Numbers 5: Consecration in the Camp

Key Verse
1-The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone … who is unclean 3 …putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.
 
Meditation
Union with Christ is the only way sinful people can be reconciled to a holy God. Through faith, believers are united to Jesus in His death and resurrection. We are crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20), raised with Christ (Colossians 3:1), baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3), and reconciled to God through Christ (2 Corinthians 5:18). 
 
Today's reading emphasizes the necessity of consecration because the holy God chose to dwell among His people (v. 3). Israel needed cleansing in every sphere of life: in the camp (vv. 1-4), in relationships (vv. 5-10), and in marriage (vv. 11-31). God's holiness was not meant to drive His people away but to draw them into a deeper dependence on His grace.

Consecration began with honesty. Those who were ceremonially unclean had to leave the camp until they were cleansed. Those guilty of sin were called to confess it and make restitution (vv. 5-10). Even marriage, God's covenant picture of His love for His people, was to reflect holiness and faithfulness. God was teaching Israel that restored fellowship requires both cleansing and truth.
 
These ceremonies point beyond themselves to Jesus Christ. He was taken "outside the camp" (Hebrews 13:12-13) so that believers could be brought near to God. On the cross, He bore our uncleanness, our guilt, and our shame. Through union with Christ, believers are forgiven, declared righteous, cleansed by His blood, and welcomed into God's presence.
 
The gospel is not a self-help program. God's work unites us to Christ, and in Him we have everything necessary to enjoy God in His holy presence, now and forever.
 
Today’s Reading
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. 3 You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.” 4 And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did.

Confession and Restitution
5 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the people of Israel, when a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, 7 he shall confess his sin that he has committed. And he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. 8 But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him.9 And every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. 10 Each one shall keep his holy donations: whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.”

A Test for Adultery
11 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the people of Israel, If any man's wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, 13 if a man lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act, 14 and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, 15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16 “And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the Lord.17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord and unbind the hair of the woman's head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20 But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, 21 then’ (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman) ‘the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. 22 May this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen, Amen.’

23 “Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. 25 And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand and shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27 And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.

29 “This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. 31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.”
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about the description of benefits of union with Christ as articulated in the meditation?
 
-How does this passage reveal the need for a better and more glorious way to be made holy for dwelling with God?
 
-Where do you need to celebrate the benefits of union with Christ in your life? Be specific.
 
Key Verse
1-The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone … who is unclean 3 …putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp, in the midst of which I dwell.”