SCRIPTURE: NUMBERS 5
THE PURITY OF THE CAMP (vs. 1-4)
Any Israelite is forbidden to be inside the camp if he has an infectious skin disease or a discharge of any kind or is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body.
RESTITUTION FOR WRONGS (vs. 5-11)
When a man or woman wrongs another in anyway and is unfaithful to the Lord, tha tperson is guilty and must confess the sin he has committed. He must make full restitution for his wrong, add 1/5 to it and give it all to the person he has wronged. If he has no close relatives to whom restitution can be made for the wrong, the restitution belongs to the Lord and must be given to the priest, along with the ram with which atonement is made for him.
THE TEST FOR AN UNFAITHFUL WIFE (vs. 11-31)
The woman who is unfaithful to her husband and feelings of jealousy is upon his husband, he must take his wife to the priest. Then he must take an offering of 1/10 of an ephah of barley flours or grain offering for jealousy. The priest shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. The priest shall put the woman under oath saying this bitter water shall bring a curse to her body (swelling abdomen and wasted thigh) if she is unfaithful and the woman must say “Amen, so be it”. The priest is to write these curse on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. The woman must drink the bitter water if she is unfaithful, she will encounter bitter suffering and become accursed among her people. She will bear the consequence of her sins. If she is pure, she will be cleared of guilt and able to have children.
THOUGHT:
A guilty person must make a restitution to his victim by paying the loss plus additional interest penalty. When we have wrong others, we should apologize and look for ways to set matters right. When we have been wronged, we should seek restitution rather than striking out in revenge.
Jealous suspicion in marriage must be cleared in order to have a harmonious home. Today, pastors help restore marriages by counselling couples who have lost faith in each other. Suspicion must be remove for a marriage to survive and trust to be restored.