Moral & Levitical Responsibilities

Transcript

GRS 2-27
02/26/2006
Moral & Levitical Responsibilities
Numbers 2-5
Gil Rugh

We are in the Book of Numbers and as I had shared with you previously we are going to walk through some of the portions of the Old Testament that move the history along and we looked at the Book of Genesis, of course which begins everything and moves up to the time when the family of Jacob descends into Egypt and for four hundred years they are in Egypt. We looked at the opening part of the Book of Exodus and you have the events of the Exodus that again move the history along and we come to Exodus 19, we come to Mount Sinai, and we have events of giving the Law and then the Book of Exodus unfolds the details of the tabernacle and so on and doesn’t move the history along because Israel stays at Mount Sinai. The Book of Leviticus basically the same thing. I shared with you the Book of Leviticus covered the period of time of about 30 days. But it involves beginning giving details of the law governing Israel’s conduct, behavior and worship and so on. We have moved to the Book of Numbers and the Book of Numbers does move the history of Israel along, but as we move through the opening chapters, we were still at Sinai. We won’t leave Mount Sinai until chapter 10 of Numbers. So, in that sense, the book has not moved the history along in its early chapters, but as we those the early chapters just to tie the book together. In the opening two chapters we saw events relating to the Numbering of Israel, then nation Israel counting the men twenty-year-old and older who are able to go to war. In other words, we are marshalling the army of Israel, getting an Idea of what kind of army Israel can put together in preparation for entering Canaan because remember the Exodus from Egypt is to carry them into the land of Canaan, the land flowing with milk and honey, the land promised to them by God. Now we know their counting and getting the army ready, but because of sin and rebellion against God, they are going wander in the wilderness for a total of 40 years. So, this whole army will die off and then in the later part of Book of Numbers, we will have another census since the old army has all died off everyone twenty years old and older has died, we have to recount in anticipation for entering the land and that will take place then under Joshua.

So, the end of chapter 2 and verse 32, “These are the numbered men of Israel by their father’s household, the total of the numbered men of the camps by their armies, 603,550. The Levites, however were not numbered among them and back in verse 45 and in chapter 1, we were told they numbered them from 20 years old and upward whoever was able to go out to war. You have the count given there as well and verse 47 of chapter 7 reminded us that the Levites were not numbered as the Levites as a tribe are given the responsibility for all that is involved in the worship of the nation Israel, the care of the tabernacle, matters related to worship associated with activities that take place in the tabernacle. What will happen in chapter 3, is now we are going to take a count of he Levites, but it is separated from the count toward the census taken of the men twenty years old and upward because that was for marshalling up an army, the Levites are not to be part of the army. So, they are counted separately and they will be counted not from twenty years old and upward, but from one-month old and upward. Starting the chapter 3, and we are going to just highlight some of these matters not worth through all the details. These are the records of the generations of Aaron and Moses at the time when the Lord spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai, remember we are still at Mount Sinai, we won’t leave Mount Sinai till chapter 10 of Numbers. “These then are the names of the sons of Aaron: Nadab the firstborn, and
Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the anointed priests, whom he ordained to serve as priests. We often refer to the Aaronic priesthood and that’s because the priestly line that comes from Aaron, its part of the tribe of Levi, but is just one line in the tribe of Levi. We are reminded here Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they offered strange fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai; and they had no children. So Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the lifetime of their father. Sad event, in Leviticus chapter 10, they tried to come before the Lord bringing fire perhaps fire that had not been taken from the brazen altar according to instructions and when they appeared before the Lord with what is called strange fire, fire comes out from the altar and consumes them on the spot.

Why don’t you turn to the Leviticus chapter 10. You realize that the holiness of the Lord supersedes everything else. You remember these matters, even though we do not follow the details of a worship system set down in Old Testament, there are lessons for us to be learned and we worship and serve a Holy God and even people with very an intimate relationship with God, you realize that these two sons of Aaron were among the privileged to go up with Moses and Aaron onto the very mountain and sit in the presence of the Lord in the Book of Exodus. Behold the wonder of the glory of His presence, the rest of the nation is not allowed to come near, but these young men and here they are going to be struck there on the spot because they become casual and indifferent in the worship of the holy God. So, Nadab and Abihu in verse 5, brought their fire pans put fire in them and incense and offered strange fire and the point you got to note in the verse 1, which he had not commanded them the worship of God must be according to His instructions. It is a serious offence when we do otherwise, fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them and they died before the Lord. Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the Lord spoke, saying, by those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, and before all the people I will be honored.” You note this, this is for the people who come near me, I will be treated as Holy. We come near to God in worship. We come into His presence as His people. We come in confidence before the throne of grace, but you understand He will be treated as Holy by those who come near Him and these things are written for our admonition and we learn from them. It is a great privilege. We are invited to come with confidence into the very presence of the Holy God, but you understand he will be treated as Holy who has never to reduce, it is just a casual kind of relationship that doesn’t take much thought or concern, however I come will all be acceptable to God. He is just happy to have me come. He is Holy, I will be treated as Holy by those who come near me. Those who can come into His very presence on that mountain on previous occasion, now are struck dead because they didn’t treat Him as Holy by obeying Him when they drew near to Him.

This is a striking scene. God must be honored above our family. I mentioned that because down in verse 6, Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you will not die and that He will become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning. Aaron you and your surviving sons are not even allowed to mourn over the death of your kids.” Because that might imply that you are sympathetic to their actions, which does not treat God as holy and the holiness of God must be more important to your than your own kids. It seems Ah don’t mourn, don’t tear your cloths, don’t cover your heads, no sign of mourning here as you just lost two sons and you are not even allowed to mourn and if you mourn God will reach out and strike you and He will also strike Israel because they will be drawn in and everybody will be acting like they agree with these two sons who didn’t treat God as Holy by obeying Him in their worship. A reminder that God, His holiness is more important than anything or anyone, it must take priority. We think Oh well you know they are just our family relation; they are our family relationships. Jesus speaks up, “He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy to me.” I mean that he must be first. You cannot honor God by elevating Him to second place in your life. He must be first and so instructions here.

So come back to Numbers, chapter 3, a reminder of an awesome event, a striking lesson, remember what happened at the beginning of the church. In the Book of Acts chapter 5, with the striking down of husband and wife who failed to honor the Lord in the proper way. God doesn’t do that all the time, but here at the beginning of the Israel functioning as a nation in their worship of God, He did as an example at the beginning of the church in Acts 5. So, He did their as well. A reminder of God's attitude and what He requires. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the priest that they may serve Him, they may perform verse 7, the duties for Him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting to do the service of the tabernacle. Turn over to first Chronicles chapter 6. We are going to get into this, I think first Chronicles chapter 6 makes it a little perhaps easier to follow. You have to go through Samuel and Kings and you will be into Chronicles and we are going to Chapter 6. First Chronicles chapter 6, verse 1. I want you to have in mind. We are talking about the tribe of Levi, we talk about the Aaronic priesthood, and the Levites, you will note that chapter 6 of first chronicles verse 1, “The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, so three sons. We have Levi. So, we talk about the tribe of Levi, the Levites. All of the Levites, all the descendents of Levi are involved in some way in ministry associated with the tabernacle and you have three sons and that will divide the three clans or three divisions of the Levitical tribe, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Now verse 2, the sons of Kohath, that’s the second son in verse one are listed. The first one is Amram, we have three other. We are still interested with Amram right now. The children of Amram were Aaron, Moses and Miriam and the sons of Aaron. So, you see what is done here, He has picked up the priestly line. Other Levites will involve in tabernacle service responsibilities associated with the tabernacle and its ministry, but it will only be the line from Levite through Kohath through Amram through Aaron. That will function as the priestly line. So don’t get confused that when we talked about what the Levites were to do and Aaron and his descendants as the priests and because the all the Aaron’s descendants are the Levites, but not all the Levites are part of the Aaronic priesthood and so the divisions that are being unfolded in Numbers follow that line just like in a family today you could have three brothers and a family and each might have different responsibilities assigned in a family business and so though they were all part of the family, they have different responsibilities. That’s what is going to happen with the tribe of Levi and when you come back to Numbers chapter 3 what God is going to do is unfold the various responsibilities given to the different Levites, the different clans of Levites if you will.

Verse 6 of chapter 3 says bring the tribe of Levi near and set them before Aaron the Priest that they may serve Him. So, you see the rest of the Levites will serve Aaron and his family who are the priests because obviously at the heart is the priestly ministry of Aaron and his descendants the Aaronic priesthood. They shall perform duties before Him and for the whole congregation before the tent of meeting to do the service of the tabernacle. They will keep all the furnishings of the tent along with the duties of the sons of Israel to do the service of the tabernacle. You shall give the Levites to Aaron and to his sons. Verse 58, they are wholly given to him from among the sons of Israel. So, here now you have a hierarchy or an order established among the tribe of Levi. Aaron and his descendants will be the leaders if you will. They are going to be the priests. The rest of the Levites will work for them in matters related to tabernacle ministry. Verse 10, “You shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, the layman who comes near shall be put to death. Only the priests come before the Lord. They are to act as the globe between, the official mediators between God and the people of the nation. So the priests are who stay in between. Now we will come to the New Testament. In Christ, we have been made priests of God and so we need no one to stand between us and God, but we come on the basis of our high priest Jesus Christ with confidence into the presence of God. Israel was not permitted to do that. The priest came on behalf of the nation. We have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. God spoke to the nation through the priests in the Old Testament. So in every way, Jesus Christ and His high priestly ministry supersedes the Aaronic priesthood as the Book of Hebrews unfolds so clearly. The priests were also the authority teachers of God's word in the nation Israel, several times in the Old Testament, Leviticus chapter 10 and verse 11, Deuteronomy 24;8 and other passages, they are told that they are to instruct the people. So the people would learn from the priests what God had said, what God wanted from them, and they would explain the Law that is being revealed to the people, instruct them on keeping the Law and so on. There is no order of priests today, that is why we disagree with systems that set up on order of priests that supposedly are necessary to stand between the people and God.

You have to have a high priest. That high priest is one after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus Christ and he has provided access into the very presence of God and made us to be priests before God and enabled us to come personally before Him. So, any system that has an order of priest is a false system and is contrary to what God has revealed. In verses 5 to 10, you have the role and the uniqueness of the Levites unfolded and we have highlighted some of that. There basic responsibility is the Levites are to guard the tabernacle and are responsible for the hard work of setting up and taking down the tabernacle. So they are the ones responsible when the tabernacle is setup, it is the Levites who are gathered round the tabernacle, then the other tribes are around. Anyone who would approach the tabernacle, the Levites has the authority to execute them on the spot. There doesn’t have to be a trial. They defend the tabernacle and in doing so they defend the Holiness of the God and anyone who would come and approach the tabernacle would defile it and so they are to kill anyone who would approach. Verse 10, noted that "So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the layman who comes near shall be put to death." And when it comes to taking down and putting up the tabernacle not any just Israelite could pitch in and help, only the Levites were allowed to do it and within the period define responsibilities and certain things only the priest could do and certain items in the tabernacle had to be first wrapped properly by the priests before other Levites then could transport them. Everything to draw attention to the fact we are dealing with a holy God. He must be treated as Holy. We are sinners. We are a sinful people. If we try to transgress and approach His Holiness, we will be destroyed. We must come only according to His instructions, according to the pattern he has established. Now we note he has made it possible for them to come and worship Him to experience His forgiveness and so on, but it is almost be on His terms, His way down to very fine detail.

Verses 11 to 13, explain the purpose of the census of the Levites. The Lord spoke to Moses, say and it is a repeated statement through numbers. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, “This is the word of the Lord, Now, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the sons of Israel instead of every firstborn, the first issue of the womb among the sons of Israel. So the Levites shall be Mine. For all the firstborn are Mine; on the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified to Myself all the firstborn in Israel, from man to beast. They shall be Mine; I am the Lord." So, we were back to Passover and God's provision of the Passover lamb that spared the firstborn in Israel when He destroyed all the firstborn among the Egyptians. That means the firstborn are mine, they were spared, not for you, not for me and I am to take the tribe of Levi for myself instead of the firstborn and so that’s why we are going to count the Levites. The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai saying, "Number the sons of Levi by their fathers' households, by their families; every male from a month old and upward you shall number." Because these now are to take the place of firstborn, they don’t have to be twenty years old. We are not talking about soldiers; we are talking about a life for a life if you will. So the firstborn from one month old and upward they are to be substitutes taking the place of Levite, taking the place of an Israelite. So Moses numbered them according to the word of the lord, just as he had been commanded. These are the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon and Kohath and Merari. We looked at that in Chronicles and we work down for each of these families and count them and we come all the way down the verse 39, and you get the number of the Levites with 22,000. Verse 39, “All the numbered men of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron numbered at the command of the Lord by their families, every male from a month old and upward, were 22,000.

Now, they quite even out and verse 41, “Then the LORD said to Moses, Number every firstborn male of the sons of Israel from a month old and upward, and make a list of their names. You shall take the Levites for Me, I am the LORD, instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel,” and so they count those in verse 43 and all the firstborn male by the number of names from a month old and upward, for their numbered men were 22,273. and the Lord said to Moses in verse 45, “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the sons of Israel and the cattle of the Levites. And the Levites shall be Mine; for the ransom of the 273 of the firstborn of the sons of Israel who are in excess beyond the Levites, you shall take five shekels apiece, per head; take them in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary and give the money, the ransom of those who are in excess among them, to Aaron and to his sons." So they took the ransom money verse 49 and he took the money in terms of the shekel of the sanctuary, verse 50, 1365. Moses gave the money to Aaron. So, there is a clarity down to each individual numbered and now the Levites belong to the God. They are set aside for Him, and that enables them the rest of Israel to go about their activities and so on and the tribe of Levi is used for the service of the Lord, His in a special way for special service for Him. We might note, we are not going to look at the numbers here and add them up and so on in an answer to some of the questions on that. Only the firstborn since the time of Exodus were counted here and are over a year into the Exodus, then over a year since the Exodus from Egypt occurred. We got 22,000 babies born. Now you think of all these adding up. You have got a couple of million of people wandering in a wilderness region and an area that doesn’t get enough rain to sustain crops and so on and sometimes we forget we got babies being born all the time because remember our study of Corinthians, marriage. In marriage, physical expression and in those days you know children were born, they didn’t have birth control and so on and the lot of we do and so you have got babies being born, divide you have over a year here. So, I don’t know how many days 365 plus days they have been in Exodus. You have got 22,000 babies. You have a number of babies born every day as you are journeying along here and all these things have to be taken. You appreciate whether # of undertaking. This Exodus, we are going to wander for 40 years from the Exodus on before they move into Canaan, remarkable how God preserved and kept His people.

Alright Numbers chapter 4, and what happened in the Numbers chapter, you get the duties of the Levites what are they to do. Well you take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, by their families, and this is going to now breakdown individual areas of responsibility of the Levites and it is going to parcel out the work when you have to set up the tabernacle. Everyone among the Levites, the various individual groups within the Levites have to know what there responsibilities are when it comes to set up, when it comes to take down. Everyone knows there responsibility at their particular area of involvement. The tribe Levi has three clans according to the three sons of Levi and priests come from the line of Aaron who is descendent from Kohath down through his descendants. Priests verse 3 are from 30 to 50 years old. Now, later we get to chapter we will find that they could involve themselves in duty of Levites from 25-year-old, but they couldn’t enter into the priesthood, the line Aaron and his children are 30. So, inevitably going to be like a 5-year apprenticeship or internship from 25 to 30, but those who would serve in the priesthood and the priestly work here in the tabernacle work he have to be 30 years of age, 30 to 50, 50 they retire. I missed it. Oh boy, that is an early retirement. We are not told why. Perhaps it has to do with some of the labor that would involve. Setting up and taking down the tabernacle is going to be a laborious task and you have the animal sacrifices that will fall to the priestly family of the Levi and that’s going to be # of daunting task as well. For whatever reason they are not eligible to serve until they are thirty and they are retired from service until when they are fifty. So, you none if you will in the prime of life functioning in this responsibility. Often draw attention to this factor when the New Testament says that Jesus entered His public ministry being about 30 years of age and He is prophet, priest and king. So, that is the age that He would have been eligible to be functioning as a priest in Israel. Even though, He is not going to be the line of Aaron. He is the priest after the order of Melchizedek, He is of the designated age required of a priest under the Old Testament system.

The work of the descendants of Kohath verse 4, when the camp sets up and sets down, Aaron and his sons shall go in and remember we have the line of Kohath, but not all the descendants of Kohath are priests. Only through one of the sons of Kohath who fathered Aaron that the priestly line comes. So, then there will be other duties of the descendants of Kohath. So, when you are setting up, the work of the descendant of Kohath concerning the most holy thing, verse 5, "When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in and they shall take down the veil of the screen and cover the ark of the testimony with it.” So, certain things are required the presence of the priests and only the priests can come into this area when it is the time to take the tabernacle down and he will cover the items according to instruction. So that other Israelites will not see these items. Even looking on them would be defiling they are not allowed to look on these items, which are so closely associated with the presence of God and His worship. The ark, the lampstand, and the golden incense, altar are carried by the Kohathites so that’s within the tribe, the clan under Levi that Aaron is part of, but only Aaron and his descendants can pack these this thing if they will, then the Kohathites can transport them according to instructions. Different items of tabernacle are wrapped in different color cloth or material, which marked them out of their degrees of holiness. So, there is nothing gets mixed up because certain items only the priest can wrap, then package. He would bring disaster on anyone and on the camp of Israel if by mistake someone unwrapped the wrong thing then he was not allowed to see. The examples of judgment for looking at what they weren’t allowed to look at later in the days of Samuel, in the days of David. So, color here of different material is a protection, marks things out according to their Holiness, items of particular holiness in the worship of God.

You come down to verse 17, then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron saying do not let the tribe of the families of the Kohathites be cut off from among the Levites, but do this to them that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy object. Aaron and his son shall go on and assign to each of them do his work and do his load, but they shall not go in to see the holy objects even for a moment or they will die. So, you see you know you say well look this isn’t the idea of worship, this is just transporting these items. It doesn’t matter. These items because they are associated with the worship of God in the presence of the God who is holy, must be handled carefully in such a manner that we already have had the example when the sons of Aaron didn’t do it according to God's instructions as they didn’t treat these things holy and they are consumed by fire. If you don’t do this properly, the family of the Kohathites will no longer exists because God will wipe them out in judgment. So its important that Aaron and his family go in first do what they are instructed to do in covering and thus protecting certain of the items. They are not allowed to see, the Kohathites are not allowed to see. So well you know this is all necessary. Well who is God and who is not and or there any big deal it doesn’t matter as long as they are handled carefully and everybody is careful doesn’t matter, yes it matters. You know God doesn’t take any vote here. He doesn’t ask does anybody think this is alright, what if the other Kohathites don’t think this is a good idea. Aaron and his family are to instruct everyone, so everyone understands and this all draws attention to the fact that God is holy. Turn over to first Samuel, and chapter 6. First Samuel chapter 6, these are in the days of Samuel who will be used to anoint Saul as first king of Israel, but in the days before Saul when Samuel functioned as judge in Israel you have the ark of the Lord captured by the philistines and in verse 19, when the ark is returned to the Israel in an Israelite town and verse 19, “He struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord.” Now note this, “He struck down of all the people, 50,070 men,” because some did look into the ark. This is a serious matter. It isn’t even one or two or three or four or five, but 50,000 people die because some violated God's command and looked into the ark. That’s been forbidden. He struck the lot with great slaughter. The men of Beth-shemesh said who is able to stand before the Lord this holy God and they send instructions to other town and say come and get the ark, I mean we can’t keep it here. # they recognize the message who can stand before the Lord this holy God and you have to be very careful. You have to honor him.

Come back to numbers, you know perhaps if the church paid a little more attention of God said in the Old Testament about the worship, they would appreciate again we have been given great blessings that the children of Israel were not given as far the access to the presence of the Lord, but do you understand God is still God. He is still holy. We are still His creation. We are permitted to draw near to Him, but He says I will be treated as holy by those who draw near to me. Some things have not changed. He is holy. We are to be holy as His people. We are to treat Him as holy in our worship and in our service. So, you have the Levites, and their responsibilities laid out and the duties given. The divisions laid out. Come over to chapter 5, in the matters that relate to purity within the camp of Israel and this is the scene that starts in chapter 5 and is going to go into chapter 10. Chapter 10 and verse 10, this is preparing Israel to move on from Sinai. So, in effect we are continuing matters related to the law and being pure as God’s people in all of their activities and what you have in chapter 5 is a test for adultery particularly for an adulterous woman and there may be questions that this raises for us because the focus is on the woman and particularly on a wife who has been charged with adultery and really there is a test here that will clear her name if you will if she is innocent or bring God’s judgment on her if she is guilty. First opening verses just talk about the matter of keeping defilement from the camp. The Lord spoke to Moses, and sometimes He want something to do to just remind you just go through the Book of Numbers and just highlight or underline all the time that it says “Lord spoke to Moses,” The Lord spoke, The Lord spoke, The Lord spoke, this is God’s word.

Command the sons of Israel that they send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone who is unclean because of a dead person. You shall send away both male and female, you shall send them outside the camp so they will not defile the camp while I dwell in their midst. So, the sons of Israel did this and so here you have a visible representation that those who are defiled and unclean cannot reside within the camp of the nation because they would be a defiling presence and I say well some of these things they don’t have any personal charge over leper I mean he may not be responsible for his leprosy, but he still a leper. If you touch the dead person you know that was my family member you know I had to bury, but thereby you defile, you cannot be in the camp. All these things reminded Israel in visible ways were dealing with a Holy God and He must be treated as Holy. We are His holy people, anything that would be defiling must be removed, now this principle carries over in the New Testament. The church is not Israel, but God is Holy and He requires of His people. He is instructed Israel in the Book of Leviticus. He instructs the church for example in letter of Peter, “You shall be Holy, for I am Holy.” So what is the church to do with the sinful person in its midst. First Corinthians chapter 5, “Remove the sinful person among you,” for the church not to do that is to refuse to treat God as Holy. So, for Israel if they did refuse, did not obey God in removing those of what God said would defile, then the nation was viewed as polluted and thus would come under the judgment and discipline of the Lord. So, you have these people on the outside of the camp, the unclean are removed. We didn’t do the Book of Leviticus, but the Book of Leviticus, but Leviticus chapters 11 to 15, deal with the matter of unclean and their potential to defile others and to defile the tabernacle itself and thus the worship of the Lord and the potential to defile His holiness which would bring of course His immediate wrath.

Verses 5 to 10, talk about restitution for wrongs. If someone had defrauded someone else, they had to pay a restitution, they had to pay a twenty percent penalty, a fine if you will, else they had to offer a ram as a sacrifice to atone for their sins. You note in verse 6, speak to the sons of Israel, “When a man or a woman commits any of the sins of mankind, now note this acting unfaithfully against the Lord.” You know sinning against someone else in Israel was a sin against the Lord. So if they commit any sins of mankind acting unfaithfully against the Lord because when they sin for example defrauding a fellow Israel that was acting unfaithfully against the Lord, has the seriousness of the matter. These are the people of God and verse 9 and 10, they are to be sure to give to the priests, the proper gifts for these are supported by the gifts of the people as are the Levites if you will. So they are to be careful to support priesthood properly because the priests operate on behalf of God as God’s representative and that brings us to verses 11 to the rest of the chapter is the test for the adultery. An adultery brings defilement and has the potential not only to defile the guilty people, but to defile the rest of the Israelites. So, this must be dealt with, and so there is a test and what is set out here is when a husband believes that his wife may have been unfaithful. There is no evidence, there are no witnesses, but he has developed the suspicion that his wife has been unfaithful. So, here are the instructions on what is to be done. You know she may have been or she may not, how are we going to know. Well, I listed nine things that are to be done here, I took this from someone who wrote on the passage only I will summarize it for you as we go through.

First, the suspicious husband brings his wife and an appropriate grain offering, serial offering to the priest. Verse 15, the man shall bring his wife to the priest, shall bring an offering for her one tenth of an ephah of barley meal. Okay, that is the first step. Second step, the priest takes the woman into the court of the tabernacle before the Lord. So, now the priest is going to bring her into the tabernacle. Verse 16, the priest shall bring her near, have her stand before the Lord. So, she comes into the court of the tabernacle, not into the Holy place of Holy of Holies, but the outer court of the tabernacle. Third, the priest takes an earthenware vessel, puts water in it and mixes it dust from the floor of the tabernacle. This can be a strange mixture here for a drink, but he takes his grain offering, this barley meal, has an earthen vessel, puts water in it, takes dirt from the floor of the tabernacle and sprinkles it in. That is verse 17, the priest shall take holy water in earthen vessel, take some of the dust in his arm from the floor of the tabernacle, and put in the water. Fourth, the woman goes back to the priest, the priest then come to the woman unbinds her hair so that it falls down and hangs, puts the serial offering in her hand. So, now she has got this both. Verse 18, is where that is stated and fifthly, holding the water in his hands, the priest recites the curse to the woman and she accents to it, verses 19 to 22. Priests shall have her take an oath and say to woman if no man has lain with and if you have not gone astray and no uncleanness being under the authority of your husband be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse. If you however gone astray being under the authority of your husband and you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband had intercourse with you, then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse. The priest shall say to the woman, the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord making you thigh waste away your abdomen swell. This water that will bring curse shall go into your stomach, make your abdomen swell, your thigh waste away, the woman shall say Amen and Amen.

Number 6, the priest writes down the curses. Verse 23, on a scroll he takes a pen and he writes these curses that he has just elaborated on a scroll. This is quite a procedure. Then he washes what he has just written off in to the bowl. So, now you have the serial offering the barley, you have the dust from the sanctuary the water mixed in and now you wash this off the ink that you have just written the curses off are all washed of now and you have got this mixture in the bowl. Serial, dust, ink that had written what the curses were, they have been washed off now into the bowl symbolizing what when you partake of this, these curses will come upon you if you are guilty. Number 7, the priest takes the serial offering from the woman burns part of it on the altar verses 25 and 26 and woman has been holding this bowl, he takes it from her, part of it he has burned on the offering and burned on the altar and number 8 the last part of number 26. Afterward he shall make the woman drink the water and if the woman is guilty the last point 9, it will bring the curses upon her. It is a way to purify the nation Israel. In Leviticus chapter 5 and verse 11, the dry serial offering associated with the judgment and when a poor man brings a sin offering he is involved in this kind of offering unbinding the hair is another symbol that they may be unclean, the hair of the leper in Leviticus 13:45. Some of these things not specify clearly what is represented it, but in the nation they are evidently understood. All said and done if the woman is guilty if the woman is guilty, she will experience the curses, her abdomen will swell, her thigh will waste away. If she is not and nothing will happen. You imagine being a woman in this and standing there if you are guilty that you are going to drink this, but you have no choice. The interesting thing is nothing is said about, what about a guilty man. I mean if this woman was immoral. She was immoral with someone right, a guilty man. God said nothing about that and if the husband was wrong in his charge, there is no rebuke given to him. You think he would be called before the priests and lectured about making such a false accusation against the faithful wife when all is said and done. But, verse 28 says the woman has not to defiled herself and she is clean then she will be free and conceive children.

This is the law of jealousy when a wife being under the authority of her husband goes astray and defiles herself, for when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man, and he is jealous of his wife. He shall then make the woman stand before the Lord and the priest shall apply this water. Moreover, the man will be free from guilt, but the woman shall bear her guilt to indicate that the husband is free here. Whatever happens, the husband is okay. If she was guilty, he was right of his accusations. If she was found innocent, it is just over. It seems strange, you might think that there will be more equity in what is done here. But one thing that does happen is this does clear the woman. She is not left with a cloud hanging over her when she is an innocent wife whether the husband is constantly accusing her having doubts about her character the matter is cleared up and it also in that way maintains the purity in the nation Israel. Some of these things are strange to us, but they are part of the God’s plan in maintaining the purity of His people. When we look at these things, I don’t know I mean you know they seem strange to me and we are not required to do it, so what is the point, but it does remind us that God is serious about these matters. We just have been spending sometime in Corinthians talking about adultery and immorality. Here we have one issue in immorality and adultery dealt with. You see God is serious about purity among His people, He is serious about His own Holiness, He is serious about His people functioning with purity because they are His people. He dwells among them and so He must be treated as Holy. There worship must be careful, all associated with worshiping Him must be treated as Holy and handled properly and here we are I mean we have the living God dwelling in us. He dwells permanently in an abiding relationship with Him, He and us and us and Him. Any wonder that New Testament speaks about requiring about Holiness and purity in regarding us. Here God dwelt in the midst of His people. He in the New Testament, now He dwells in the midst of His people the church. He dwells in the individual in His church. I must remember every place I go, everything I do I am a temple of the living God who must be treated as Holy Who requires of me Holiness requires that this temple of His be treated as Holy belonging to Him. So, even though the details of what are required or not required of us the point that is being required is being required of us that is Holiness. I think we as a church lose sight so easily. It just becomes a common place thing, oh yes the Lord dwells in me and If I shouldn’t do that it would be better I didn’t do that and I know that shouldn’t be proper, but as though these are not serious matters as though, but somehow God thinks it is alright that the people in whom He dwells don’t treat Him as holy. I mean something is not right here, anything I would think why He would expect that me greater Holiness, greater purity and I am not just dwelling in the camp of Reuben out here with God's temple over here. I mean He is here. I come personally into His presence. I don’t have a priest going in on my behalf, the whole issue of Holiness. The people of God being Holy. The church being maintained as a Holy people and individuals within the church being Holy and treating Him as Holy. Serious, serious matter out of the unquestioned. The church discipline is the requirement of the church who would maintain His Holiness and purity because of the God who is Holy.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your people Israel. Thank you for your grace in dealing with them. Thank you for the lessons that are there for us as your people today the church. Lord how necessary it is reminded that You are God, Holy, Holy, Holy. We are privileged to draw near to you with an intimacy. It was not permitted to Israel must treat you as Holy and they must be an obedient people a submissive people, a people who honor you as God as we walk in relationship of intimacy with you. What a great privilege, a Holy calling. How awesome it is to consider that the church is the dwelling place of the living God that our bodies are a temple for the living God. May it be that we will treat you a Holy in all of our activities that this church will treat you as Holy that our worship will honor you as the Holy God. May the week before us should Jesus Christ tarry a week as daily we walk in fellowship with you we maintain Holiness and purity of life. We pray in Christ’s Name. Amen.