Numbers 5
McGeeCHAPTER 5THEME: Defilement by disease and death; restitution; the jealousy offeringYou may have thought that Numbers is not a very interesting book, but I hope that by now you have changed your mind. There is interesting material in it and a pertinent message for us in these days. We have seen the orderly arrangement of the camp which was a preparation for the wilderness march. There had to be this preparation. The Christian today needs to recognize that he is a pilgrim going through the wilderness of this world. Everything and everyone must be in his place for the walk, the work, the war, and the worship of the wilderness. We come now to instructions concerning cleansing the camp, which includes chapters 5 through 8. As we come to this section on the cleansing of the camp, we need to recognize that the reason for cleansing is that they (and we) are serving a holy God.
Numbers 5:1
DEFILEMENT BY DISEASE AND DEATHThey were to put the leper out of the camp. That may seem cruel to us, but there was a very definite reason for it. There was the danger of contamination and transmission of disease. And we read that the camp was not to be defiled because God dwelt in the midst of the camp. God commanded that certain ones were to be put out of the camp. This was not done by those who thought they were superior or wanted to assert their spiritual prerogatives. It was by God’s command. Who were to be excluded from the camp? First of all, the leper. We saw in the Book of Leviticus that leprosy was a type of sin. Any outburst from within, an issue in the body, represents the flesh, the unregenerate nature of man. Sins of the flesh must be dealt with. We need to recognize that if we are going to walk with God, if we are going to have fellowship with Him, there must be a cleansing of our lives. Recently I heard of a preacher who died as an alcoholic, yet people talked about what a blessing he was. I discount that, because God is not a fool. He does not bless nor will He walk with us when we are living in conscious sin. “For our God is a consuming fire” (Heb_12:29). “God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him” (Psa_89:7). Today a great deal of the problems and difficulties and sickness and heartache is caused by Christian people who will not deal with the sin in their lives. In our churches today, we shut our eyes to sin in the lives of the people. In Israel there were certain ones who had to be put out of the camp! When we get to the Book of Joshua, we will see that Israel could not get a victory at Ai because Achan had sinned and had covered it up. It had to be brought to light and dealt with before Israel could have a victory. I believe that there could be revival today if more preachers, church officers, Sunday school teachers, choir directors, and singers would deal with the sins in their lives. Sins of the flesh are like a leprosy. God will not bless until that sin is dealt with.
Numbers 5:5
RESTITUTIONThis is what Zacchaeus was offering to do. “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold” (Luk_19:8). He was actually going farther than the Mosaic Law required him to go. We see here that a restitution was to be made. Repentance, therefore, is more than simply saying, “I’m sorry.” A relationship between God and the individual cannot be made sweet until the relationship is made right between the individuals. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death” (2Co_7:10). Many people today think that repentance means shedding a few tears and then going merrily on their way. It is much more than that. It is making things right by making restitution to the individual who has been injured. We are to confess our sins to God, that is true.
But we must remember that our Lord also said this: “Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift” (Mat_5:23-24). The world has the idea one can shed a few tears and eat humble pie for a while and then everything is right again. That is what is called the “sorrow of the world” in Corinthians, and that kind of repentance is meaningless. My Dad used to tell about a little boat on the Mississippi River. It had a little bitty boiler and a great big whistle. When that boat was going upstream and blew its whistle, it would drift back. It couldn’t go upstream and blow its whistle at the same time! There are a lot of people like that today. Their repentance is like the blowing of the whistle. They shed tears in profusion, but there is no turning from sin, no turning to God, no restitution to the one they have injured. For this reason there is no progress in their Christian lives.
Numbers 5:11
THE JEALOUSY OFFERINGThe verses following tell us that the woman was to drink the bitter water and if it caused her belly to swell and her thigh to rot, she was to be a curse among her people. If she was not defiled, but was clean, then she should be free. This test would have a tremendous psychological effect upon a person, especially if she were guilty. Why isn’t the man subjected to the same test? The Bible does not teach a double standard. In this case, the husband was suspicious of the wife. Could a husband be guilty? Of course. We saw in Leviticus, and will see again in Deuteronomy, that if a man or woman were taken in adultery, both of them were to be stoned to death. There is no double standard in the Bible. Then why is only the woman to be tested? Because this is a picture of Christ and the church. There can be no suspicion of Christ, but there is suspicion of the church, I can assure you. I know the church rather well, and, believe me, it is under suspicion! But this is a jealousy offering. Can God be jealous? Yes, He says that He is a jealous God. Many times He says, “I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.” It is not the low human kind of jealousy like the jealousy of a person who is goaded by an Iago, but the jealousy of love. When I hear a wife say, “My husband is not jealous of me,” I want to say to her, “Lady, don’t mention it. If your husband is not jealous of you, it is because he doesn’t love you. So I don’t think I would mention it, if I were you.” If a man really loves a woman, he is jealous of her, and the same thing would be true of a woman who loves a man. This is the way God is jealous. He loves us, and He wants our love in return. He is jealous of us! He doesn’t want us to give our time and our affection to the things of this world. Now, in this test of jealousy, if the wife was shown to be innocent, she was exonerated. Actually, this law protected her from a jealous husband. This worked in her behalf in a very wonderful way. Certainly this reveals again that the Word of God is very clear on this matter of fidelity to the marriage vow. Today we are seeing a great letdown of that, and it is becoming the accepted thing that the marriage vow is not to be taken seriously. God will hold you to itI can assure you of that. A great many of the problems of this world today begin in the home. They are being made by those who are treating lightly the marriage vow. God cannot, nor will He bless a nation where this situation prevails.
Numbers 5:18
The verses following tell us that the woman was to drink the bitter water and if it caused her belly to swell and her thigh to rot, she was to be a curse among her people. If she was not defiled, but was clean, then she should be free. This test would have a tremendous psychological effect upon a person, especially if she were guilty. Why isn’t the man subjected to the same test? The Bible does not teach a double standard. In this case, the husband was suspicious of the wife. Could a husband be guilty? Of course. We saw in Leviticus, and will see again in Deuteronomy, that if a man or woman were taken in adultery, both of them were to be stoned to death. There is no double standard in the Bible. Then why is only the woman to be tested? Because this is a picture of Christ and the church. There can be no suspicion of Christ, but there is suspicion of the church, I can assure you. I know the church rather well, and, believe me, it is under suspicion! But this is a jealousy offering. Can God be jealous? Yes, He says that He is a jealous God. Many times He says, “I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.” It is not the low human kind of jealousy like the jealousy of a person who is goaded by an Iago, but the jealousy of love. When I hear a wife say, “My husband is not jealous of me,” I want to say to her, “Lady, don’t mention it. If your husband is not jealous of you, it is because he doesn’t love you. So I don’t think I would mention it, if I were you.” If a man really loves a woman, he is jealous of her, and the same thing would be true of a woman who loves a man. This is the way God is jealous. He loves us, and He wants our love in return. He is jealous of us! He doesn’t want us to give our time and our affection to the things of this world. Now, in this test of jealousy, if the wife was shown to be innocent, she was exonerated. Actually, this law protected her from a jealous husband. This worked in her behalf in a very wonderful way. Certainly this reveals again that the Word of God is very clear on this matter of fidelity to the marriage vow. Today we are seeing a great letdown of that, and it is becoming the accepted thing that the marriage vow is not to be taken seriously. God will hold you to itI can assure you of that. A great many of the problems of this world today begin in the home. They are being made by those who are treating lightly the marriage vow. God cannot, nor will He bless a nation where this situation prevails.