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Numbers 5:1-4 includes the LORD’s commands concerning personal uncleanness. There are several ways mentioned here that a person could become unclean. Any unclean person was to be sent outside the camp to quarantine for a period of time.
The LORD then, in Numbers 5:5-10, instructed Moses about what to do when a person commits an offense against another person in the camp. This section repeats the law given to Moses in Leviticus 5:14-6:7. It stresses the importance of maintaining purity in interpersonal relationships within the camp as they travel to the Promised Land.
The next subject, which is called "the law of jealousy" in Numbers 5:29, is discussed in verses 11-31. It concerns marital infidelity that was suspected but not verified. The marriage relationship, the most basic of all between humans, and the building block for a successful self-governing society, was a reflection of one’s relationship to the LORD. To be unfaithful in marriage was to be unfaithful to one’s LORD.
Verses 16-22 describe the ritual performed by the priest in order to determine the guilt or innocence of the woman suspected of adultery. It included the drinking of the "water of bitterness" which, depending on her guilt or innocence, would affect her physically. The ritual included the pronouncement of a curse that would go into effect if she was guilty of adultery. The accused woman would then agree to the terms of the curse.
Numbers 5:23-28 contain additional activities that needed to happen prior to the woman drinking the water.
Numbers 5:29-31 provide a summary of the principles in this section (verses 11-28) concerning a husband’s suspicion and jealousy of his wife’s adultery.
The first four chapters of the book of Numbers focused on organizing the tribes around the tabernacle, providing for a military force to defend the people, and dealing with the needs of transporting the tabernacle.
Numbers 5 begins a new extended section of the book that continues through chapter 9. This section contains commands from the LORD as well as rituals to be observed as the Israelites prepare to leave Mount Sinai and enter the Promised Land.
Chapters 5-6 concentrate on the need for holiness among the people. This included personal, physical holiness as well as holiness in interpersonal relationships. Holiness means to be separated from the world's ways by following the commands of God. The surrounding cultures were full of exploitation (Leviticus 18). God's people were to love others as they loved themselves (Leviticus 19:18). Being holy to the Lord meant serving and helping others, such that the community could thrive and prosper, both materially as well as spiritually.
Numbers 5 can be outlined as follows:
- Dealing with the Ceremonially Unclean (Numbers 5:1-4)
- Dealing with Paying for Personal Wrongdoing (Numbers 5:5-10)
- Dealing with Adultery (Numbers 5:11-31)
- The Suspicion of Adultery (Numbers 5:11-15)
- The Water of Bitterness (Numbers 5:16-22)
- The Ritual of the Law of Jealousy (Numbers 5:23-28)
- The Summary of the Law of Jealousy (Numbers 5:29-31)
The "law of jealousy" provided a means to provide relief for an innocent woman suspected of adultery. This would protect women from the abuse of suspicion, and properly turn over judgement of sin to the hand of God. The building block of a self-governing society is the family, which begins with marriages. This ceremony allows for truth and justice to create relational harmony.
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