Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

5:1-6:27 Cleansing the Camp. In preparation for the march to the Holy Land, the camp of Israel must be purged of all uncleanness. The concept of uncleanness (i.e., that which disgusts and angers God) is most important in the Bible, and in its OT form is explained most fully in Leviticus 11-16. (The NT shows that some things labeled unclean in the OT period, e.g., particular foodstuffs, were so designated for didactic reasons only until Christ came; see notes on Mark 7:19; Acts 15:1; 15:19-21; Gal. 2:11-12; 4:10; 5:1.) Uncleanness ranges in seriousness from mild uncleanness caused by marital intercourse (Lev. 15:18), to moderate uncleanness caused by skin disease (Leviticus 13), to severe uncleanness triggered by sins such as idolatry, adultery, and homicide. Severe uncleanness led to the Canaanites losing the land, and the same fate could befall Israel (Lev. 20:22-23). People who were unclean were forbidden to participate in worship, and their uncleanness could somehow infect the tabernacle, which would make it impossible for God to dwell there. The Day of Atonement was designed to cleanse the tabernacle once a year (Leviticus 16) in order to ensure God's continuing presence with his people. These regulations in Numbers 5-6 are preventative: they aim to eliminate uncleanness from the camp so that the tabernacle will remain pure and God will stay with his people as they journey to Canaan. The principle that only the purified can belong to the kingdom of heaven is reaffirmed in Eph. 5:5; Rev. 21:27; 22:14-15.

5:1-4 Exclusion of the Unclean from the Camp. The unclean are excluded from the tribal encampments of ch. 2 and must live in places such as caves or wilderness tents, separate from the people (cf. Lev. 13:46; 2 Kings 7:3).

5:5-10 Atonement for Perjury. This law extends the scope of Lev. 6:1-7, which deals with the case of someone stealing his neighbor's property and then taking an oath denying the fact. This amounts to taking God's name in vain (Ex. 20:7), a most serious offense. If the offender later recognizes his guilt and confesses it, he must return his neighbor's property plus 20 percent and offer a ram as a guilt offering. Verses 5-10 of Numbers 5 deal with the situation when there is none of the victim's family to receive the restored goods: in this case it is to go to the priest along with the sacrificial ram. Verses 9-10 generalize this principle: the priest who offers a sacrifice keeps for himself the parts that are not burnt. The NT affirms that reconciliation with one's fellow man is required of those who would be at peace with God (Matt. 5:23-26; 6:14-15).

5:11-31 Test of Suspected Adultery. This ritual is an acted-out prayer that God would show whether a man's suspicions about his wife's fidelity were justified. Adultery, like other sexual sins, causes grievous uncleanness, and so must be eliminated from Israel. The test is designed to distinguish between actual-but-unwitnessed adultery (vv. 12-14a) and unwarranted suspicion (v. 14b). The actions all underline the seriousness of the sin of adultery. When an adulterous man and woman were caught in the act, they faced the death penalty in Israel (Deut. 22:22) and elsewhere in the ancient Near East. On this occasion the husband is merely suspicious. To confirm or dispel his suspicions the woman must offer a sacrifice (Num. 5:15-16), drink water containing dust from the floor of the tabernacle (i.e., dust from the presence of God; v. 17), and accept a curse against herself that her womb swell and her thigh fall away (vv. 19-22) if she is guilty. It is not clear exactly what this threat means (the focus is on the members of her body with which she may have sinned), but it could be a threat of a miscarriage. Ultimately, though, the guilty wife is threatened with childlessness, a catastrophe in Bible times, whereas the innocent is assured she shall be free and shall conceive children (v. 28; cf. Gen. 20:17-18).

6:1-21 Rules for Nazirites. Nazirites were the most dedicated laypeople in the OT. Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist were lifelong Nazirites, but usually a person took a vow to become a Nazirite for only a specific period of time.

6:1-6 Definition of a Nazirite. A Nazirite (see ESV footnote on v. 2) had to avoid cutting his or her hair (both men and women could be Nazirites, v. 2), not eat any product made from grapes, and avoid contact with any dead body.

6:7-12 Nazirites and Uncleanness. Death was a source of severe uncleanness, and contact with death compromised the Nazirite's status. It had to be remedied by offering three sacrifices (sin, burnt, and guilt offerings; Lev. 1:14-16; 5:7-10, 14-16) and by starting the period of the Nazirite vow all over again: the previous period shall be void (Num. 6:12). It is probably the issue of uncleanness that prompts the inclusion of the laws on the Nazirite at this point in the book (see 5:2-4).

6:13-20 Completion of a Nazirite Vow. When the period to which a Nazirite had dedicated himself was over, he had to bring three animal sacrifices (burnt, sin, and peace offerings; Lev. 1:10-13; 4:32-35; 3:6-11) and the customary accompanying grain and wine offerings (Lev. 2:4-13; Num. 15:1-10). Finally, the Nazirite shaved his head and burned his hair on the altar. His unshaven head marked his dedication to God, and by burning the hair he symbolically gave himself to God. The shoulder of the ram is given to the priest, in addition to his usual share of the sacrifice (the breast and the thigh; cf. Lev. 7:31-34).

6:21 Summary of the Law. above his Nazirite vow. If the ex-Nazirite had pledged to do more than keep the Nazirite abstention rules (6:3-7), he must fulfill those pledges too.

6:22-27 The Priestly Blessing. Placed here, this famous blessing shows that God's will is to bless every Israelite, not just the Nazirites. But God's blessing is mediated by the priests. The earliest archaeological discovery containing the covenantal name of God (Yahweh) in Jerusalem is a silver amulet containing this priestly blessing. It was found in a Judean tomb dating to the seventh or sixth century b.c.