Purifying the Camp
5: 1-4
Purifying the camp DIG: What is the object lesson in these verses? What were the three areas of defilement that would cause a person to be put out of the camp? What should the modern reader be impressed with? What is especially important to see in the first ten chapters of Numbers?
REFLECT: What do we learn here about God’s expectation for us to walk in purity before Him? Are you walking in purity before God today? Ask ADONAI to show you if there is anything in you that offends His presence in your life? Confess your sin and ask Him to give you complete victory over it.
The focus now shifts from safeguarding holiness among the priesthood,
to safeguarding holiness among the people.
The preparations for beginning the march toward the Promised Land now move out from the Tabernacle and its Levitical and priestly personnel, to the purity and holiness among all the people of Isra’el in the twelve tribes who were gathered around the center of the camp.79 In the Dispensation of the Torah (see the commentary on Exodus, to see link click Da – The Dispensation of the Torah), skin diseases, especially open sores, were among the three prominent factors (along with oozing discharges and contact with a dead body) that rendered a person unclean. Such persons were regarded as unfit to be in the holy community and were potential contaminants of the Tabernacle and the pure worship of ADONAI. They were to be excluded from the community during the period of their disease. These brief verses use the Hebrew verb salah, meaning to send away or expel, no fewer than four times. The emphasis on this strong verb points to the seriousness of the situation: such people must be expelled.80
ADONAI said to Moshe, “Order the people of Isra’el to expel from the camp (until healed by God) everyone with tzara‘at” (see the commentary in Leviticus Bw – Holiness and Tsara’at). The unclean were expelled from the camp because YHVH was dwelling in the midst of it. The book of Revelation uses the same ideas to explain the New Jerusalem: God Himself will be with them; He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more . . . but nothing unclean will enter it (see the commentary on Revelation Fv – Nothing Impure Will Enter New Jerusalem). In anticipation of the heavenly consummation, the early Church exercised discipline over its members who blatantly erred in practice of belief (First Corinthians 5:1-13; Second Corinthians 6:14 to 7:13; Second Thessalonians 3:14; Titus 3:10; Second John 10).81
Everyone with a discharge was also expelled from the camp. These discharges were primarily from the sex organs and were chronic in nature (see Leviticus Cl – Personal Discharge and Defilement). Again, these matters were tangible. The people who suffered from those maladies became living object lessons to the whole camp of the necessity of all of them to be “pure” in their approach to the LORD.
And whoever is unclean because of touching a corpse (see Da – The Red Heifer: The application). The ultimate, tangible sign of uncleanness was a corpse. The process of decay and disease in dead flesh were evident to all. Physical contact with a corpse was a sure mark of uncleanness. Normal contacts with others in the camp would have to be curtailed until proper cleansing had been made (6:6).
Both male and female you must expel; put them outside the camp; so that they won’t defile their camp.” The modern reader should be impressed with the fact that the various disorders that rendered one unclean – and hence expelled from the camp – affected men and women alike. The concepts of pure and impure, clean and unclean, cut across gender lines. The essential issue in all the mitzvot of purity in Isra’el was not magic or health or superstition; the great reality was the presence of YHVH in the camp. There could be no uncleanness where He dwelt. Ha’Shem’s constant dwelling in the Tabernacle needed to be matched by Isra’el’s diligence in keeping the camp pure. The last words of 5:3 are dramatic in their presentation: where I live among you.82 These words would give rise to the term Sh’khinah, the idea that God’s presence was “centered” in the Tabernacle, specifically in the Most Holy Place, and between the cherubim.
Numbers 5:4 reports the immediate response of the people, in line with the atmosphere of dutiful obedience throughout the first ten chapters. The people of Isra’el did this and put them outside the camp – the people of Isra’el did what ADONAI had said to Moshe.83 It is with sadness, however, that the we will recall this positive obedience later in the book when we read of Isra’el’s failure to obey the LORD’s commands.
When our Lord ministered on the earth, He ignored the mitzvot of uncleanness and touched lepers (Luke 5:12-15), healed a woman with an issue with blood (Luke 8:43-48), and He even touched the dead (Luke 7:11-17; 8:49-56). The touch of the Great Physician brought healing to the victims, but didn’t defile the Son of God. It was only when He died on the cross that He bore our defilement and the awful “disease” of our sin (First Peter 2:24; Isaiah 53:4-6). Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven is now open to all who repent of their sins and believe in the Gospel.84
Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You that You always are, always have been and always will be totally and perfectly pure. You never have the slightest unclean thought or action. Your home in heaven is free from all illnesses. You never catch a cold, get covid or grow tired. When Yeshua touched the leper (Mark 1:40-45), He was not made unclean, but rather the unclean leper was healed (Luke 5:12-16). Purity for You is an intrinsic part of who You are. No sin can enter heaven. Not even the slightest sin can sneak in. And nothing unholy shall ever enter it, nor anyone doing what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Book of Life (Revelation 21:27).
Thank You that when I repent and turn away from my sins, You forgive me (1 John 1:9). Praise You for Your great love that willingly went to the cross to suffer the pain and shame on my behalf because of my sins. Focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God (Hebrews 12:2). Thank You so very much for not only taking away my punishment, but for also giving me Your righteousness so I could live forever in heaven. You are so very wonderful and Awesome! He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). I love You and want to live with purity in my attitudes, thoughts and actions. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen
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