Commentary - Numbers 5:1-4

Bird's-eye view

In this brief but potent passage, we are confronted with the tangible reality of God's holiness. The camp of Israel was not just a collection of tents and families; it was the dwelling place of Yahweh. His presence demanded a certain kind of civic and ceremonial order. This is not about hygiene in the modern sense, though the principles certainly don't hurt. This is about theology made visible. God is teaching His people, through a set of powerful object lessons, what it means to be a holy people set apart for a holy God. The categories of clean and unclean, the separation of the defiled from the camp, all served as a gigantic audio visual aid. These laws were designed to teach Israel to make distinctions, to understand that fellowship with a holy God has requirements. And the central requirement is holiness.

The instructions here are direct and uncompromising. Those with leprosy, discharges, or uncleanness from contact with the dead are to be put outside the camp. This was not a punitive measure born of distaste, but a protective one. It was about protecting the integrity of the camp where God Himself dwelt. The defilement had to be removed so that the fellowship between God and His people would not be defiled. This points us forward to the gospel, where the ultimate defilement of our sin had to be dealt with outside the camp, in the person of Jesus Christ, who became unclean for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.

Outline

Context In Numbers

Coming right after the detailed instructions for the Nazirite vow in chapter 6 and the arrangement of the tribes around the tabernacle, this passage in Numbers 5 continues the theme of holiness and order within the community of Israel. The book of Numbers is, in many ways, about the organization of God's people for their march toward the Promised Land. But it's not just a matter of logistics and military formation. It is fundamentally about how a redeemed people are to live with God in their midst. These laws concerning ritual purity are not random regulations; they are part of the "holiness in a kit" that God provided for Israel in the wilderness. They are practical applications of the principles laid down at Sinai, showing what it looks like to be a holy nation when God is your next door neighbor.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

Verse 1: Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

The instruction begins where all true authority begins, with the direct speech of God. "Yahweh spoke to Moses." This is not a suggestion from a committee on public health. This is a divine command. The entire structure of Israel's life, their worship, their civil order, their family life, was to be governed by the revealed Word of God. We must never forget that the foundation of all righteous order is "Thus saith the Lord." Moses is the mediator, the one who receives the word and delivers it to the people, but the source is God Himself. This establishes the absolute, non negotiable nature of what is to follow.

Verse 2: "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."

Here is the command itself. It is threefold, targeting three specific kinds of ceremonial uncleanness. First, the "leper." This term likely covered a range of chronic skin diseases, not just what we know today as Hansen's disease. The issue was the visible sign of corruption and decay on the surface of the body. Second, "everyone having a discharge." This refers to bodily emissions that rendered a person ceremonially unclean according to the laws in Leviticus. Third, anyone "unclean because of a dead person." Contact with death was the most potent source of ritual defilement. Why these three? Because they are powerful visible representations of the effects of the fall. Disease, decay, and death are the wages of sin made manifest in the flesh. To be ceremonially unclean was not necessarily to be morally sinful. A person could become unclean through no fault of their own, such as caring for a dying parent. But the ceremonial system was a tutor, an audio visual aid, teaching Israel that sin and its consequences have no place in the presence of the living God. The action required is to "send away," to put them outside the camp. This is not about being mean; it is about being holy.

Verse 3: "You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst."

This verse provides the rationale, and it is crucial. The command is comprehensive, applying to "both male and female." Holiness is not a respecter of persons. But the reason is what drives it all home: "so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell in their midst." This is the heart of the matter. The camp of Israel was unique among all the encampments of men because God was there. His presence, localized in the Tabernacle, sanctified the entire community. Therefore, defilement could not be tolerated because it was an offense against the holy presence of God. Think of it this way: you wouldn't bring a leaking garbage bag into the pristine throne room of a king. How much more should God's people guard the sanctity of His dwelling place? The presence of God brings immense blessing, but it also brings immense responsibility. You cannot have God dwelling among you and live like He is not there. His presence demands purity.

Verse 4: "And the sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did."

And here we have the proper response to a divine command: simple, straightforward obedience. "The sons of Israel did so." The text emphasizes the precision of their obedience: "just as Yahweh had spoken to Moses." There was no debate, no attempt to form a committee to study the long term sociological effects of temporary exclusion. God spoke, and they acted. This is the pattern of faith. True faith is not just intellectual assent; it is obedient action. This act of obedience, difficult as it may have been for the families involved, was an act of corporate worship. It was a declaration that they valued the presence of God more than they valued their own comfort or convenience. They understood that the holiness of the camp, where God dwelt, was the source of their life and blessing, and it was worth protecting at all costs.

Application

So what are we to do with this? We are not under the Mosaic ceremonial law; these specific regulations about skin diseases and dead bodies were part of the scaffolding that was torn down when the building, Christ, was complete. But the principle they illustrate is eternal. The church is now the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where God dwells in the midst of His people. Our fellowship, our corporate life, is to be holy.

This means we must take sin and its public manifestations seriously. While we are to be gracious and patient, we are not to be tolerant of open, unrepentant sin in the camp. Church discipline, the modern equivalent of sending the unclean outside the camp, is not a mean spirited act of exclusion but a loving act of protection for the church and a call to repentance for the sinner. It is done so that the church is not defiled and our witness to a watching world is not compromised.

Furthermore, we see a beautiful picture of Christ's work here. He was the one who was truly "sent outside the camp." He was cast out of Jerusalem, bearing our reproach, our uncleanness, our sin. He was made unclean for us, so that we, the truly defiled, could be made clean and welcomed into the very presence of God. This ancient law, therefore, should drive us to our knees in gratitude for the one who took our defilement upon Himself and was exiled so that we might be brought home.