Feb 25: Numbers 5-6

Feb 25, Numbers 5-6

Numbers 5 First talked about is the account of the purification requirements for cleanliness and what to do with the unclean people, and what to do with uncleanness. Then they move on to cleanliness of the heart. Notice how if you sin you are breaking faith the Lord - if we thought about our sin more that way, we may hate sin more than we do now. And the Lord shows how we are to deal with that sin. We are first, verse 6, realize our sin, as we feel the guilt. Then in verse 7, moves us to the action we must take. We must confess our sin and make it right if we can.

Then we get to read about the suspected adulterous wife… as we are learning about community cleanliness, now we are talking about cleanliness in the marriage. But what is interesting, is this phrase that is continually used throughout this chapter,  "A spirit of jealousy." But before we talk about that phrase, let you catch you up with the Ancient times.  Historically, in Ancient Israel, if you were caught in adultery, both consenting man and woman were killed. As Ancient Israel did not tolerate adultery, as it degrades a community, culture, and God's law). But as far as other nations went, adultery was often accepted. Depending on the people group, you had a different adultery culture based around that specific nation. But most nations, at that time, and into New Testament times, gave a lot of 'sexual freedom' when it came to the men. A lot of men had concubines and slept with prostitutes. When you hear of male shrine prostitutes in the Bible, this is also referring to prostitutes for the men, as they were the ones who were being attracted for worship at pagan temples. Even in Greece and Rome, it was expected for a man to be unfaithful to his wife. In the Ancient world, there were different types of women. There were prostitutes and temple prostitutes known in Greek as 'porne' meaning a buyable women and there was a distinction between them, and a 'hetaira'. As it was also common to take a 'hetaira' which was a woman who was educated and knew how to conduct herself with men as a 'companion.' So the men commonly had affairs and committed adultery on an everyday basis. We know this by Greek and Roman law as well as wills. Here is a clip of famous Aristolte's will of when he died, all of his belongs went to his hetaira. 

Aristotle's will. Athens, 4th cent. B.C. (Diogenes Laertius 5.11-16, 3rd cent. A.D. G)

This will is recorded by Diogenes along with the wills of several members of his School; the provisions for his substantial estate reflect Aristotle's notions of women's limitations (cf. no. 72), but at the same time shows his affection for them and concern for their welfare. In the will Aristotle himself is the speaker; he makes provisions for his hetaira Herpyllis and their son Nicomachus, but directs that the bones of his wife Pythias be moved to his grave.  

But the woman were forbidden to have an affair or cheat on there husbands. I know it doesn't seem fair, but that was the way that it was. Other than the rare people groups, like the Spartans who both men and women committed adultery, and women who were actually encouraged by their husbands to have affairs with 'the stronger men to have stronger babies' wasn't the norm in those days, and actually looked upon as savage, by neighboring nations. Greece and Rome recorded a lot of their court issues, and you can read about the husbands that can legally kill their wife and her lover, but the wife is unable to take any action against her husband if he is caught with another woman. Even husbands were allowed to beat their wives, divorce them, and kill them if they thought they were cheating on them. With this mind frame we have Aristotle's famous quote. 

“The male is by nature superior and the female inferior…the one rules and the other is ruled.”

                                            -ARISTOTLE

But this is the thing, surrounded by other people groups with these types of philosophies, came the Israelites, who had the same judgments for the men and for the women. Which wasn't normal. But is really fair, and not based on the sexes. This is where the 'test for adultery' comes in, in Numbers. So the men, couldn't just accuse their wives, divorce them, beat them, or kill them, like other surrounding nations maybe would. And what was the phrase that God used during this chapter? "A spirit of jealousy." So instead of a man acting on this, and ruling his wife like Aristotle did. Instead, men and women are both accountable directly to God for being unfaithful to their spouse in adultery… Anyway - this section discusses both possibilities of adultery - either it did happen or the husband is suspicious that his wife cheated on him, with '"A spirit of jealousy." To pass the test if she was innocent, the wife had to bring a sacrifice to the priest, and drink some water with dirt in it (holy dirt from the tabernacle) and if she the water poisoned her, she would get sick, which meant that she was guilty and that was God revealing it. But if she didn't get sick. It meant that it was the husbands sin of having "A spirit of jealousy." And the woman was to be respected for not cheating on her husband. What I love so much about this, is that it shows the heart of God to be equal and just. To not take advantage of the inferior, as some would say, but instead, stick up for them. We also read, for the wife that was accused, but innocent, she was to have blessings of being free from the accusation and gifted with children.   

Numbers 6  After reading about being clean both in the community and in marriage, we learn about the Nazirite's vow. By definition, A Nazirite is a person who was either chosen or consecrated for life or for a set period of time to complete a vow to God (Tyndale Bible Dictionary). They had some strict rules to tend to - no alcohol, couldn't cut their hair, couldn't be around dead people… Basically - they were to be set apart and consecrated to the Lord alone. For example, their hair was kind of like a priests crown, as it was a sign to others of their commitment. And they had the same rules, as the priest who would enter his Tabernacle. Priests could drink, but not on the day that they were sacrificing to the Lord. And the priests' actually had to shave all their hair off, as a form of cleanliness. But the Nazirite vow, was to not shave or cut their hair; until the vow was over, then the cut hair was cut and given to the Lord. This was to show devotion, or honor to God by participating in this vow to God. Then there is the Priestly Blessing. 

The Priestly Blessing is one of my favorites in the entire Bible and I often use it when closing out a sermon. 

The Lord bless you and keep you; (God’s favor on you and His closeness and presence with you)

The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;  (God’s radiance on you his forgiveness and love shown to you)

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace (May God turn His face to you, look towards you and overwhelm you with His love)

To sum it all up:

• Nothing is hidden from God - our sins will either be found out in this life or the next, so if you are in sin you might as well come clean and get foreignness from God and whoever you are sinning against!

• So, May the Lord bless you & keep you, make His face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you His peace. Amen!!!
• Do you treat women more like Aristotle? Or do you treat women more like God does?