Numbers 5:4

_BOTH MALE AND FEMALE SHALL YE PUT OUT, WITHOUT THE CAMP SHALL YE PUT THEM; THAT THEY DEFILE NOT THEIR CAMPS, IN THE MIDST WHEREOF I DWELL._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 5:4. _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 treatment. Though no mention be made of the situation, circumstances, c., of those expelled persons, we may certainly infer that they were treated with that humanity which their distressed state required. Though sinners must be separated from the Church of God, yet they should be treated with affectionate regard, because _they may be reclaimed_. It is too often the case when a man backslides from the way of truth, he is abandoned by all finding his case desperate, he plunges yet deeper into the mire of sin, and the man who, with tender treatment, might have been reclaimed, becomes incurably...

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

AND THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL DID SO, AND PUT THEM WITHOUT THE CAMP,.... Aben Ezra observes, that this was done immediately before they journeyed, and that those that were defiled journeyed between the standard of Ephraim and the standard of Dan; but this, he says, was by way of conjecture, since it is not expressed: AS THE LORD SPAKE UNTO MOSES, SO DID THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL; they were obedient in this particular....

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

AS. according as....

Exclusion of unclean persons. The compiler has very suitably placed this in connexion with the careful arrangements enjoined in the preceding chapter to preserve the sacredness of the Dwelling of Jehovah. Because of His presence the whole camp (-in the midst whereof I dwell") was sacred, and all pollution must be rigorously avoided (cf. Leviticus 15:31). The same principle is applied, in Numbers 35:33 f., to the whole land of Canaan....