Word of Salvation – May 2010

 

Numbers 5 - THREE KINDS OF DISORDER... AND CHRIST - by John Westendorp

(Sermon 5 in a series on Numbers)

 Scripture Reading: Numbers 5.

Singing: Book of Worship: 34a / 23a / 139a; “Create in me a pure heart”

Introd: It’s amazing how things keep going wrong in life.

Everything is coasting along nicely and we feel we’ve got our life in order.
And then suddenly – boom – a crisis – and life falls apart in disorder.
As I prepared this sermon a story in the local paper vividly demonstrated that.
A 9-year old girl survives a liver transplant... and everything seems orderly again.
She is even competing in some sports... especially for transplant patients.
And now suddenly she has been diagnosed with cancer. How sad and disappointing.

 

In Numbers we’ve had four chapters about order.
Israel is about to set out from Sinai for Canaan – a trip that should last just a few weeks.
But it’s going to be an orderly trip through the wilderness.
In chapter 1 there’s a census in which the people are counted for armed service.
In chapter 2 we get a map of where everybody camps for the night in orderly fashion.
In chapter 3 the firstborn are counted and a Levite substituted for each.
In chapter 4 there’s the orderly arrangements for Levites to transport the Tabernacle.

 

Four chapters about order... everything is neat and tidy as the people are readied for the journey.

And now comes chapter five... and – boom – it introduces the sour note of disorder.
Everything is not always nice and predictable and orderly on life’s journey.
Life is full of problems... and things can go ‘pear-shaped’ very quickly.
Human sin and life in a fallen world creates issues for us... and we have to deal with them.

 

But these are usually painful realities... and generally we don’t like to face up to them.
Often we just hope the problem will go away. We don’t want to know about it.
Our approach is like the ostrich – we bury our head in the sand.
So things deteriorate to the point where we are forced to do something.

 

A] CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO GODLINESS [vs.1-4].

 

1. The first kind of disorder in Numbers 5 is about people who are not allowed in the Israelite camp.

Verses 1 to 4 show that they travel along with the rest of the Israelites – but out on the fringes.

They’ve got to live outside the boundaries of the camp. They are excluded for one of three reasons.

 

First there are those in the camp with infectious skin diseases.
We’re not told that it’s leprosy... perhaps leprosy is included... it doesn’t say.
But all these people with some sort of infectious skin disease are told: “Out you go!”
There’s no place for you in the Israelite camp.

 

Second, there are people with some kind of discharge of body fluids.
Again... it’s not spelled out for us and it may include a whole raft of diseases.
So those with continence problems... and women with menstrual issues are dismissed.
Sorry! Out you go folks, there’s no room for you in the camp either.

 

A third category of people are those ceremonially unclean because of contact with a dead body.
Someone has died and a family member has prepared the body and put it in a coffin.
But that person is now regarded as ceremonially and ritually unclean
Out you go too... you can’t be in the Israelite camp either for the time being.

 

That raises questions: Why banish people who have a medical condition that isn’t even their fault?

Why banish from Israel’s camp a son who has just lovingly buried his dad? Is that fair?

 

2. Some have suggested that there is medical wisdom in this.

These folk were isolated to make sure contagious diseases did not spread in the camp.

So they were kept outside until it was proven that their problem had gone away. That’s a possibility.

 

But there is a deeper issue. The disorder here is the disorder of uncleanness.

There’s a saying that some people use: “Cleanliness is next to godliness”.
People will quote that as if it is a Bible text... but it isn’t.
And yet... it is true here... and that truth is spelled out in much more detail in Leviticus.

 

In the Hebrew camp cleanliness is next to godliness...
because the reason for banning these people is spelled out in verse 3.
God is living in the middle of this camp.
Send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell among them.

 

Keep in mind the point that was made in Numbers 4: God is not a safe God.
He’s good... but He’s not safe. He’s a God who is absolutely holy.
Nothing impure can exist in His presence.

 

And we’re reminded of that now in the disorder pictured in these first four verses.
The result of sin in the world is physical uncleanness.
Sin came into our world and created these different kinds of disorder.
Infectious skin diseases that make a body waste away till it finally dies.
Bodily discharges that mess with our ability to procreate.
And contact with the dead... which is contact with the ultimate penalty for sin.
And none of that may be present there where God has His dwelling place.

 

3. Of course we as Christians know that Numbers 5 was only a temporary measure.

No doubt this disorder and banishment made people long for God’s new creation.

It made them long for the promised Messiah who would deal with sins and its consequences.

 

And the wonderful thing is that Jesus is the remedy for these disorders in Numbers 5.
Jesus touched lepers. He not only touched them but He healed them.
He allowed a woman with a haemorrhage to touch Him in order to be healed.
For 12 years she had suffered a discharge that had made her ritually unclean.
Jesus touched the bodies of the dead. More than that, He raised them to life.

 

The message of the gospel to us today is that Jesus took our uncleanness upon Himself.

Numbers 5 is really a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ. He took upon Himself your sin and my sin.
And it made Him unclean... so they put Him outside ‘the camp’... outside the city.
Hebrews 13 tells us that He carried our uncleanness to make us holy in God’s sight.
And then tellingly... Heb. 13¹³ says: Let us therefore go to Him outside the camp.

 

So the wonderful good news is that through faith in Jesus all our moral pollution is taken away.

And we are clean and fit to be His living temples and to live in the very presence of God for all eternity.

 

B] SAYING SORRY ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH [vs.5-10].

 

1. The second category of disorder in Numbers 5 is the disorder of crime.

The calm and orderly journey of life is not only spoiled by disease and death.

It is also spoiled by the kind of lawlessness that makes the headlines every day again.

 

Here in our text Israel is instructed in how to deal with certain kinds of crime...
particularly crimes where someone has suffered loss. Theft and vandalism come to mind.

 

Israel is instructed that in cases of such crimes three things need to happen.

First there needs to be an owning up. Confession of sin needs to take place.
That already is something that is hard to do... no one likes owning up.
We prefer to cover up rather than own up. We have this inbuilt tendency to excuse ourselves.
Some criminals to their dying day claim to be innocent:
Regardless of the overwhelming weight of evidence against them.

 

But Israel is also given a second requirement for dealing with this disorder of crime.
Confession must be followed by restitution. There has to be a righting of the wrong if possible.
There’s even one-fifth of the property-value added... presumably for stress and deprivation.

 

Numbers 5 even envisions a situation where the victim of the crime has now died.
In that case restitution is to be made to the nearest relative.
And if there is no near relative it is made to the Lord... to the priest.

 

The point is that saying sorry isn’t enough. Restitution is called for on the human level.

I suggest that this is something very rare in our modern dealings with the disorder of crime.
If you are burgled it’s not the burglar who makes restitution... your insurance company does.
The burglar is sent to her majesty’s Hilton Penitentiary.
And there he’s fed and clothed by the State for the next 5 or 6 years.
In Hebrew society he’s made to work to pay back the damage that he did.

 

Those of us who are parents ought to take this on board with our children.
When a child angrily wrecks the toy of a sibling... we make that child say, “Sorry!”
And rightly so! But according to Numbers 5 saying ‘sorry’ isn’t enough.
Maybe the piggy-bank needs to be broken into and restitution made.

 

2. In the first section of Numbers 5 sin was pictures in terms of uncleanness.

In verses 5-10 sin is pictured as transgression. It is shown as unrighteousness.
But that transgression is not only against the person who has been wronged.
That disorder of crime is also against God who gave His law to protect your property rights.

 

So there is a third feature of restoration in Numbers 5:
There is owning up... confession... and there is making amends... restitution.
But all of that is also to be accompanied by a ram offering for atonement.
Because crime is never just against another human being... crime is also a sin against God.

In fact, there is a sense in which it is especially against God.
In Psalm 51 King David speaks of the time when he committed two crimes.
Adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband, Uriah. And what does David say?
He says: Against you, you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

 

So we have these three things that need to be done:
Confession... restitution... and a sacrifice of atonement to make things right with God.

 

3. That’s where we again see Jesus in Numbers 5. Jesus is the perfect sin offering.

And if you think this morning that this is only needed for criminals and great sinners think again.
All of us break God’s commandments repeatedly.
We are all transgressors... unrighteousness is one of the hallmarks of all human life.
We need that sacrifice of atonement that Jesus brought for us.

 

So again this passage is dimly foreshadowing for us our wonderful Saviour and Lord.
Jesus has made perfect restitution for all my unrighteousness
More than that: He brought the great sacrifice of atonement to deal with my crimes against God.
He deals with this disorder of unrighteousness.

 

By the grace of God the Christian community has now become a community in which we do say: Sorry.
But we also realise that in this community of believers saying ‘sorry’ isn’t enough.
In the Christian community we are to be people who make restitution for those we wrong.
And we come to Jesus to find the forgiveness and wholeness that He won for us by His death.

 

C] DEALING WITH JEALOUS HUSBANDS [vs.11-31].

 

1. The third kind of disorder in Numbers 5 sounds very strange to our modern ears.

If you’ve just heard this for the first time this morning this weird ritual seems like a lot of mumbo-jumbo.

 

A married man suspects his wife’s having an affair. You can imagine a typical scene.
She’s staying back at work later and later... and often just with the boss alone.
But whenever hubby says something about it she tells him that it’s all in his imagination.
He’s sure something is going on but he can’t prove it.
Meanwhile the emotional distance between this husband and wife is growing.
She keeps accusing him of not being willing to trust her.
And he’s getting increasingly suspicious and jealous.

 

Here in Numbers 5 a man like that goes with his wife to the priest.
He takes with him the simplest offering... a grain offering... but without the usual additives.
The priest has the woman stand before the Lord holding that grain offering.
Her hair is loosened as a sign of her total openness to God.

Meanwhile the priest has added to some holy water, some dust from the tabernacle floor.
The priest then puts the woman under oath:
If you have not been loyal to your husband may the bitter water not harm you.
But if you have been unfaithful may you be cursed.
May your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell.
(Generally that’s seen as euphemisms for bareness and for sexual disease).
The woman is then to say ‘Amen’ – so be it.
The priest then writes these curses on a scroll and washes them off in the bitter water.
The woman then drinks the water and the priest brings the offering.
Then they all go home to wait to see what happens.

 

We read that and we ask: What on earth is going on here? Some sort of voodoo or black magic?

To our modern ears it sounds like one of those ancient and primitive ‘trial by ordeal’ rituals.
You may have heard of ‘trial by ordeal’ of witches, centuries ago.
It went something like this: Suspected witches were tied up and thrown in the river.
If they drowned they were innocent and would go to heaven.
If they floated they were seen as witches and burnt at the stake.
It was a lose-lose situation where you were assumed guilty till proven innocent.

 

Well, strange as it may seem I am convinced that if this ritual were put to the vote with Hebrew women
the ladies in the Hebrew camp would have overwhelmingly voted in favour of it.

 

First of all because this ritual was mild compared to what happened in the world of that day.
The ancient world used ‘trial by ordeal’ in such situations. That still happens in some places.
A woman suspected of unfaithfulness is forced to plunge her arm in boiling water or boiling oil.
If the arm comes out unscalded she is innocent... if she is scalded she is guilty.

 

Secondly, this is not a trial by ordeal.
- A trial by ordeal presumes a person is guilty until proven innocent.
In this ritual in Numbers 5 the woman is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
- A trial by ordeal requires special intervention by God almighty to spare the woman.
In the Numbers 5 ritual it requires special intervention by God to prove the woman guilty.

 

Thirdly it’s tempting to accuse the Lord of being terribly chauvinistic in giving Israel this ritual.
For starters... what about the other guy in the affair? Does he get off scot-free?
Yet we must not judge this ancient patriarchal society by our modern enlightened standards.

In fact, I believe God gave this ritual to protect the women in Israel.
Not only from the far more severe trials by ordeal common in the ancient world.
Not just from a ritual that presumed them guilty until proven innocent.
But also from the brutality that is so very common with jealous husbands.

The same paper I mentioned before also told one such story of a man who murdered his wife.
They found her body in a suitcase with her fingers missing so she couldn’t be identified.
In the ancient world and still in some parts of the world today that kind of brutality is common.
A husband is jealous of his wife... he believes she’s having an affair.
Very soon thereafter that woman simply disappears.
She appears on the missing person list at the local police station.
God ordains this ritual for the protection of women from the violence of a jealous husband.

 

2. In this third disorder we get yet another perspective on sin.

Sin is not only uncleanness... and sin is more than transgression of God’s law.
Sin is also unfaithfulness... and here in one of the most important areas of communal life.
Here it’s in that area of life where faithfulness matters most.
In marriage... the very foundation of society..!

 

That means there are some important lessons in this for marriage today.
This God-given ritual reminds us that jealousy in marriage must be dealt with.
If we don’t deal with it, jealousy undermines a marriage.
It will bring you to the point where you’re still living in the same house... but like roommates.
Like ships passing in the night... a marriage where all intimacy and trust is gone.

This God-given ritual reminds us that in marriage we are accountable to God and the church.
To God... because in a real sense this jealous man in Numbers is entrusting his wife to his God.
We need to learn to deal with jealousy by entrusting our husband, our wife to the Lord.
But we are also accountable to the church – here represented by the priest.
In the church we are accountable to one another also for our marriage relationships.
Many a marriage has been saved by the intervention of someone in the congregation.

 

3. Let me close by putting this ritual into a broader context.

Have you ever wondered why there is such a strong emphasis on marriage in the Bible?
The Bible begins with a marriage in Genesis 2.
And it ends with a marriage in Rev.22... the great wedding banquet at the end of the ages.
And in between it comes up again and again. Jesus does his first miracle at a wedding.

 

It’s because the people of God are His Bride. The Church is the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the problem is that God’s Bride is so often unfaithful.
In a sense that test in Numbers 5 doesn’t even need to be done... we are guilty.
We sin often and sin is unfaithfulness to our God.
We follow idols of our own making and Scripture calls it spiritual adultery.

 

But now instead of the Church being made to drink that cup of bitter curses...
Jesus did that for us... He drank the cup of bitterness to its very dregs.
He carried the curse that we, His Bride, deserved.
So that we might one day join our Lord at that great wedding feast at the end of the ages.

 

Three kinds of disorder that mess up the order of our daily lives...!

But for each of them Jesus is the answer.

So let’s come to Him in faith to worship Him for His great love.