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An order for the removal from the Israeli camp of persons subject to physical uncleanness. – Law on the return of incorrectly purchased goods. - Rite of jealousy. Numbers 5:1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Numbers 5:2. Commanded the children of Israel to send out of the camp all lepers, and all who had a discharge, and all who were defiled by the dead, Numbers 5:3. send both men and women, send them outside the camp, so that they do not defile their camps, among which I live. Taking care of preserving internal purity, members of the chosen people had to preserve external purity as a symbol and manifestation of the purity of the spirit. Being a symbol of the latter, physical cleanliness could serve for many imperfect people at the same time as its stimulus: increased cleanliness of the body could lead to moral cleanliness. “Small things teach great things,” notes the blessed one. Theodorite. “If he who touches the dead is unclean, then how much more unclean is he who causes death.” If a leper is unclean, then even more unclean is one who indulges in various kinds of vices. In the person of the one who sheds the seed, adultery is condemned, for if it is nasty and involuntary, even more so is it done intentionally” (Commentary on the book of Numbers, question 8; also see Ephr. Sir., Commentary on the book of Numbers, chapter 5). At the same time, of course, there were also sanitary and hygienic motives in mind. The physical uncleanness of a Jew, which made him unclean before God and people, depended partly on the state of his own body (certain diseases and physiological processes), partly on contact with external unclean objects. The physically unclean were expelled from the camp: lepers for the entire duration of their illness, and others only for the period of legal cleansing. The rite of purification consisted in some cases of simple washing (Lev.11.28, 32, 40); in others - in sprinkling with cleansing water (Numbers 19.11–12,16–18); thirdly, in making a sacrifice (Lev.14). Numbers 5:5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Numbers 5:6. Tell the children of Israel: If a man or a woman commits any sin against another, and thereby commits an offense against the Lord, and that soul is guilty, Numbers 5:7. then let them confess the sin that they have committed, and return in full what they are guilty of, and add a fifth to it and give it to the one against whom they sinned; Numbers 5:8. if he does not have an heir to whom the guilt should be returned, then dedicate it to the Lord; Let it be for the priest, over and above the ram of atonement with which he shall cleanse him; The one who has illegally appropriated a thing must return it to the owner or his heir (in the absence of the latter to the tabernacle), with an additional payment of one-fifth of the value of the stolen property. Being a punishment for kidnapping, the payment of a fifth also served as a warning for the future. In addition to returning the property to the victim, the perpetrator was also obliged to make a guilt offering (Lev.5.15; Lev.6.2–6). Numbers 5:15. Let a husband bring his wife to the priest and sacrifice for her a tenth of an ephah of barley flour, but he shall not pour oil on her or put in frankincense, because it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of remembrance, a reminder of iniquity; According to the explanation of Blessed. Theodoret, the victim was deprived of oil and incense because the alleged crime, which served as a reason for her, was deprived of the fragrance and light of truth (Interpretation on the book of Numbers, issue 10). Numbers 5:17. And the priest will take the holy water in an earthen vessel, and the priest will take the earth from the floor of the tabernacle and put it in the water; “Holy water”, i.e. water from the copper sea at the tabernacle. “From the floor of the tabernacle” to indicate the depth of the fall of the guilty one. “And he will bare the wife’s head” - to reveal her deep sorrow and at the same time to indicate divine omniscience, before which there is nothing hidden. “Bitter water” was called so either by the curse that was given to the culprit, or by the composition of the bitter spices (wormwood) that were included in it (Calmet). Numbers 5:23. And the priest will write these spells on a scroll, and wash them away in bitter water; According to rabbinical tradition, the spell pronounced by the priest was written on a scroll with paint that would not eat into the material of the latter. Numbers 5:31. and the husband will be clean from sin, and the wife will bear her sin. Serving as an actual punishment for the one guilty of adultery, the ritual of jealousy was a triumph and reassurance for the innocently suspected. According to the stories of travelers, among some tribes of Africa the custom of testing a woman’s purity through “bitter water” has been preserved to this day (Vlastov, “The Sacred Chronicle”). You might be interested in: