Numbers 5:1 - Meaning and Application

Here is a command to keep the camp clean by putting out everyone who was ceremonially unclean, whether from bodily discharge, leprosy, or touching a dead body, until they were cleansed according to the law (Numbers 5:2-3).

These orders were carried out at once (Numbers 5:4). The camp had just been arranged and put in order, so this cleansing was needed to complete the reform. The purity of the church must be guarded as carefully as its peace and order. It is not enough for each Israelite to stay in his own place. Anyone who is defiled must also be kept apart from the camp. The wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable.

God’s tabernacle was now set in the middle of the camp, so they had to keep the camp clean. The more openly a family or household claims to belong to God, the more carefully it must put away sin far from its tent (Job 22:23). The person and place where God dwells must not be made unclean. If they are, he will be insulted, offended, and provoked to leave (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).

This sending out of the unclean was meant to show two things. First, it shows what the leaders of the church should do. They must tell apart what is precious from what is worthless, and remove people whose sin is open and stubborn, like old yeast that spreads through the whole lump (1 Corinthians 5:8, 1 Corinthians 5:13). They must do this so others are not infected and defiled (Hebrews 12:15). It honors Christ and helps his church when people who are openly and unrepentantly wicked are kept from Christian fellowship until they turn from their sin.

Second, it shows what God himself will do on the great day. He will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather out of his kingdom everything that causes sin. Just as the unclean were shut out of the camp here, so nothing unclean will enter the new Jerusalem (Revelation 21:27).

There is also a law here about restitution, or making things right when a neighbor has been wronged. It is called a sin that people commit (Numbers 5:6), because it is common among people. It can also mean a sin against a man, that is, a wrong done to another person. If someone cheats or deceives his brother in any matter, it is treated as a trespass against the Lord, who guards justice, punishes wrong, and clearly commands us to act fairly.

What should a person do when an awakened conscience brings such a sin back to mind, even if it happened long ago? First, he must confess his sin, to God and to the neighbor he wronged, and so humble himself. If he had denied it before, he must still admit it, even though it is hard to confess a lie. Since hardness of heart led him to deny it, confession is one way to show that his heart is now softened.

Second, he must bring a sacrifice, a ram for atonement, that is, a sacrifice meant to cover guilt and restore peace with God (Numbers 5:8). Restitution alone was not enough. The offense against God’s law also needed repentance and faith.

Third, the sacrifice would not be accepted until full payment was made to the person who was wronged, with the principal amount plus a fifth added to it (Numbers 5:7). If someone keeps what he gained by injustice, while knowing it is wrong, the guilt stays on his conscience. Sacrifice, prayer, and tears do not remove that guilt while he still clings to the stolen gain, because the sin is still being continued.

This law had already been given before (Leviticus 6:4). Here another point is added. If the person wronged had died and had no near relative to receive the payment, or if it was unclear who should receive it, that could not be used as an excuse to keep what had been taken unjustly. Since it was certainly not rightfully owned by the one who got it through sin, it had to be given to the priest (Numbers 5:8). If there was someone who could prove a right to it, then it must go to that person, because God hates robbery used as a burnt offering. But if no one could claim it, it passed to the Lord, and the priests received it as his servants.

The lesson is clear. Some act of godliness or charity is also necessary justice for anyone who knows he has done wrong, but does not know any other way to make restitution. What is not truly ours will never truly profit us.

There is also a general rule here about holy gifts given to the priest, that whatever is given to him belongs to him (Numbers 5:9-10). First, the one who gave it was not allowed to take it back for any reason. This confirms gifts given for sacred use, so that people would not give them in a burst of zeal and then reclaim them in a fit of irritation.

Second, the other priests were not to share in that gift with the priest who was serving at that time and to whom the holy thing was given. The one who was most ready and faithful in the work should have the benefit of it. If he does the work, let him receive the pay, and may he enjoy it well.