The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

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- Chapter 5 -

(Leviticus 13:1–46)

Yahweh said to Moses,

“Tell this to the Israelite people: ’You must send away from your camp where you have your tents any man or woman who has leprosy and anyone who has a discharge of some fluid from his body, and anyone who has become unacceptable to God because of having touched a corpse.

Send them away in order that they will not touch people in the camp area where I live among you and cause them to become unacceptable to me.’”

So the Israelite people obeyed what Yahweh commanded Moses.

Restitution for Trespasses

(Luke 19:1–10)

Yahweh also told Moses,

“Tell this to the Israelite people: ’If someone commits a crime against another person, I consider that that person has done wrong to me.

That person must confess that he or she is guilty, and he or she must pay to the person to whom wrong was done what others consider to be a suitable payment for what he has done, and he must pay an extra 20 percent.

If the person against whom the wrong was done has died and there is no relative to whom the money can be paid, then the money belongs to me, and it must be paid to the priest. In addition, the one who did the wrong must give a male sheep to the priest to sacrifice in order that that person’s sin may be forgiven.

All the sacred offerings that the Israelites present to me by bringing them to the priest will belong to the priest.

The priest can keep those gifts.’”

The Adultery Test

Yahweh also said this to Moses:

“Tell this to the Israelite people: ’Suppose a man thinks that his wife has not always slept faithfully only with him.

Suppose he thinks that she has slept with another man, but he does not know if this is true or not, because he did not see her do it. She was not caught in the act and the fact that she broke her vow to her husband could not be proved because no one saw her doing that.

But if the woman’s husband is jealous, and if he suspects that she has committed adultery, and he would want to know whether that is true or not, and so there is a test whether she had been impure.

To test whether she had committed adultery he should take his wife to the priest. He must take along as an offering two liters of barley flour. The priest must not pour olive oil or incense on it, because this is an offering that the man has brought because he is jealous. It is an offering to find out if she is guilty or not.

The priest must tell the woman to stand in front of the altar in my presence.

He must put some sacred water in a clay jar, and then he must put some dirt from the floor of the sacred tent into the water.

He must untie the woman’s hair. Then he must put in her hands the flour offering that her jealous husband is offering to determine whether she has committed adultery or not. The priest must hold the bowl that contains bitter water that will cause the woman to be cursed if she is guilty.

The priest must require her to solemnly declare that she will tell the truth. He must say to her, “Has another man slept with you? Have you faithfully slept only with your husband or not? If you have not slept with another man, nothing bad will happen to you if you drink the water.

But if you have slept with another man, Yahweh will curse you.

Your womb will shrivel up and your stomach will swell up. You will never be able to give birth to children, and as a result, everyone will curse you and avoid you.

If you have committed adultery, when you drink this water, that is what will happen to you.” Then the woman must answer, “If I am guilty, I will not object if that happens.”

Then the priest must write with ink on a small scroll these curses and then wash the ink off into the bitter water.

The priest must take from her the offering of barley flour that she is holding; he must lift it up to dedicate it to me.

Then he must put it on the altar

and burn part of it as a sacrifice. Then the woman must drink the bitter water.

If the woman has committed adultery instead of faithfully sleeping only with her husband, the water will cause her to suffer greatly. Her stomach will swell up and her womb will shrink, and she will be unable to give birth to children. And then her relatives will curse her.

But if she is innocent, her body will not be harmed, and she will still be able to give birth to children.

That is the ritual that must be performed when a woman who is married has sinned by committing adultery,

or when a man is jealous and suspects that his wife has slept with another man. The priest must tell that woman to stand at the altar in my presence and obey these instructions.

Even if the woman has not done what the husband suspected, he will not be punished for doing something wrong by bringing his wife to the priest. But if his wife is guilty, she will suffer as a result.’”

(Leviticus 13:1–46)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“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.

You 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.”

The children of Israel did so, and put them outside of the camp; as the LORD spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

Restitution for Trespasses

(Luke 19:1–10)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit, so as to trespass against the LORD, and that soul is guilty,

then 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.

But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the guilt, the restitution for guilt which is made to the LORD shall be the priest’s, in addition to the ram of the atonement, by which atonement shall be made for him.

Every heave offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they present to the priest, shall be his.

Every man’s holy things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.’”

The Adultery Test

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them: ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,

and 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;

and 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;

then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring her offering for her: one tenth of an ephah(a) 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.

The priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD.

The 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.

The priest shall set the woman before the LORD, 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.

The 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.

But 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—”

then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall tell the woman, “May The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD allows your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell;

and 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.”

“‘The priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall wipe them into the water of bitterness.

He 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.

The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall wave the meal offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.

The 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.

When 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.

If the woman isn’t defiled, but is clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive offspring.(b)

“‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goes astray, and is defiled,

or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute on her all this law.

The man shall be free from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”

Footnotes

(a)5:15 1 ephah is about 22 liters or about 2/3 of a bushel

(b)5:28 or, seed