46 All those who were enrolled of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the leaders of Israel enrolled, by their clans and their ancestral houses,
from thirty years old up to fifty years old, everyone who qualified to do the work of service and the work of bearing burdens relating to the tent of meeting,
their enrollment was eight thousand five hundred eighty.
According to the commandment of the LORD through Moses they were appointed to their several tasks of serving or carrying; thus they were enrolled by him, as the LORD commanded Moses.
5 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Command the Israelites to put out of the camp everyone who is leprous,[7 (#ulink_4e5de566-d963-59ba-8576-8904743b9bbc)] or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with a corpse;
you shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp; they must not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.
The Israelites did so, putting them outside the camp; as the LORD had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.
5 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to the Israelites: When a man or a woman wrongs another, breaking faith with the LORD, that person incurs guilt
and shall confess the sin that has been committed. The person shall make full restitution for the wrong, adding one-fifth to it, and giving it to the one who was wronged.
If the injured party has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the LORD for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for the guilty party.
Among all the sacred donations of the Israelites, every gift that they bring to the priest shall be his.
The sacred donations of all are their own; whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his.
DEMANDS OF THE LAW HAVE BEEN MET
Christianity tells people to repent and then promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel they need any forgiveness. It is after you realize there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power—it is after this, and not a moment sooner, that Christianity begins to talk. When you know you are sick, you will listen to the doctor. When you have realised that our position is nearly desperate you will begin to understand what the Christians are talking about. They offer an explanation of how we got into our present state of both hating goodness and loving it. They offer an explanation of how God can be this impersonal mind at the back of the Moral Law and yet also a Person. They tell you how the demands of this law, which you and I cannot meet, have been met on our behalf, how God Himself becomes a man to save from the disapproval of God. It is an old story.
—from Mere Christianity
For reflection
Numbers 5:1–10
11 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
if a man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden from her husband, so that she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught in the act;
if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself;
then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 Then the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD;
the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
The priest shall set the woman before the LORD, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse.
Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, “If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse.
But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you,”
—let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—“the LORD make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge;
now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen.”
23 Then the priest shall put these curses in writing, and wash them off into the water of bitterness.
He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her and cause bitter pain.
The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall elevate the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar;
and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop, and the woman shall become an execration among her people.
But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.
29 This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her.
The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.
6 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When either men or women make a special vow, the vow of a nazirite,[8 (#ulink_04199c40-5fa4-5cda-bc34-28c581d9b394)] to separate themselves to the LORD,
they shall separate themselves from wine and strong drink; they shall drink no wine vinegar or other vinegar, and shall not drink any grape juice or eat grapes, fresh or dried.
All their days as nazirites[9 (#ulink_740e75d9-7745-5881-a28a-f3f25e2eb94a)] they shall eat nothing that is produced by the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.
5 All the days of their nazirite vow no razor shall come upon the head; until the time is completed for which they separate themselves to the LORD, they shall be holy; they shall let the locks of the head grow long.
6 All the days that they separate themselves to the LORD they shall not go near a corpse.
Even if their father or mother, brother or sister, should die, they may not defile themselves; because their consecration to God is upon the head.
All their days as nazirites[9 (#ulink_740e75d9-7745-5881-a28a-f3f25e2eb94a)] they are holy to the LORD.
9 If someone dies very suddenly nearby, defiling the consecrated head, then they shall shave the head on the day of their cleansing; on the seventh day they shall shave it.
On the eighth day they shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting,
