Numbers 5:2

_COMMAND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL, THAT THEY PUT OUT OF THE CAMP EVERY LEPER, AND EVERY ONE THAT HATH AN ISSUE, AND WHOSOEVER IS DEFILED BY THE DEAD:_ PUT OUT OF THE CAMP EVERY LEPER. The exclusion of leprous persons from the camp in the wilderness, as from cities and villages afterward, was a sanatory measure taken according to prescribed rules, (Leviticus 13:1; Leviticus 14:1.) This exclusion of lepers from society has been acted upon ever since (Joseph Wolff's 'Journal,' p. 491); and it affords almost the only instance in which any kind of attention is paid in the East to the prevention of contagion. The usage still more or less prevails in the East among people who are indifferent about taking precautions in any cases of fever or pestilence, however malignant; but it is generally believed

2._Command the children of Israel. _This passage clearly shews that God, in desiring the lepers to be put out of the camp, was not acting as a physician by any means, and merely consulting the health of the people: but that by this external rite and ceremony He exercised them in the pursuit of purity; for, by joining with the lepers those who had an issue, (2) and who were defiled by the dead, He instructs the people simply to keep away from all uncleanness. The reason, which follows, confirms this, — “that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof He dwells.” It is just as if He had said, that all the habitations of His elect people were parts of His sanctuary, which it was a shame to defile with any pollution. For we know what license men give themselves in corrupting (3) the service of God, by mixing, as the proverb says, sacred things with profane. Thus we see th

1-10 The camp was to be cleansed. The purity of the church must be kept as carefully as the peace and order of it. Every polluted Israelite must be separated. The wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable. The greater profession of religion any house or family makes, the more they are obliged to put away iniquity far from them. If a man overreach or defraud his brother in any matter, it is a trespass against the Lord, who strictly charges and commands us to do justly. What is to be done when a man's awakened conscience charges him with guilt of this kind, though done long ago? He must confess his sin, confess it to God, confess it to his neighbour, and take shame to himself; though it go against him to own himself in a lie, yet he must do it. Satisfaction must be made for the offence done to God, as well as for the loss sustained by the neighbour; restitution in that case is not e...

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 we cannot suppose that they were driven out into the naked wilderness. But the expulsion mentioned here was founded, 1. On a purely _physical_ reason, _viz_., the diseases were _contagious_, and therefore there was a necessity of putting those afflicted by them apart, that the infection might not be communicated. 2. There was also a _spiritual_ reason; the camp was the habitation of God, and nothing impure should be permitted to remain where he dwelt. 3. The camp was an emblem of the Church, where nothing that is defiled should enter, and in which

The general purpose of the directions given in this and the next chapter is to attest and to vindicate, by modes in harmony with the spirit of the theocratical law, the sanctity of the people of God. Thus, the congregation of Israel was made to typify the Church of God, within which, in its perfection, nothing that offends can be allowed to remain (compare Matthew 8:22; Revelation 21:27). The general purpose of the directions given in this and the next chapter is to attest and to vindicate, by modes in harmony with the spirit of the theocratical law, the sanctity of the people of God. Thus, the congregation of Israel was made to typify the Church of God, within which, in its perfection, nothing that offends can be allowed to remain (compare

EXPOSITION THE UNCLEAN TO BE REMOVED (Numbers 5:1). NUMBERS 5:2 EVERY LEPER. The law of the leper had been given in great detail in Leviticus 13:1 and Leviticus 14:1, and it had been already ordered that he should be put out of the camp (Le Leviticus 13:46, and cf. Leviticus 14:3). Every one that hath an issue. These d

COMMAND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL,.... Not as from himself, but from the Lord; deliver out the following as a command of his, to which obedience was required of all the children of Israel: THAT THEY PUT OUT OF THE CAMP EVERY LEPER; there were three camps, Jarchi says, in the time of their encampment; between the curtains was the camp of the Shechinah, or the divine Majesty; the encampment of the Levites round about; and from thence to the end was the camp of the standards, to the four winds, which was the camp of Israel; and the leper was to be put out of them all; so Ben Gersom; see Leviticus 13:46; AND EVERYONE THAT HATH AN ISSUE; a gonorrhoea, man or woman, see Leviticus 15:2; according Jarchi, such an one might be in the camp of Israel, but was to

4. THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE CAMP AND THE NAZARITE CHAPTER 5 _ 1. Concerning the leper, the issue and defilement of the dead (Numbers 5:1)_ 2. Concerning restitution (Numbers 5:5) 3. Concerning the wife suspected of adultery (Numbers 5:11) So far we had the outward arrangement of the camp. This chapter tells us that the camp had to be holy and therefore must be cleansed from that which defiles. Divine directions are given concerning the unclean person, the restitution of anything unjustly taken and what is to be done with a wife suspected of adultery. Leprosy could not be tolerated in the camp in the midst whereof Jehovah dwelt. The persons who had an issue and had come in touch with the de

THE SECLUSION OF PERSONS RENDERED UNCLEAN THROUGH LEPROSY, ISSUES, OR CONTACT WITH THE DEAD. Such seclusion was the result of a primitive belief that persons in the conditions specified were the seat of, or had been exposed to, some supernatural influence which they might extend to any who approached them. Rules relating to the leprous and to sufferers from issues are found in Leviticus 13-15*. For historical instances of the seclusion of lepers, see Numbers 12:10; 2 Kings 7:3; 2 Kings 15:5. NUMBERS 5:2. THE DEAD: literally, a soul or ghost. A dead body was thought to be dangerous because the disembodied spirit hovered round it, a

CHILDREN. sons. See note on Numbers 1:2. THE DEAD. the soul. Hebrew. _nephesh._ See App-13. Compare Ch. Numbers 6:6; Leviticus 21:1.Leviticus 19:11. See note on Leviticus 19:28. Touching. dead man, rendered the one who touched unclean seven days (Numbers 19:11); touching other dead creatures, rendered unclean only till the evening (Leviticus 11:27;...