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Chapters 3-4 defined the duties of the chief priests and affirmed that the priesthood was to be firmly rooted in the family of Aaron and the descendants of his sons Eleazar and Ithamar (Ex 29:9; Num 3:10).
Chapters 3-4 also defined the identity and the duties of the three clans of the Levites who were to serve the chief priests and the Sanctuary as lesser ministers (Num 3:7-8).
In Chapter 5 the focus now turns from the commitment and holiness of the priests and the Levites to the commitment and holiness of the individual Israelites. Not only are the chief priests and Levitical ministers to be totally devoted in their service to God, but the entire community must be entirely committed to living out the commands and prohibitions of the Sinai Covenant.
As in the Sacrament of Matrimony, the relationship between God and Israel in the Sinai Covenant was not a linear relationship but a triangular relationship with God at the apex of the triangle and Israel at each of the two angels at the base. Israel was not only united to God through the Law, which she agreed to live by in order to be a holy people, but Israel's relationship with God under the Law also depended on their relationship with each other within the covenant community, as Jon Levenson puts it "as vassals of the same suzerain" (Levenson, Sinai & Zion, page 53):
God claimed sovereignty over all nations and all peoples of the earth, but Israel enjoyed a special status among those other nations (Lev 20:27). Only Israel is identified as "my people," the "personal possession" of Yahweh who is Israel's God (Ex 3:7; 5:1; 19:5; Lev 11:44; etc.)-in Leviticus 11:44 God emphatically declares: For it is I, Yahweh, who am your God, followed by the command you must therefore be holy because I am holy (Lev 11:45).
The various laws mentioned in Numbers Chapter 5 are the enforcement of the laws that concerned the necessity for maintaining ritual holiness (defined as that which is "clean" as opposed to that which is "unclean") within the camp that surrounded the holy dwelling place of Yahweh. The Israelites must maintain a state of holiness within the camp that surrounds the Sanctuary for Yahweh to continue to dwell in the midst of His people (Num 5:3; Dt 23:15/14).
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Chapter 5: Purification of the Camp
Numbers 5:1-4: Enforcing the Ritual Purity Laws
Question: What three conditions required the unclean person to live outside the camp?
Answer:
- Contagious skin diseases
- Contagious sexual diseases
- Becoming ritually impure by contact with a corpse
In each of the three cases the cause of uncleanness was sin, whether personal sin as in the case of contracting a sexual disease through adultery or the innocent victim of another's sexual sin and pollution by the curse of death; all are the result of the sin of Adam and Eve through which death and disease entered into the world: For God did not make Death, he takes no pleasure in destroying the living. To exist-for this he created all things; the creatures of the world have health in them, in them is no fatal poison ... (Wis 1:13-14). Ritual uncleanness rendered the person unfit to approach God in the Sanctuary or to live within the camp of God that surrounded it. Outside the camp was neutral ground.
The first two "unclean" conditions refer to contagious diseases that could contaminate the camp and threaten the sanctity of the Sanctuary. It was the duty of the chief priests, acting as "spiritual" public health inspectors, to determine if a person's skin condition was contagious (Lev 13).
For the sake of maintaining the ritual purity of the camp, those with contagious skin diseases or contagious sexual diseases were forced to live outside the camp. They were not excommunicated from the covenant people and could continue to travel with the tribes but they could not participate in worship within the Sanctuary and must always keep a distance from the body of the community. If the person was cured or recovered from the contagious disease he/she was examined by a priest who then performed the necessary purity ritual.
Numbers 5:5-8: Additional Rules Concerning the Sin of Reparation ('asham) in the Case of a Previous False Oath
In Leviticus chapter 5 the Law provided a way out for someone who inadvertently misappropriated sacred property or the property of a fellow Israelite. The person was allowed to make full restitution plus pay a penalty of 20 percent of the loss incurred. Examples of the penalty for defrauding fellow covenant members are detailed in Leviticus 5:20-26. When a covenant member had defrauded a covenant brother or sister, that person had both sinned against his fellow Israelite and broken faith with God (Lev 5:21/:6:2). In such cases the sin could be amended by making reparation for the amount defrauded plus an additional 20 percent, paid to the offended covenant member (5:24/6:5). After the reparation was made, the sinner then brought the priest an unblemished ram as a sacrifice of expiation and his sin was forgiven.
Numbers 5:11-14: Part I in Cases of Suspicion of Defilement: Presenting the Case
This case deals with a wife who was suspected of conjugal infidelity without proof or two or more witnesses to testify that the crime of adultery had been committed. This passage is not addressing ritual defilement that can occur in cases of normal marital relations (Lev 15:18), but addresses the suspected death penalty sin of adultery (Ex 20:14; Lev 20:10).
Presumably the woman has already sworn her innocence, but the husband is still suspicious of her guilt.
Question: Having no proof of her guilt, what is the husband's only recourse?
Answer: His only recourse is to take his wife to the priests at the Sanctuary to test her truthfulness by forcing her to submit to an ordeal.
Numbers 5:15-26: Part II in Cases of Suspicion: Oath, Sacrifice and Ordeal
Numbers 5:17: The priest will then take fresh water in an earthen jar and on the water throw dust that he has taken from the floor of the Dwelling. The literal text reads "sacred/holy water" (The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew-English, page, 357), probably taken from the consecrated laver in the Sanctuary courtyard (Ex 30:17-21).
Numbers 5:27-31: Part III: The Conclusion
If the woman is guilty, the curse is that she will be forever infertile and unable to bear children. She will also be held in contempt by the community. If she is found to be innocent, her reputation is restored. In either case, her fate rests with God and the community is to take no further action against her.
Question: What is the purpose of the ritual?
Answer: The purpose of this ritual is to place a powerful psychological tool in the hands of the priests to reveal the truth and to either bring justice to the husband or to exonerate a woman unjustly accused. In either case, the final result is restored peace to the community.
Moses restates the most important parts of the law, including the Ten Commandments. He also gives the new generation some historical background, reminding them how God was faithful to their parents but their parents were not faithful to God. Chapter 5: 7 -21 is the Ten Commandments.
Deuteronomy 5:1-22/19
Moses' Teaching on the Ten Commandments
Question: How are the Israelites to receive Moses' teaching on the Law?
Answer: They must learn the Law, but leaning is not enough; they must do/live the Law.
Question: Were the covenant promises of land/a nation, multiple descendants, and a world-wide blessing made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fulfilled in their lifetimes? See Gen 12:1-3; 26:4; 28:14. When were those promises fulfilled?
Answer: No, those promises were not fulfilled in the era of the Patriarchs. The promises were partially fulfilled in the nation of Israel and the conquest of the Promised Land, but all three covenant promises would not be perfectly fulfilled until the coming of the Jesus Christ, the eternal King in whom all the children of the nations of the earth received the promise of salvation.
Moses reminds the new generation of his role as mediator-standing between Yahweh and "you" at Sinai. As covenant mediator, at the people's request, Moses applies his role to mediating the Law to the present generation, but he stresses that the creator of the "word" (commandment) is God and that he is only its mediator.
Like the Decalogue in Exodus chapter 20, Moses' teaching on the Ten Commandments begins with a historical prologue stating the origin of the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. The covenant document of the "Ten Words" written on the stone tablets are the divinely authored foundation of God's covenant with Israel and the basis upon which Yahweh will continue His relationship with succeeding generations of His vassal people. The Law was legally binding, but like a marriage covenant (to which Yahweh's relationship with Israel will often be compared), it is more than a legal document. A marriage in the ancient world as well as the modern world is legalized by a document but does not become enacted until the marital relationship is fulfilled. Love fulfills and maintains what was originally a covenant agreement between a man and a woman, just as the obligations of the Sinai Covenant are meant to be expressed in the love between God and Israel.
Question: Into what two broad categories are the Ten Commandments grouped?
Answer: Those commandments that concern man's relationship with God and those commandments concerning man's relationship with his fellow man.
Question: What is the warning to parents in this command?
Answer: The warning is to teach your children to know and serve God because a failure to do so can affect generations.
The Ten Commandments are God's blueprint for Israel's holiness as a covenant people and as individuals. It was not presented in the formal and impersonal style of other Law Codes of the ancient Near East, but was addressed by Yahweh directly to His people. The personal address of the Law by God to His people was unique. No other ancient law code makes this claim; instead the king was said to have been commanded by the gods to formulating his people's laws. The other unique aspect of the Sinai Covenant, compared to other ancient law codes, is that there is no distinction between classes (Ex 22:21-26/27), and foreigners living within the community were subject to the same penalties and protections of the Law of the covenant (Lev 19:33-34).
Deuteronomy 5:21/20-33/29
Reminding Israel of their Desire that Moses Serve as the Covenant Mediator
Moses reminded the new generation of their parents' great fear of God after the Theophany at Mt. Sinai and how they requested the he serve as their covenant mediator, a petition that God accepted. God wanted "nearness" to His people, but He respected their fear and reverence for His divinity. Granting their petition reflects God's respect for man's free will.
God wants the love and nearness of His people as well as their reverence, but He will not force them to be near nor does He force them to be obedient. When God came to man as God the Son, He came in a form that was gentle and mild to encourage His people's nearness and to encourage the desire, of their own free will, to love Him and to express their love in obedience, reverence, and self-sacrifice (Mt 11:29; 21:5).
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CHALLENGE: “We have no evidence the saints are aware of our prayer requests. How would they even know? They are not omniscient.”
DEFENSE: We have evidence they are aware of our prayers. You don’t have to know everything to know some things, so the saints don’t have to be omniscient to be aware of our prayer requests. We do not know much about how the human intellect works in heaven, but the fact that heaven is a higher state than this life suggests we will have more rather than less awareness.
This is also suggested because we will be made “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet. 1:4) and transformed to be like God by virtue of the beatific vision (1 John 3:2). Scripture does not give many pictures of what life in heaven is like, but it shows saints and angels aware of what is happening on earth (Rev. 6:9–11, 7:13–14, 11:15–18, 16:5–6, 18:20).
The common understanding is that the saints are aware of our prayer requests through union with God. It is reasonable to suppose that, in the perfect state of heaven, people will have whatever information is relevant to them. Thus God can make a saint aware that someone is asking for his intercession.
However saints and angels are aware of our prayer requests, Scripture indicates that they are. In Revelation 5:8, the twenty-four elders, who appear to represent the leaders of the people of God in heaven, offer incense to God. We are told that the incense is “the prayers of the saints.”
In Revelation 8:3–4, an angel offers incense that is mingled with “the prayers of all the saints.” At that time, the term “saint” was commonly used to refer to living Christians (2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Phil. 1:1). It is natural to see these passages as depicting the inhabitants of heaven presenting the prayer requests of the saints on earth to God. This is surely part of what 8:3 means by the reference to the prayers of “all the saints.”
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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