Chapter Five
Move the Unclean People
5:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. 3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.” 4 And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the LORD said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.
The concept of being ceremonially clean is often misunderstood or, at a minimum, underappreciated among human beings, since after all, no one can discern the difference on their own. But that doesn’t matter, it is important to God, and just like God knows what a person is thinking and knows their heart, He also knows if a person is ceremonially clean or not. Being clean and staying clean was important for any Israelite that wished to participate in any of the rituals or festivals and now God is letting them know that since He dwells in the center of the camp, anyone unclean must remain outside the camp.
Anyone with a leprous skin disease (see Leviticus chapter 13), a discharge (see Leviticus chapter 15) or has been in contact with the dead, regardless of gender, was not to be allowed to enter and defile their camp. Upon hearing these instructions, the people of Israel had the unclean people removed from the camp.
Confession and Restitution
5:5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the people of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the LORD, and that person realizes his guilt, 7 he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. 8 But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the LORD for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. 9 And every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10 Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.”
Anyone who wrongs another person is unfaithful to God. If they realize what they did was wrong, they are to confess their sin and make restitution (Hebrew word ‘ǎšām’,[1] a noun used to express guilt, used also to designate a guilt offering and an offense that can be compensated, see Leviticus chapter five), plus an additional twenty percent to the person they wronged. If the person they wronged is dead, and does not have any close relatives, the payment is considered YHWH’s and is to be given to a priest. At the time of restitution, the guilty person is to bring a ram for a sacrifice, so that atonement can be made for him.
All contributions and every sacred item donated by the people of Israel to the priest are allowed to be kept and consumed by the priest (see Numbers 18:19).
A Test for Marital Faithfulness
5:11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, 13 if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act, 14 and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
If a man suspects that his wife is being unfaithful to him this unusual protocol is to be followed. The man is to bring his wife and a tenth of an ephah of barley flour (approximately two quarts) without any oil or frankincense mixed in like other grain offerings (see Leviticus 2:1, 15; 5:11) to a priest. The offering is considered a “jealousy offering,” being “a grain offering of remembrance,” (Hebrew ‘zik·kā·rôn’,[2] recalling the past, in this situation referring to a past sin) that can bring iniquity if found to be guilty.
5:16 “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD. 17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD and unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20 But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, 21 then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. 22 May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’
The priest is to bring the woman near YHWH (exact location is not given). He is then to pour some consecrated water (possibly the water that has been mixed with the ashes of a red heifer, see Numbers chapter 19) in an earthenware bowl and sprinkle some dust from the floor of the Tabernacle into the water. He is to unbind her hair and place in her hands the “grain offering of jealousy.” The priest is to hold the bowl of water mixed with the dust, now referred to as the “water of bitterness that brings the curse.” The Hebrew word for ‘curse’ (‘ārar’)[3] is the same word that was used to describe the curse upon all of creation in Genesis 3:17, which helps us bring awareness to the serious nature of the accusation. While the priest is holding the bowl, he is to state the words of the curse with which she is to make an oath, that if she defiled herself by having sexual intercourse with another man, that after drinking the water her thigh will fall away (Hebrew ‘yerē·ḵē’,[4] primary meaning is thigh, however can also euphemistically refer to genitals; in this context some suggest that the womb would shrivel)[5] and the body will swell. The woman is to respond by saying, “Amen, Amen.” This is the first appearance of the Hebrew word ‘ā·mēn’,[6] in the Bible, meaning to confirm something as being true. Often seen twice together (amen, amen; verily, verily, or truly, truly; just as Jesus often used the transliteration ‘amēn’, ‘amēn’, in the New Testament, found several times in the book of John), not only emphasizing the truth, but also, like everything else stated more than once in the Bible, the reminder to listen carefully.
5:23 “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. 25 And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar. 26 And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.
The words of the curse were to be written in a book and then washed off (Hebrew ‘mā·ḥā(h)’,[7] to wipe out, destroy, sometimes translated as “blotted out”) into the water. The priest is to take the grain offering out of the woman’s hand and wave the offering before YHWH and bring it to the bronze altar where he is to take a handful of the offering and burn it on the altar as the memorial portion of the offering (see Leviticus 2:1-3, 14-16). Then he is to have the woman drink the water that will bring bitter pain.
If the woman had indeed defiled herself with another man, the water would cause extreme pain and her womb will swell, her thigh falls away and she will become cursed among her people. But, if the woman was innocent and did not defile herself, then she will be acquitted, leaving her womb unaffected and capable of having children.
5:29 “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. 31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
The introduction to this section is recapped stating that if the husband suspects infidelity, that this procedure is to be followed with the addition of saying that the husband is not to be accused of any wrongdoing, but the woman is to bear her guilt. The Talmud Tractate Shebu’ot adds:
When the husband is free from iniquity, then the bitter water puts his wife to the test. If the husband is not free from iniquity, the water will not put his wife to the test.[8]
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[1] Strong’s Hebrew 817.
[2] Strong’s Hebrew 2146.
[3] Strong’s Hebrew 779.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 3409.
[5] See commentary under Genesis 24:1-4.
[6] Strong’s Hebrew 543.
[7] Strong’s Hebrew 4229.
[8] Neusner, J. (2011). The Babylonian Talmud: A Translation and Commentary (Vol. 11a, p. 243). Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.