Numbers
Numbers 5
1Yahweh 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 is unclean by a corpse. 3You shall put both male and female outside of the camp so that they don’t defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”
4The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as Yahweh spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.
5Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 6“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against Yahweh, and that soul is guilty, 7then he shall confess his sin which he has done; and he shall make restitution for his guilt in full, add to it the fifth part of it, and give it to him in respect of whom he has been guilty. 8But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to Yahweh shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him. 9Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his. 10Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’ ”
11Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and this is kept concealed, and she is defiled, there is no witness against her, and she isn’t taken in the act; 14and the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she is defiled; or if the spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife and she isn’t defiled; 15then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. He shall pour no oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to memory. 16The priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh. 17The priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18The priest shall set the woman before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and put the meal offering of memorial in her hands, which is the meal offering of jealousy. The priest shall have in his hand the water of bitterness that brings a curse. 19The priest shall cause her to take an oath and shall tell the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you haven’t gone aside to uncleanness, being under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings a curse. 20But if you have gone astray, being under your husband’s authority, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband—” 21then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell; 22and this water that brings a curse will go into your bowels, and make your body swell, and your thigh fall away.” The woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.”
23“ ‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness. 24He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causes the curse; and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. 25The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Yahweh, and bring it to the altar. 26The priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27When he has made her drink the water, then it shall happen, if she is defiled and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her body will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse among her people. 28If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.
29“ ‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled, 30or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before Yahweh, and the priest shall execute on her all this law. 31The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’ ”
Commentary
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What others are saying
4 commentators · 44 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
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…
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 5:12-14. Here, 1. The sin of adultery is justly…
John Gill31
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And the Lord spake unto Moses,.... Jarchi says, what follows was said on the day the tabernacle was erected, but it seems rather to have been delivered after the several camps were formed, and the people numbered, when those that were unclean were ordered to…
Command the children of Israel,.... Not as from himself, but from the Lord; deliver out the following as a command of his, to which obedience was required of all the children of Israel: that they put out of the camp every leper; there were three camps, Jarchi…
Both male and female shall ye put out,.... Whether leprous, or profluvious, or defiled by touching a dead carcass: by this law, Miriam, when leprous, was put out of the camp, Numbers 12:14, without the camp shall ye put them; which is repeated that it might…
Keil & Delitzsch3
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
Removal of Unclean Persons out of the Camp. - As Jehovah, the Holy One, dwelt in the midst of the camp of His people, those who were affected with the uncleanness of leprosy (Lev 13), of a diseased flux, or of menstruation (Lev 15:2., Num 15:19.), and those…
Restitution in Case of a Trespass. - No crime against the property of a neighbour was to remain without expiation in the congregation of Israel, which was encamped or dwelt around the sanctuary of Jehovah; and the wrong committed was not to remain without…
Sentence of God upon Wives Suspected of Adultery. - As any suspicion cherished by a man against his wife, that she either is or has been guilty of adultery, whether well-founded or not, is sufficient to shake the marriage connection to its very roots, and to…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown8
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
RESTITUTION ENJOINED. (Num 5:5-10) When a man or a woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord--This is a wrong or injury done by one man to the property of another, and as it is called "a trespass against the Lord," it is…
every offering . . . shall be his--Whatever was given in this way, or otherwise, as by freewill offerings, irrevocably belonged to the priest.
THE TRIAL OF JEALOUSY. (Num. 5:11-31) if any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him--This law was given both as a strong discouragement to conjugal infidelity on the part of a wife, and a sufficient protection of her from the consequences of a…
World English Bible — Public domain