Numbers 5

Numbers_5
2/22/09

Numbers_5
I. Opening Statements.
A. In Numbers we see the walk and warfare of the wilderness, which is typical of our pilgrimage here in a sinful world.
1. And we are looking for lessons that will help us with our journey of faith.
2. And as we noted this first main division of the book of Numbers chapters 1-10 relates to preparation to go to the Promised Land.
a. As we think about the Promised Land and the people who are to inhabit the Promised Land we need to ask ourselves what they represent to us.
(1) In the literal historical sense the people are Israel, descendants of Abraham and the land has a specific geography in the Middle East God promised to give them.
(2) But spiritually speaking the people represent the spiritual offspring of Abraham (children of faith...) and the land; while on one hand we think of heaven, it is generally agreed that the promised land is symbolic of living a spirit filled life.
(a) So some of the lessons we learn will teach us of how walk in the Spirit and how not to walk in the flesh.
B. Now as we move into chapters 5 and 6 we encounter the first group of laws found in this book, and at first they appear to be somewhat random or unrelated: skin disease, fraud, adultery, Nazarite vows, and priestly blessing.
1. But they relate to the theme of separation from impurity and dedication to the Lord.
2. The consecration of Israel is set before us in two stages here, chapters 5-6 relate to the purging of the whole camp, and chapters 7-8 relate to the consecration of the tabernacle and the priesthood.
3. The goal is God's presence in their midst and blessings as they go.
II. Separating from Sin.
A. Separting from the effects of sin.
Numbers 5:1-4 (NKJV)
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
2 “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever becomes defiled by a corpse.
3 You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.”
4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
1. The Lord speaks to Moses “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every..."
a. Leper
b. Everyone who has a discharge
c. Whoever becomes defiled by a dead body.
2. God had commanded these laws as stated in the book of Leviticus but now the time has come to execute them as they prepare for the journey.
a. As we look at this list observe that none of these things prove a person to be terrible sinners, they refer to those who are ceremonially unclean.
(1) And they were to be put out or separated from the rest of the camp until they could be made ceremonially clean.
b. While these are not terrible sins in fact we would struggle to see them as sin at all, rather what we see is that they are a reminder of the effects of sin
Romans 5:12 (NKJV)
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—
(1) It is sin that has separated us from God.
Isaiah 59:2 (NKJV)
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
c. So they are being challenged to purity, by putting out from among them impurity.
(1) People that inhabit the Promised land are to be a purified people.
(a) To walk in the Spirit as opposed to the flesh means we need to look to God to help put-off that which impure the things which defile or contaminate.
i) In thinking what this might look like for us we could look down a laundry list of sins such as sexual immorality, drunkenness, drug addiction etc. the worst being unbelief.
ii) But don't overlook things like anger, malice, gossip, backbiting, causing division (sins of the heart and sins of the tongue).
3. Verse-3 says "You shall put out both male and female; you shall put them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.”
a. Male and female, perceptions of sympathy or superiority for one over another were not to spare someone from the consequences of sin there were no exceptions.
b. Separation from these things were because God lived in the camp,
(1) We are to walk in the newness of the life we have in Christ, while we as people who are to inhabit the promised land fall short in many ways, we don't live in sinless perfection, we are not to be openly and obviously walking in the sin nature.
4. "as the Lord spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did." remember that we are to do the things God says not merely hear them or know them.
B. The Damage of sin.
Numbers 5:5-7 (NKJV)
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
6 “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit in unfaithfulness against the Lord, and that person is guilty,
7 then he shall confess the sin which he has committed. He shall make restitution for his trespass in full, plus one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged.
1. Sin hurts or damages others and we see that when the effects of our sin are realized then confession and restitution are required.
a. The sin before us here are sins against others and withholding from God what belongs to Him.
(1) First the sin is to be owned, demonstrated by confession "I did it, I'm guilty"
(2) Secondly repaying was taken or withheld plus 20%.
b. The concept of our sins hurting others and of making restitution is so foreign in the church today...
(1) Restitution is as important for the guilty party as it is for the victim, look at verse-8.
Numbers 5:8 (NKJV)
8 But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him.
(2) When we don't make things right with others we have wronged it impacts our walk, and puts a hold on real fellowship with God..
Matthew 5:23-24 (NKJV)
23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

2. Fellowship with God is what we are aiming for.
Numbers 5:9-10 (NKJV)
9 Every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.
10 And every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest shall be his.’ ”

a. Some of the offerings such as the peace offering were intended to have a portion of them returned to the one who brought the offering so they and their family could have a fellowship meal with God.
(1) This opportunity was the right of every Israelite, a right that was not to be denied them by others.
(a) However if they were unclean and cast out of the camp they could not enjoy this benefit.
(b) So here in the midst of this chapter which deals with separation from sin is the reminder that God's people are to be separated (from) sin in order to be separated (TO) God for fellowship with Him.
3. When asked what the greatest commandment was Jesus replied
Matthew 22:37-40 (NKJV)
37 Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
a. Love for God and love for others should dominate our attitudes and behaviors.
b. When we separate ourselves from the effects and damage of sin then the door of fellowship with God is opened up.
Jesus taught
Matthew 5:8 (NKJV)
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God.
C. Separation from the suspicion of sin.
Numbers 5:11-14 (NKJV)
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
12 “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him,
13 and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught—
14 if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself—
1. Set before us are an adulteress wife and a jealous husband; and the adultery may or may not be true.
a. The two extremes of the spectrum are hidden unfaithfulness on the part of a wife, and unwarranted jealousy on the part of a husband.
(1) Both can destroy a marriage relationship, and both undermine the very fabric of godly living so God gave Israel a means for dealing with it.

(2) Whether there is unfaithfulness in marriage or unwarranted jealousy it must be resolved for there purity and fellowship in the relationship.
b. The problem is symptomatic of unfaithfulness to God and so a breach of the relationship between husband and wife could not be tolerated.
2. An offering to resolve a spirit of jealousy
Numbers 5:15 (NKJV)
15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance.

a. The jealous husband was to being his wife and an ephah of barley to the priest, note that it was only the grain and no oil or frankincense which were customary with grain offerings.
(1) Oil and frankincense were thought to sweeten a grain offering but neither was to be poured on this offering thus there is nothing sweet about this offering, rather it is a bitter thing.
(a) Either the wife will be found guilty of adultery or the husband will be guilty of unwarranted suspicion.
i) Each one is heartbreaking in its own right and the antithesis of love.
(2) Note what it says here at the end of verse-15 it is "an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance."
(a) The idea isn't that the wife committed adultery and didn't remember it, this isn't about the memories of the husband and wife but about reminding the whole congregation of the horrible nature of both adultery and false accusation.
i) Let me say that there are times where suspicions are genuinely raised and need to be brought into an arena a proper arena for the truth to be addressed, but that arena usually does not involve the whole camp. (watch out how and where and to whom you make or receive accusations)
3. The ceremony of this offering is described in verses 16-28
Numbers 5:16-28 (NKJV)
16 ‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord.
17 The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
18 Then the priest shall stand the woman before the Lord, uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse.
19 And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.
20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”—
21 then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman— “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell;
22 and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.” ‘Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”
23 ‘Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water.
24 And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter.
25 Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, shall wave the offering before the Lord, and bring it to the altar;
26 and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.
27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people.
28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.
a. The priest would set the woman before the Lord, take holy water and sweep up some dust from the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water then he would place the grain offering in her hand which was a reminder of fellowship with God.
(1) The with the vessel of bitter water that brings a curse in his hands he would put her under oath that if she was innocent she would be free of the effects of the bitter water, but if guilty the curse would come upon her causing her belly to swell and her thigh to rot to which she would respond amen so be it.
(a) In doing this she was agreeing that if innocent she would be vindicated, but if guilty she was deserving of the punishment the curse brought.
(2) The priest would then write the curses down, and when the ink dries he would scrape the words of the curse off into the bitter water.
(3) The priest would then take the grain offering from her hands and take it to the altar and burn it, and then she would drink the bitter water.
(a) Then over time the judgment of God would become evident...
Our sin has a way of coming out, God sees and knows all that we do, nothing is hidden to Him.
4. And the chapter concludes
Numbers 5:29-31 (NKJV)
29 ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her.
31 Then the man shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her guilt.’ ”
a. Clearly God did not want His people to suffer the heartache of infidelity or labor under the burden of unresolved suspicion associated with jealousy in marriage and demonstrates to us that such things must be dealt with and the impurity such thing bring to the holy state of marriage are intolerable and must be put away.
b. We might also note as we consider the bitter cup that we deserve to drink and which rightfully would bring about our judgment and damnation, we need not drink of it because Christ drank the bitter cup in our place!
III. People who are to dwell in the Promised Land:
A. If we are to be such people;
if we are going to be the people who walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh;
we are going to have to see our sin through the eyes of Christ;
we are going to have to put the things that separate from God out of our lives as we become aware of them, and we are going to need to trust God to help us do it.
1. But that means we need to humble ourselves and we need to be honest with God.
a. I hate it may not be accurate, I love it (my sin) may be more honest, what ever the case is I pray God helps us to drag the impurity permeating our lives into His glorious light so that the things that defile us can be put away from us.
(1) So that we can be separated from our sin, and separated to God.