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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: Numbers 5

Chapter 5

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:

put out of the camp

The camp of Israel being now formed, with the sanctuary of God in the centre, orders were given that the lepers and unclean persons should be excluded from the camp, according to the laws given at different times on these subjects. See the Marginal References.) This expulsion was founded, 1. On a purely physical reason; for the diseases were contagious, and therefore there was a necessity of putting those afflicted with them apart, that the infection might not be communicated. 2. There was also a spiritual reason: the camp was the habitation of God; and therefore, in honour of Him who had thus condescended to dwell with them, nothing impure should be permitted to remain. 3. Further, there was a typical reason; for the camp was the emblem of the church, where nothing that is defiled should enter, and in which nothing that is unholy should be tolerated.

12:14 Leviticus 13:46 Deuteronomy 24:8,9 2 Kings 7:3

and every

Leviticus 15:2-27

and whosoever

9:6-10 19:11-16 31:19 Leviticus 21:1

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.

without

1 Kings 7:3 1 Corinthians 5:7-13 2 Corinthians 6:17 2 Thessalonians 3:6 Titus 3:10 Hebrews 12:15,16 2 John 1:10,11 Revelation 21:27

defile not

19:22 Haggai 2:13,14

in the midst

Leviticus 26:11,12 Deuteronomy 23:14 Psalms 68:18 Isaiah 12:6 2 Corinthians 6:16 Revelation 21:3

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;

When

Leviticus 5:1-4,17 6:2,3

and that person

This expression does not merely refer to the actual criminality of the person, but to his consciousness of guilt respecting it: for this case must be distinguished from that of a person detected in dishonesty, which he attempted to conceal.

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.

confess

Leviticus 5:5 26:40 Joshua 7:19 Job 33:27,28 Psalms 32:5 Proverbs 28:13 1 John 1:8-10

and he shall

Not only confession, but restitution, in every possible case, is necessary in order to obtain forgiveness.

with the principal

Leviticus 5:15 6:4-7 7:7 Luke 19:8

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.

have no

Leviticus 25:25,26

beside the ram

Leviticus 6:6,7 7:7

And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring unto the priest, shall be his.

offering

or, heave offering.

18:8,9,19 Exodus 29:28 Leviticus 6:17,18,26 7:6-14 10:13 22:2,3 Deuteronomy 18:3,4 Ezekiel 44:29,30 Malachi 3:8-10 1 Corinthians 9:7-13

Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

19,20 Proverbs 2:16,17

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;

Leviticus 18:20 20:10 Proverbs 7:18,19 30:20

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:

30 Proverbs 6:34 Song of Solomon 8:6 Zephaniah 3:8 1 Corinthians 10:22

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.

her offering for her

This coarse offering, without oil or frankincense, implied the baseness of the crime of which the woman was suspected, and the mournful state of her family. It was not an atoning sacrifice, but an oblation for a memorial, as solemnly referring the decision to God, and calling upon him either to acquit or punish.

Leviticus 5:11 Hosea 3:2

bringing

1 Kings 17:18 Ezekiel 29:16 Hebrews 10:3

And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD:

bring her near

or, rather, "bring it near;" i.e., her offering. set her. Rather, "set it," i.e., the offering; for the woman is afterwards ordered to be set before the Lord. (ver. 18.)

Leviticus 1:3 Jeremiah 17:10 Hebrews 13:4 Revelation 2:22,23

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:

holy water

That is, water from the laver; called holy, because separated from common to sacred uses. This is the most ancient account of the trial by ordeal, which obtained so generally among various nations; and it was calculated to fortify the minds of the Israelitish women in the hour of temptation, and to render them watchful against all occasions of exciting suspicion in the breasts of their husbands.

19:2-9 Exodus 30:18

of the dust

Job 2:12 Jeremiah 17:13 Lamentations 3:29 John 8:6,8

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:

the priest

Hebrews 13:4 Revelation 2:19-23

uncover

Leviticus 13:45 1 Corinthians 11:15 Hebrews 4:12,13

and put

15,25,26

the bitter water

So called from the bitter effects which it had upon the guilty.

17,22,24 Deuteronomy 29:18 1 Samuel 15:32 Proverbs 5:4 Ecclesiastes 7:26 Isaiah 38:17 Jeremiah 2:19 Revelation 10:9,10

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:

charge her

Matthew 26:63

with another

or, being in the power of they husband. Heb. under thy husband.

Romans 7:2 *Gr:

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;

an oath

Joshua 6:26 1 Samuel 14:24 Nehemiah 10:29 Matthew 26:74

The Lord make

Isaiah 65:15 Jeremiah 29:22

rot

Heb. fall.

2 Chronicles 21:15 Proverbs 10:7

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.

go into

27 Psalms 109:18 Proverbs 1:31 Ezekiel 3:3

the woman

Deuteronomy 27:15-26 Job 31:21,22,39,40 Psalms 7:4,5

Amen

Psalms 41:13 72:19 89:52 John 3:3,11 5:24,25 6:53 *Gr:

And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

write these

Exodus 17:14 Deuteronomy 31:19 2 Chronicles 34:24 Job 31:35 Jeremiah 51:60-64 1 Corinthians 16:21,22 Revelation 20:12

blot

Psalms 51:1,9 Isaiah 43:25 44:22 Acts 3:19

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.

Zechariah 5:3,4 Malachi 3:5

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:

priest

15,18

wave

Exodus 29:24 Leviticus 8:27

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.

Leviticus 2:2,9 5:12 6:15

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.

if she be defiled

20 Proverbs 5:4-11 Ecclesiastes 7:26 Romans 6:21 2 Corinthians 2:16 Hebrews 10:26-30 2 Peter 2:10

the woman

Deuteronomy 28:37 Psalms 83:9-11 Isaiah 65:15 Jeremiah 24:9 29:18,22 42:18 Zechariah 8:13

And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

And if

19 Micah 7:7-10 2 Corinthians 4:17 1 Peter 1:7

and shall

Psalms 113:9

This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

the law

Leviticus 7:11 11:46 13:59 14:54-57 15:32,33

when a wife goeth

12,15,19 Isaiah 5:7,8

Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

be guiltless

Psalms 37:6

bear

9:13 Leviticus 20:10,17-20 Ezekiel 18:4 Romans 2:8,9