1And the LORDH3068 spakeH1696 unto MosesH4872, sayingH559, 2CommandH6680 the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478, that they put outH7971 of the campH4264 every leperH6879, and every one that hath an issueH2100, and whosoever is defiledH2931 by the deadH5315: 3Both maleH2145 and femaleH5347 shall ye put outH7971, withoutH2351 the campH4264 shall ye putH7971 them; that they defileH2930 not their campsH4264, in the midstH8432 whereofH834 I dwellH7931 . 4And the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478 did soH6213, and put them outH7971 withoutH2351 the campH4264: as the LORDH3068 spakeH1696 unto MosesH4872, so didH6213 the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478. 5And the LORDH3068 spakeH1696 unto MosesH4872, sayingH559, 6SpeakH1696 unto the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478, When a manH376 or womanH802 shall commitH6213 any sinH2403 that menH120 commitH4603, to do a trespassH4604 against the LORDH3068, and that personH5315 be guiltyH816 ; 7Then they shall confessH3034 their sinH2403 which they have doneH6213 : and he shall recompenseH7725 his trespassH817 with the principalH7218 thereof, and addH3254 unto it the fifthH2549 part thereof, and giveH5414 it unto him against whom he hath trespassedH816 . 8But if the manH376 have no kinsmanH1350 to recompenseH7725 the trespassH817 unto, let the trespassH817 be recompensedH7725 unto the LORDH3068, even to the priestH3548; beside the ramH352 of the atonementH3725, whereby an atonement shall be madeH3722 for him. 9And every offeringH8641 of all the holy thingsH6944 of the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478, which they bringH7126 unto the priestH3548, shall be his. 10And every man'sH376 hallowed thingsH6944 shall be his: whatsoever any manH376 givethH5414 the priestH3548, it shall be his. 11And the LORDH3068 spakeH1696 unto MosesH4872, sayingH559, 12SpeakH1696 unto the childrenH1121 of IsraelH3478, and sayH559 unto them, If anyH376 man'sH376 wifeH802 go asideH7847, and commitH4603 a trespassH4604 against him, 13And a manH376 lieH7901 with her carnallyH7902 H2233, and it be hidH5956 from the eyesH5869 of her husbandH376, and be kept closeH5641, and she be defiledH2930, and there be no witnessH5707 against her, neither she be takenH8610 with the manner; 14And the spiritH7307 of jealousyH7068 comeH5674 upon him, and he be jealousH7065 of his wifeH802, and she be defiledH2930 : or if the spiritH7307 of jealousyH7068 comeH5674 upon him, and he be jealousH7065 of his wifeH802, and she be not defiledH2930 : 15Then shall the manH376 bringH935 his wifeH802 unto the priestH3548, and he shall bringH935 her offeringH7133 for her, the tenthH6224 part of an ephahH374 of barleyH8184 mealH7058; he shall pourH3332 no oilH8081 upon it, nor putH5414 frankincenseH3828 thereon; for it is an offeringH4503 of jealousyH7068, an offeringH4503 of memorialH2146, bringingH2142 iniquityH5771 to remembranceH2142 . 16And the priestH3548 shall bring her nearH7126, and setH5975 her beforeH6440 the LORDH3068: 17And the priestH3548 shall takeH3947 holyH6918 waterH4325 in an earthenH2789 vesselH3627; and of the dustH6083 that is in the floorH7172 of the tabernacleH4908 the priestH3548 shall takeH3947, and putH5414 it into the waterH4325: 18And the priestH3548 shall setH5975 the womanH802 beforeH6440 the LORDH3068, and uncoverH6544 the woman'sH802 headH7218, and putH5414 the offeringH4503 of memorialH2146 in her handsH3709, which is the jealousyH7068 offeringH4503: and the priestH3548 shall have in his handH3027 the bitterH4751 waterH4325 that causeth the curseH779 : 19And the priestH3548 shall charge her by an oathH7650, and sayH559 unto the womanH802, If no manH376 have lainH7901 with thee, and if thou hast not gone asideH7847 to uncleannessH2932 with another instead of thy husbandH376, be thou freeH5352 from this bitterH4751 waterH4325 that causeth the curseH779 : 20But if thou hast gone asideH7847 to another instead of thy husbandH376, and if thou be defiledH2930, and some manH376 haveH5414 lainH7903 with thee besideH1107 thine husbandH376: 21Then the priestH3548 shall chargeH7650 the womanH802 with an oathH7621 of cursingH423, and the priestH3548 shall sayH559 unto the womanH802, The LORDH3068 makeH5414 thee a curseH423 and an oathH7621 amongH8432 thy peopleH5971, when the LORDH3068 doth makeH5414 thy thighH3409 to rotH5307, and thy bellyH990 to swellH6639; 22And this waterH4325 that causeth the curseH779 shall goH935 into thy bowelsH4578, to make thy bellyH990 to swellH6638, and thy thighH3409 to rotH5307 : And the womanH802 shall sayH559, AmenH543, amenH543. 23And the priestH3548 shall writeH3789 these cursesH423 in a bookH5612, and he shall blotH4229 them out with the bitterH4751 waterH4325: 24And he shall cause the womanH802 to drinkH8248 the bitterH4751 waterH4325 that causeth the curseH779 : and the waterH4325 that causeth the curseH779 shall enterH935 into her, and become bitterH4751. 25Then the priestH3548 shall takeH3947 the jealousyH7068 offeringH4503 out of the woman'sH802 handH3027, and shall waveH5130 the offeringH4503 beforeH6440 the LORDH3068, and offerH7126 it upon the altarH4196: 26And the priestH3548 shall take an handfulH7061 of the offeringH4503, even the memorialH234 thereof, and burnH6999 it upon the altarH4196, and afterwardH310 shall cause the womanH802 to drinkH8248 the waterH4325. 27And when he hath made her to drinkH8248 the waterH4325, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiledH2930, and have doneH4603 trespassH4604 against her husbandH376, that the waterH4325 that causeth the curseH779 shall enterH935 into her, and become bitterH4751, and her bellyH990 shall swellH6638, and her thighH3409 shall rotH5307 : and the womanH802 shall be a curseH423 amongH7130 her peopleH5971. 28And if the womanH802 be not defiledH2930, but be cleanH2889; then she shall be freeH5352, and shall conceiveH2232 seedH2233. 29This is the lawH8451 of jealousiesH7068, when a wifeH802 goeth asideH7847 to another instead of her husbandH376, and is defiledH2930 ; 30Or when the spiritH7307 of jealousyH7068 comethH5674 upon himH376, and he be jealousH7065 over his wifeH802, and shall setH5975 the womanH802 beforeH6440 the LORDH3068, and the priestH3548 shall executeH6213 upon her all this lawH8451. 31Then shall the manH376 be guiltlessH5352 from iniquityH5771, and thisH1931 womanH802 shall bearH5375 her iniquityH5771.
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary 1 Here is, I. A command for the purifying of the camp, by turning out from within its lines all those that were ceremonially unclean, by issues, leprosies, or the touch of dead bodies, until they were cleansed according to the law,
Num 5:2,
Num 5:3.
1. These orders are executed immediately,
Num 5:4. (1.) The camp was now newly-modelled and put in order, and therefore, to complete the reformation of it, it is next to be cleansed. Note, The purity of the church must be as carefully consulted and preserved as the peace and order of it. It is requisite, not only that every Israelite be confined to his own standard, but that every polluted Israelite be separated from it.
The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. (2.) God's tabernacle was now fixed in the midst of their camp, and therefore they must be careful to keep it clean. Note, The greater profession of religion any house or family make the more they are obliged to
put away iniquity far from their tabernacle, Job 22:23. The person, the place,
in the midst of which God dwells, must not be defiled; for, if it be, he will be affronted, offended, and provoked to withdraw,
1Cor 3:16,
1Cor 3:17.
2. This expulsion of the unclean out of the camp was to signify, (1.) What the governors of the church ought to do: they must
separate between the precious and the vile, and purge out scandalous persons, as old leaven (
1Cor 5:8,
1Cor 5:13), lest others should be infected and defiled,
Hebre 12:15. It is for the glory of Christ and the edification of his church that those who are openly and incorrigibly profane and vicious should be put out and kept from Christian communion till they repent. (2.) What God himself will do in the great day: he will
thoroughly purge his floor, and
gather out of his kingdom all things that offend. As here the unclean were shut out of the camp, so into the new Jerusalem
no unclean thing shall enter, Revel 21:27.
II. A law concerning restitution, in case of wrong done to a neighbour. It is called
a sin that men commit (
Num 5:6), because it is common among men;
a sin of man, that is,
a sin against man, so it is thought it should be translated and understood. If a man overreach or defraud his brother in any matter, it is to be looked upon as a trespass against the Lord, who is the protector of right, the punisher of wrong, and who strictly charges and commands us to do justly. Now what is to be done when a man's awakened conscience charges him with guilt of this kind, and brings it to his remembrance though done long ago? 1. He must
confess his sin, confess it to God, confess it to his neighbour, and so take shame to himself. If he have denied it before, though it go against the grain to own himself in a lie, yet he must do it; because his heart was hardened he denied it, therefore he has no other way of making it appear that his heart is now softened but by confessing it. 2. He must bring a sacrifice, a
ram of atonement, Num 5:8. Satisfaction must be made for the offence done to God, whose law is broken, as well as for the loss sustained by our neighbour; restitution in this case is not sufficient without faith and repentance. 3. Yet the sacrifices would not be accepted till full amends were made to the party wronged, not only the principal, but a fifth part added to it,
Num 5:7. It is certain that while that which is got by injustice is knowingly retained in the hands the guilt of the injustice remains upon the conscience, and is not purged by sacrifice nor offering, prayers not tears, for it is one and the same continued act of sin persisted in. This law we had before (
Lev 6:4), and it is here added that if the party wronged was dead, and he had no near kinsman who was entitled to the debt, or if it was any way uncertain to whom the restitution should be made, this should not serve for an excuse to detain what was unjustly gotten; to whomsoever it pertained, it was certainly none of his that got it by sin, and therefore it must be given to the priest,
Num 5:8. If there were any that could make out a title to it, it must not be given to the priest (God hates robbery for burnt-offerings); but, if there were not, then it lapsed to the great Lord (
ob defectum sanguinis -
for want of issue ), and the priests were his receivers. Note, Some work of piety or charity is a piece of necessary justice to be done by those who are conscience to themselves that they have done wrong, but know not how otherwise to make restitution; what is not our property will never be our profit.
III. A general rule concerning hallowed things given upon this occasion, that, whatever was given to the priest,
his it shall be, Num 5:9,
Num 5:10. 1. He that gave it was not to receive his gift again upon any pretence whatsoever. This law ratifies and confirms all grants for pious uses, that people might not give things to the priests in a fit of zeal, and then recall them in a fit of vexation. 2. The other priests should not come in sharers with that priest who then officiated, and to whom the hallowed thing, whatever it was, was given. Let him that was most ready and diligent in attending fare the better for it: if he do the work, let him have the pay, and much good may it do him.
11 We have here the law concerning the solemn trial of a wife whose husband was jealous of her. Observe,
I. What was the case supposed: That a man had some reason to suspect his wife to have committed adultery,
Num 5:12-
Num 5:14. Here, 1. The sin of adultery is justly represented as an exceedingly sinful sin; it is going aside from God and virtue, and the good way,
Prov 2:17. It is committing a trespass against the husband, robbing him of his honour, alienating his right, introducing a spurious breed into his family to share with his children in his estate, and violating her covenant with him. It is being defiled; for nothing pollutes the mind and conscience more than this sin does. 2. It is supposed to be a sin which great care is taken by the sinners to conceal, which there is no witness of.
The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, Job 24:15. And the adulteress takes her opportunity when
the good man is not at home, Prov 7:19. It would not covet to be secret if it were not shameful; and the devil who draws sinners to this sin teaches them how to cover it. 3. The
spirit of jealousy is supposed to come upon the husband, of which Solomon says, It is the
rage of a man (
Prov 6:34), and that it is
cruel as the grave, Cant 8:6. 4. Yet (say the Jewish writers) he must make it appear that he has some just cause for the suspicion. The rule they give is, If the husband have said unto his wife before witnesses, 'Be not thou in secret with such a man;' and, notwithstanding that admonition, it is afterwards proved that she was in secret with that man, though her father or her brother, then he may compel her to drink the bitter water. But the law here does not tie him to that particular method of proving the just cause of his suspicion; it might be otherwise proved. In case it could be proved that she had committed adultery, she was to be put to death (
Lev 20:10); but, if it was uncertain, then this law took place. Hence, (1.) Let all wives be admonished not to give any the least occasion for the suspicion of their chastity; it is not enough that they abstain from the evil of uncleanness, but they must abstain from all appearance of it, from every thing that looks like it, or leads to it, or may give the least umbrage to jealousy; for
how great a matter may a
little fire kindle! (2.) Let all husbands be admonished not to entertain any causeless or unjust suspicions of their wives. If charity in general, much more conjugal affection, teaches to
think no evil, 1Cor 13:5. It is the happiness of the virtuous woman that
the heart of her husband does safely trust in her, Prov 31:11.
II. What was the course prescribed in this case, that, if the suspected wife was innocent, she might not continue under the reproach and uneasiness of her husband's jealousy, and, if guilty, her sin might find her out, and others might hear, and fear, and take warning.
1. The process of the trial must be thus: - (1.) Her husband must
bring her to the priest, with the witnesses that could prove the ground of his suspicion, and desire that she might be put upon her trial. The Jews say that the priest was first to endeavour to persuade her to confess the truth, saying to this purport, Dear daughter, perhaps thou wast overtaken by drinking wine, or wast carried away by the heat of youth or the examples of bad neighbours; come, confess the truth, for the sake of his great name which is described in the most sacred ceremony, and do not let it be blotted out with the bitter water. If she confessed, saying, I am defiled, she was not put to death, but was divorced and lost her dowry; if she said, I am pure, then they proceeded. (2.) He must bring a coarse offering of barley-meal, without oil or frankincense, agreeably to the present afflicted state of his family; for a great affliction it was either to have cause to be jealous or to be jealous without cause. It is an
offering of memorial, to signify that what was to be done was intended as a religious appeal to the omniscience and justice of God. (3.) The priest was to prepare the water of jealousy, the holy water out of the laver at which the priests were to wash when they ministered; this must be brought in an
earthen vessel, containing (they say) about a pint; and it must be an
earthen vessel, because the coarser and plainer every thing was the more agreeable it was to the occasion.
Dust must be put into the water, to signify the reproach she lay under, and the shame she ought to take to herself, putting her mouth in the dust; but dust from
the floor of the tabernacle, to put an honour upon every thing that pertained to the place God had chosen to put his name there, and to keep up in the people a reverence for it; see
John 8:6. (4.) The woman was to be
set before the Lord, at the east gate of the temple-court (say the Jews), and her head was to be uncovered, in token of her sorrowful condition; and there she stood for a spectacle to the world, that other women might learn not to do
after her lewdness, Ezek 23:48. Only the Jews say, Her own servants were not to be present, that she might not seem vile in their sight, who were to give honour to her; her husband also must be dismissed. (5.) The priest was to adjure her to tell the truth, and to denounce the curse of God against her if she were guilty, and to declare what would be the effect of her drinking the water of jealousy,
Num 5:19-
Num 5:22. He must assure her that, if she were innocent, the water would do her no harm,
Num 5:19. None need fear the curse of the law if they have not broken the commands of the law. But, if she were guilty, this water would be poison to her, it would make her
belly to swell and her thigh to rot, and she should be a curse or abomination among her people,
Num 5:21,
Num 5:22. To this she must say,
Amen, as Israel must do to the curses pronounced on mount Ebal,
Deut 27:15-
Deut 27:26. Some think the
Amen, being doubled, respects both parts of the adjuration, both that which freed her if innocent and that which condemned her if guilty. No woman, if she were guilty, could say
Amen to this adjuration, and drink the water upon it, unless she disbelieved the truth of God or defied his justice, and had come to such a pitch of impudence and hard-heartedness in sin as to challenge God Almighty to do his worst, and choose rather to venture upon his curse than to give him glory by making confession; thus has whoredom
taken away the heart. (6.) The priest was to write this curse in a scrip or scroll o parchment,
verbatim -
word for word, as he had expressed it, and then to wipe or scrape out what he had written into the water (
Num 5:23), to signify that it was that curse which impregnated the water, and gave it its strength to effect what was intended. It signified that, if she were innocent, the curse should be blotted out and never appear against her, as it is written,
Isa 43:25,
I am he that blotteth out thy transgression, and
Pss 51:9,
Blot out my iniquities; but that, if she were guilty, the curse, as it was written, being infused into the water, would enter into her bowels with the water, even
like oil into her bones (
Pss 109:18), as we read of a curse entering into a house,
Zech 5:4. (7.) The woman must then drink the water (
Num 5:24); it is called
the bitter water, some think because they put wormwood in it to make it bitter, or rather because it caused the curse. Thus sin is called
an evil thing and a bitter for the same reason, because it
causeth the curse, Jer 2:19. If she had been guilty (and otherwise it did not cause the curse), she was made to know that though her stolen waters had been sweet, and her
bread eaten in secret pleasant, yet the end was
bitter as wormwood, Prov 9:17, and
Prov 5:4. Let all that meddle with forbidden pleasures know that they will be bitterness in the latter end. The Jews say that if, upon denouncing the curse, the woman was so terrified that she durst not drink the water, but confessed she was defiled, the priest flung down the water, and cast her offering among the ashes, and she was divorced without dowry: if she confessed not, and yet would not drink, they forced her to it; and, if she was ready to throw it up again, they hastened her away, that she might not pollute the holy place. (8.) Before she drank the water, the jealousy-offering was waved and offered upon the altar (
Num 5:25,
Num 5:26); a handful of it was burnt for a memorial, and the remainder of it eaten by the priest, unless the husband was a priest, and then it was scattered among the ashes. This offering in the midst of the transaction signified that the whole was an appeal to God, as a God that knows all things, and
from whom no secret is hid. (9.) All things being thus performed according to the law, they were to wait the issue. The water, with a little dust put into it, and the scrapings of a written parchment, had no natural tendency at all to do either good or hurt; but if God was thus appealed to in the way of an instituted ordinance, though otherwise the innocent might have continued under suspicion and the guilty undiscovered, yet God would so far own his own institution as that in a little time, by the miraculous operation of Providence, the innocency of the innocent should be cleared, and the sin of the guilty should find them out. [1.] If the suspected woman was really guilty, the water she drank would be poison to her (
Num 5:27), her belly would swell and her thigh rot by a vile disease for vile deserts, and she would
mourn at the last when her flesh and body were consumed, Prov 5:11. Bishop Patrick says, from some of the Jewish writers, that the effect of these waters appeared immediately, she grew pale, and her eyes ready to start out of her head. Dr. Lightfoot says that sometimes it appeared not for two or three years, but she bore no children, was sickly, languished, and rotted at last; it is probable that some indications appeared immediately. The rabbin say that the adulterer also died in the same day and hour that the adulteress did, and in the same manner too, that he belly swelled, and his secret parts rotted: a disease perhaps not much unlike that which in these latter ages the avenging hand of a righteous God has made the scourge of uncleanness, and with which whores and whoremongers infect, and plague, and ruin one another, since they escape punishment from men. The Jewish doctors add that the waters had this effect upon the adulteress only in case the husband had never offended in the same kind; but that, if he had at any time defiled the marriage-bed, God did not thus right him against his injurious wife; and that therefore in the latter and degenerate ages of the Jewish church, when uncleanness did abound, this way of trial was generally disused and laid aside; men, knowing their own crimes, were content not to know their wives' crimes. And to this perhaps may refer the threatening (
Hos 4:14),
I will not punish your spouses when they commit adultery, for you yourselves are separated with whores. [2.] If she were innocent, the water she drank would be physic to her:
She shall be free, and shall conceive seed, Num 5:28. The Jewish writers magnify the good effects of this water to the innocent woman, that, to recompense her for the wrong done to her by the suspicion, she should, after the drinking of these waters, be stronger and look better than ever; if she was sickly, she should become healthful, should bear a man-child, and have easy labour.
2. From the whole we may learn, (1.) That secret sins are known to God, and sometimes are strangely brought to light in this life; however, there is a day coming when God will, by Jesus Christ, as here by the priest, judge the
secrets of men according to the gospel, Roma 2:16. (2.) That, in particular,
Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge. The violation of conjugal faith and chastity is highly provoking to the God of heaven, and sooner or later it will be reckoned for. Though we have not now the waters of jealousy to be a sensible terror to the unclean, yet we have a word from God which ought to be as great a terror, that if
any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy, 1Cor 3:17. (3.) That God will find out some way or other to clear the innocency of the innocent, and to bring forth their righteousness as the light. (4.) That to
the pure all things are pure, but
to the defiled nothing is so,
Titus 1:15. The same word is to some a
savour of life unto life, to others a savour of death unto death, like those waters of jealousy, according as they receive it; the same providence is for good to some and for hurt to others,
Jer 24:5,
Jer 24:8,
Jer 24:9. And, whatsoever it is intended for, it
shall not return void.