Numbers 5

The fighting men of the conquest were numbered. The Levites, left out of that first census, were then numbered twice; once as the substitutes for the firstborn men of Israel, and then for service, numbering the males among the clans between the ages of 30 and 50 who were able to serve in the tent of meeting.

The resting position of the camp of Israel, and the order of Israel on the march were established. Leaders were appointed, and the place of Moses, Aaron, the Levites and the various tribes with Judah in the lead were communicated through Moses to all of Israel.

With all this in mind, the Lord again spoke to Moses about holiness. The leper, the one with a discharge, and the man who had touched a dead body had to be put outside the camp, and the uncleanness of sin must not be allowed to spread among the people of God.

Wrong done to a neighbor had to be addressed in the Lord's holy camp. There needed to be confession and full restitution on the part of the guilty. The adulteress must not be permitted to entertain thoughts that her offense would remain hidden in secrecy.

All of this was very overwhelming to consider. The details of the test for possible adultery in response to a spirit of jealousy which might come over a husband hardly seem like the Lord's highest and best plan for public justice in His kingdom and throughout the world.

What was the function of these regulations? God's camp could not be ordered in rest or in action merely by being in the right place and under the leadership of the correct tribal authorities. The Lord demanded something much more.

The demands of the Lord for an outward and inward holiness were most exacting, and even frightening.

Who could meet the demands of righteousness that come to us from the Lord? Yet how do we feel about the real fullness of the Lord's righteous requirements for all His people in every age?

We remember that God is the One who said, “Be holy, for I am holy.” We are reminded of the words contained in the Shamah: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your everything.” These verses should cause us more concern than anything written in Numbers 5.

The only way we can have peace with a God who has a perfect love for holiness is through our association with the Man who has kept the holy commands of the Lord in our place. He is the true Israelite. He has a right to be in the camp.

Yet look what happened to this Holy One! He suffered outside the camp for our sake as if He were the unclean thing. Let us go to Him outside the camp, and let us find His love for the weak that so fills His holy heart. He spoke grace to prostitutes, and even showed the self-righteous the way to be justified by God. In Him we have a place in God's camp, for God will make His people holy through this Jesus.