be guilty .
(Numbers 5:26) The memorial thereof – See the marginal reference. “Memorial” here is not the same as “memorial” in Numbers 5:15.
(Numbers 5:27) Of itself, the drink was not noxious and could only produce the effects described here by a special interposition of God. We do not read of any instance in which this ordeal was resorted to: a fact which may be explained either (with the Jews) as a proof of its efficacy, since the guilty could not be brought to face its terrors at all and avoided them by confession, or more probably by the license of divorce tolerated by the law of Moses.
Since a husband could put away his wife at will, a jealous man would naturally prefer to take this course with a suspected wife rather than call public attention to his own shame by resorting to the trial of jealousy. The trial by red water, which bears a general resemblance to that prescribed here by Moses, is still in use among the tribes of Western Africa.
Jump to: