Numbers Chapter 5

At a Glance

  • Numbers 5 covers two major matters: ritual cleansing and social ethics within the camp.
  • Historical & Literary Context.
  • Numbers 5 sits in the wilderness code that addresses purity and communal regulation.
  • - Purity and holiness as communal well-being: The camp’s purity safeguards God’s presence among Israel.
  • - Sin, confession, and restitution: Personal wrongdoing has communal implications; confession and compensation restore relationships.

Chapter Overview

Numbers 5 covers two major matters: ritual cleansing and social ethics within the camp. The first section deals with purity: lepers, those with bodily issues, and anyone defiled by contact with the dead must be removed from the camp so that the dwelling place of the Lord remains pure. The second part is a procedure for handling sin and guilt within households. If a man sins against the Lord, he is to confess, make restitution with an added 20 percent, and bring offerings for atonement if needed. If a man’s wife is suspected of infidelity, a special ritual of jealousy and a ritual offering follows to determine whether defilement has occurred, especially when there are no witnesses. The chapter emphasizes accountability, communal holiness, and the serious consequences of personal sin for corporate life. It also reveals a deep concern for marriage fidelity, family honor, and the protection of households within the covenant community. The procedures—confession, restitution, offerings, jealousy tests—are not only about guilt but about restoration and the maintenance of moral boundaries.

Historical & Literary Context

Numbers 5 sits in the wilderness code that addresses purity and communal regulation. The text belongs to the legal and ritual laws that package the mosaic covenant for life in the desert and beyond. The genre is legal-ritual instruction, framed within Moses’ leadership and God’s direct speech. As part of Numbers, it sits between census and movement instructions (Chapter 4) and the Nazarite vows (Chapter 6), illustrating how personal conduct and communal purity shape the community’s holiness. It reflects ancient Near Eastern concerns with guilt, ritual defilement, and social ethics, translating experience into liturgical practice. In the broader book, these laws help sustain the covenant community’s identity, particularly in a nomadic setting where the line between sacred space and ordinary life must be carefully guarded.

Key Themes

- Purity and holiness as communal well-being: The camp’s purity safeguards God’s presence among Israel.

- Sin, confession, and restitution: Personal wrongdoing has communal implications; confession and compensation restore relationships.

- Fidelity and trust in marriage: The jealousy ritual reveals a high regard for marital fidelity and the protection of the family unit.

- Sacred procedure for crisis: The steps—offering, examination, and ritual acts—provide a path from accusation to restoration.

- Divine justice and mercy: The system seeks both accountability and restoration rather than punitive isolation.

Modern Application

- Community health and accountability: The chapter’s insistence on removing impurity parallels modern church and community standards for safeguarding vulnerability and ensuring safety.

- Restoration over punishment: The emphasis on restitution and atonement invites contemporary communities to pursue reconciliation and restoration in cases of harm.

- Marriage and family ethics: The jealous-led ritual prompts reflection on trust, transparency, and safeguarding the sanctity of marriage in contemporary relationships.

- Confession as resilience: The call to confess sin and make restitution can encourage honest confession, restorative justice, and community healing today.

- Boundaries and belonging: Rules about purity remind communities to maintain healthy boundaries that protect the space where God dwells.

Cross-References (3-5 related passages)

- Leviticus 5-7 (sin offerings, guilt offerings, and restitution)

- Leviticus 20:10 (marital fidelity and consequences)

- Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (laws concerning divorce and reconciliation)

- Psalm 51 (confession and repentance)

- James 5:16 (confession and healing within the community)

Recommended Personas

- Moses and Aaron (leadership in implementing purity laws)

- A Priest (insider view on ritual offerings)

- A Husband (reflect on fidelity and jealousy procedures)

- Jesus (new covenant lens on mercy and restoration)

- Paul (churchly application of confession and reconciliation)

Chapter Text

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 offering 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, 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.

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