Numbers 5:1-31 (NLT)
1 The LORD gave these instructions to Moses:
2 “Command the people of Israel to remove from the camp anyone who has a skin disease or a discharge, or who has become ceremonially unclean by touching a dead person.
3 This command applies to men and women alike. Remove them so they will not defile the camp in which I live among them.”
4 So the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses and removed such people from the camp.
5 Then the LORD said to Moses,
6 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel: If any of the people—men or women—betray the LORD by doing wrong to another person, they are guilty.
7 They must confess their sin and make full restitution for what they have done, adding an additional 20 percent and returning it to the person who was wronged.
8 But if the person who was wronged is dead, and there are no near relatives to whom restitution can be made, the payment belongs to the LORD and must be given to the priest. Those who are guilty must also bring a ram as a sacrifice, and they will be purified and made right with the LORD.
9 All the sacred offerings that the Israelites bring to a priest will belong to him.
10 Each priest may keep all the sacred donations that he receives.”
11 And the LORD said to Moses,
12 “Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. “Suppose a man’s wife goes astray, and she is unfaithful to her husband
13 and has sex with another man, but neither her husband nor anyone else knows about it. She has defiled herself, even though there was no witness and she was not caught in the act.
14 If her husband becomes jealous and is suspicious of his wife and needs to know whether or not she has defiled herself,
15 the husband must bring his wife to the priest. He must also bring an offering of two quarts of barley flour to be presented on her behalf. Do not mix it with olive oil or frankincense, for it is a jealousy offering—an offering to prove whether or not she is guilty.
16 “The priest will then present her to stand trial before the LORD.
17 He must take some holy water in a clay jar and pour into it dust he has taken from the Tabernacle floor.
18 When the priest has presented the woman before the LORD, he must unbind her hair and place in her hands the offering of proof—the jealousy offering to determine whether her husband’s suspicions are justified. The priest will stand before her, holding the jar of bitter water that brings a curse to those who are guilty.
19 The priest will then put the woman under oath and say to her, ‘If no other man has had sex with you, and you have not gone astray and defiled yourself while under your husband’s authority, may you be immune from the effects of this bitter water that brings on the curse.
20 But if you have gone astray by being unfaithful to your husband, and have defiled yourself by having sex with another man—’
21 “At this point the priest must put the woman under oath by saying, ‘May the people know that the LORD’s curse is upon you when he makes you infertile, causing your womb to shrivel and your abdomen to swell.
22 Now may this water that brings the curse enter your body and cause your abdomen to swell and your womb to shrivel.’ And the woman will be required to say, ‘Yes, let it be so.’
23 And the priest will write these curses on a piece of leather and wash them off into the bitter water.
24 He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings on the curse. When the water enters her body, it will cause bitter suffering if she is guilty.
25 “The priest will take the jealousy offering from the woman’s hand, lift it up before the LORD, and carry it to the altar.
26 He will take a handful of the flour as a token portion and burn it on the altar, and he will require the woman to drink the water.
27 If she has defiled herself by being unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings on the curse will cause bitter suffering. Her abdomen will swell and her womb will shrink, and her name will become a curse among her people.
28 But if she has not defiled herself and is pure, then she will be unharmed and will still be able to have children.
29 “This is the ritual law for dealing with suspicion. If a woman goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority,
30 or if a man becomes jealous and is suspicious that his wife has been unfaithful, the husband must present his wife before the LORD, and the priest will apply this entire ritual law to her.
31 The husband will be innocent of any guilt in this matter, but his wife will be held accountable for her sin.”
The purity required for separation from the world and qualification for God’s provision and protection required enforcement that deferred to the judgment of God. Anything that could defile the camp had to be identified and removed so that it wouldn’t spread and cause further corruption.
Skin disease or touching of the dead required separation from the camp; wronging of someone required restitution even if they were dead; and suspected unfaithfulness required a ritual for proof. As the survival and success of the nation was dependent on purity, the needs of the corporate body took precedence over the individuals.
While those who experienced these corrective measures were suffering from the effects of impurity, there was yet a provision and grace from God available to them in the trusting in Him and His mercy. This would be demonstrated dramatically in Jesus continual forgiveness of those who were unclean and guilty of those very things that should have caused Him to stay far away from them. Instead of moving away from them He moved in the direction His Father longed for with each individual – towards them to touch with reconciliation healing power.
While religion, ideology, and society continually resort to condemnation and segregation to resolve perceived unacceptable impurity, there is a movement from the heart of the Father in Christ that will be displayed through His true body that forgives and restores with a measure so much more effective than the old way. While justice may still require punishment, there is for even the most egregious offenders and infectors an embrace of love from the Father that will care for them as His own. This is what Jesus identified with from Isaiah 61 at the start of His ministry. His anointing was for this very purpose to restore those devastated from the curse of sin and transgression to a place of unity with the Most Holy One.
How great is the Father’s Love.