CHAPTER V _The Israelites are commanded to purify the camp by excluding all_ _lepers, and all diseased and unclean persons_, 1-3. _They do so_, 4. _Law concerning him who has defrauded another-he shall confess_ _his sin, restore the principal and add besides one fifth of its_ _value_, 5-7. _I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:2. _PUT OUT OF THE CAMP EVERY LEPER_] According to the preceding plan, it is sufficiently evident that each camp had a space behind it, and on one side, whither the infected might be removed, and where probably convenient places were erected for the accommodation of the infected; for... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:4. _AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL - PUT THEM OUT_] This is the earliest account we have of such separations; and probably this ordinance gave the first idea of a _hospital_, where all those who are afflicted with contagious disorders are put into particular wards, under medical treatme... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:7. _SHALL CONFESS THEIR SIN_] Without _confession_ or _acknowledgment_ of sin, there was no hope of mercy held out. _HE SHALL RECOMPENSE_] For without _restitution_, in every possible case, God will not for give the iniquity of a man's sin. How can any person in a case of defraud, w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:8. _IF THE MAN HAVE NO KINSMAN_] The Jews think that this law respects the _stranger_ and the _sojourner_ only, because every Israelite is in a state of affinity to all the rest; but there might be a _stranger_ in the camp who has no relative in any of the tribes of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:14. _THE SPIRIT OF JEALOUSY_] רוח קנאה _ruach kinah_, either a supernatural diabolic influence, exciting him to jealousy, or the _passion_ or _affection_ of jealousy, for so the words may be understood.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:17. _HOLY WATER_] Water out of the laver, called _holy_ because consecrated to sacred uses. This is the most ancient case of the trial by _ordeal_. Numbers 5:31, Numbers 5:31. _IN AN EARTHEN VESSEL_] Supposed by the Jews to be such as had never been previously used. _DUST THAT IS I... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:18. _UNCOVER THE WOMAN'S HEAD_] To take off a woman's veil, and expose her to the sight of men, would be considered a very great degradation in the East. To this St. Paul appears to allude, 1 Corinthians 11:5; 1 Corinthians 11:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:21. _THE LORD MAKE THEE A CURSE AND AN OATH_] Let thy name and punishment be remembered and mentioned as an example and terror to all others. Like that mentioned Jeremiah 29:22: "The Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:22. THY _BELLY TO SWELL, AND_ THY _THIGH TO ROT_] What is meant by these expressions cannot be easily ascertained. לנפל ירך _lanpel yarech_ signifies literally thy _thigh to fall_. As the _thigh, feet_, c., were used among the Hebrews delicately to express the parts which nature con... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:23. _THE PRIEST SHALL WRITE THESE CURSES - AND HE SHALL BLOT_ THEM _OUT_] It appears that the curses which were written down with a kind of ink prepared for the purpose, as some of the rabbins think, without any calx of iron or other material that could make a permanent dye, were wa... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:24. _THE BITTER WATER THAT CAUSETH THE CURSE_] Though the rabbins think that the priest put some bitter substance in the water, yet as nothing of the kind is intimated by Moses, we may consider the word as used here metaphorically for _affliction_, _death_, c. These waters were affli... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:29. _THIS IS THE LAW OF JEALOUSIES_] And this is the most singular law in the whole Pentateuch: a law that seems to have been copied by almost all the nations of the earth, whether civilized or barbarian, as we find that similar modes of trial for suspected offences were used when co... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Numbers 5:31. _THIS WOMAN SHALL BEAR HER INIQUITY_] That is, her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot; Numbers 5:22. But if not guilty after such a trial, she had great honour, and, according to the rabbins, became _strong, healthy_, and _fruitful_; for if she was before _barren_, she no... [ Continue Reading ]