Law of the Nazarites and the Lord's Blessing to His People

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Numbers 6:1) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘When either man or woman separate themselves to vow a vow of a Nazarite, to separate themselves to the LORD, (3) He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink, and shall drink no vinegar of wine, or vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat moist grapes, or dried.'"

In the last chapter and post, the Lord told the people to remove sin and the unclean from their camps.  Now He began explaining the law of the Nazarite which also demonstrated the separateness of God's holy people.  The Lord instructed Moses to now talk to the people about when a man or woman chose to separate himself (or herself) and make the vow of a Nazarite.  The word Nazarite is a form of the original word "nazar" which meant "to separate, set apart, devote, or consecrate".  Upon taking the vow of a Nazarite, a man or woman chose to separate himself from the world and dedicate himself to the Lord.  He was to separate himself from wine and strong drink.  Another definition of the word "nazar" was "abstain".  A person who separated himself for the Lord would necessarily abstain from any impurities; in this case he was instructed to abstain from any wine or strong drink, which included all forms of grapes and their juices, which in their various degrees of fermentation could cause varying degrees of intoxication, or at the very least some degree of impurity or reduced lucidity.

I don't believe this proves that a Christian must totally abstain from drinking.  On the contrary, in listing the blessings of the Lord, Psalm 104:15 lists wine "that makes glad the heart of man".  Jesus even used wine to represent His blood!  If wine was an impure thing of itself, it would have never been used to represent something so precious as Jesus's blood!  Of course, there are many admonitions against drunkenness in the scriptures, as well as numerous examples of times when a person should abstain from wine, but it can in no way be concluded that drinking wine is sinful.  In this case, Nazarites who devoted themselves totally to the Lord, would likewise devote their totally clear thinking minds and pure hearts to the Lord.

(4) "‘All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing that is made of the grapevine, from the kernels even to the husk.'"

All the days that a person separated himself to the Lord, not only was he not to drink any form of grape juice or wine, he was also not to eat any part of the grapevine.  Although some people were Nazarites for life, others were so for just a certain amount of time, and by their own volition, and it is probably concerning them that these rules were given regarding "the days of separation".

(5) "‘All the days of the vow of his separation no razor shall come upon his head; until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the LORD, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.'"

All the days that a Nazarite separated himself to the Lord, he was not to use a razor on his head.  This would also include scissors or anything that he might use to cut or pluck his hair, as he was to let the locks of his hair grow.  This was one of the ways in which he would separate himself from the world and be holy to the Lord.  Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, pointed out in scripture that an abundance of hair "was considered to betoken physical strength and perfection (compare 2Sa 14:25-26), and baldness was regarded as a grave blemish (compare...2Ki 2:23; Isa 3:24). Thus, the free growth of the hair on the head of the Nazarite represented the dedication of the man with all his strength and powers to the service of God."

(6) "‘All the days that he separates himself to the LORD he shall not go near a dead body.'"

All the days that a Nazarite separated himself to the Lord he was not to go near a dead body, which would include burying the dead or perhaps even attending a funeral. 

(7) "‘He shall not make himself unclean for his father or his mother, for his brother or his sister, when they die, because the consecration of his God is upon his head.'"

A Nazarite was not even to come close to the dead body of a close family member because the dedication to his God was upon his head, which might refer to his long locks that were emblematic of his separation to the Lord; or if not literal, might just mean that because he was separated and consecrated to the Lord, he must not go near any dead body.

(8) "'All the days of his separation he is holy to the LORD.'"

All the days of his separation a Nazarite was considered holy to the Lord, and must refrain and abstain from the things listed above, separating himself from the world in total dedication to his Lord.

(9) "'And if any man dies very suddenly by him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.'"

In the event that someone died suddenly and unexpectedly in his presence, then his consecrated head would be defiled, and he must shave his head on the seventh day of his cleansing.  Like some of the other ways a person might become unclean as described in Leviticus, we will find in later verses in Numbers that a person who touched a dead body would be considered unclean for seven days.  He was to go through a purification process and then would be considered clean on the seventh day.  Apparently it was after this purification process for seven days that he must shave his head.

(10) "'And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.'"

After the seven days of purification, and after shaving his head, on the eighth day he was to bring either two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the tabernacle.

(11) "'And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering, and make an atonement for him, because he sinned by the dead, and shall hallow his head that same day.'"

The priest was to offer one of the birds for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to make atonement for him.  Although he did not willfully sin, the person dying in his presence caused him to be unclean which is the effect of sin, and atonement must be made for him.  After this, his head would be hallowed and again consecrated to the Lord, and he could begin growing his hair again.

(12) "'And he shall consecrate to the LORD the days of his separation, and shall bring a lamb of the first year for a trespass offering; but the days that were before shall be lost, because his separation was defiled.'"

I believe the meaning is that he would rededicate to the Lord the number of days in service to the Lord that he had first vowed.  He was to bring a lamb in its first year as a trespass offering, and would begin again "the days of his separation"; all the days he had separated himself for the Lord before he became defiled by the dead were lost and he had to start over.  Wow!  What a sobering thought that even if we don't willfully sin, we become polluted and defiled by the sin around us!  It is only by the love and mercy of our sweet Lord in that He gave us Jesus Christ to be an atoning sacrifice for all.

(13) "'And this is the law of the Nazarite when the days of his separation are fulfilled; he shall be brought to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.'"

This was the law of the Nazarite.  The verse can be interpreted two different ways, depending on the punctuation which varies with different translations.  Everything preceding comprised the law of the Nazarite, or what was to follow was to be considered the law of the Nazarite.  Obviously both were part of the law as both had been instructed by the Lord.  When the days of the Nazarite's separation for the Lord were completed, he was to be brought to the door of the tabernacle.

(14) "'And he shall offer his offering to the LORD, one male lamb of the first year without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for peace offerings, (15) And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, and their grain offering and their drink offerings.'"

He was to present at the door of the tabernacle his offering of a male lamb in its first year, without blemish, for a burnt offering, an unblemished ewe lamb in its first year for a sin offering, and one unblemished ram for peace offerings.  Think about this!  Even though he probably had not sinned while in complete dedication to the Lord, he brought a sin offering.  I believe this shows that there is unknown and secret sin in all of us!  The words of Psalm 139:23-24 come to mind:  "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts, and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting."  We are born into a life of sin in a sinful world; we are polluted by sin all around us and by sin in our hearts, feelings, and thoughts.  Before Jesus Christ came to cover all those sins, even the most righteous men before God had to make offerings for their sins.  Burnt offerings, sin offerings, peace offerings!  All sorts of offerings were offered on the occasion of the Nazarite completing his period of separation.  There was also a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread anointed with oil, along with the grain offering and drink offerings which generally accompanied the sacrifices.

(16) "'And the priest shall bring them before the LORD, and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. (17) And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall also offer his grain offering and his drink offering.'"

The priest was to bring all the Nazarite's offerings before the Lord.  He would offer the sin and burnt offerings, the ram for the peace offerings, the basket of unleavened bread, and the grain and drink offering.

(18) "'And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his separation at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall take the hair of the head of his separation, and put it in the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.'"

After having let his hair grow during the time of his vow as a symbol of his dedication to the Lord, at the end of the time of his vow, he was to shave his head at the door of the tabernacle.  He was to take that hair, the symbol of his vow, and offer it to his God by placing it in the fire that was under the sacrifice of the peace offerings which was the ram that was boiling in a pot or cauldron.

(19) "‘And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite after the hair of his separation is shaved. (20) And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the LORD; this is holy for the priest, with the wave breast and heave shoulder; and after that the Nazarite may drink wine.'"

Then the priest was to take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer and put them upon the hands of the Nazarite.  Putting his hands under the Nazarite's, he would wave them to and fro (wave) and up and down (heave) as an offering to the Lord.  This shoulder of the ram was to be holy to the priest, set apart for him alone to eat, as was the wave breast and heave shoulder that was given him by another law stated in Leviticus 7:34.  After all this, the Nazarite would be allowed to drink wine, which meant he could return to his previous way of living.  Again I see this as proof that there is no sin in drinking wine; a Nazarite was allowed to drink wine.  He certainly wouldn't have been told that it was now okay to sin!

(21) “'This is the law of the Nazarite who has vowed, and of his offering to the LORD for his separation, besides that which his hand shall get; according to the vow which he vowed, so he must do after the law of his separation.'"

The preceding described the law of the Nazarite and his offering to the Lord for his separation, the very least he was obliged to do when his period of separation was fulfilled.  This was besides that which he may have voluntarily vowed; whatever he had vowed, he must do according to the law of the Nazarite, in addition to what was previously commanded above.

(22) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (23) “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘In this way you shall bless the children of Israel, saying to them, (24) “The LORD bless you and keep you; (25) The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; (26) The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
and give you peace."'"

The Lord told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons, the priests, to bless the children of Israel with a beautiful blessing:  "The Lord bless you and keep you", meaning may the Lord bestow on His people His blessings and keep them from Satan and sin and the evil of the world; "the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you", meaning that the Lord cause Himself to shine His everlasting light on them, giving them spiritual light and knowledge of Him, and may He pour out large measures of His grace on them; and "the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace," probably meaning that He look upon them with a cheerful and pleasant countenance, as one who was well pleased with them and their service to Him, and thus give them peace.

The old commentaries that I study pointed out something I was not able to see in my study of the original words.  I am only able to see the original word used, not the accents.  Dr. John Gill, among others, wrote that "the LORD", or "Yehovah", in the three parts of the blessing, although the same word being used, had a different accent on each use of the word.  The commentators said this denoted three distinct persons in the one Jehovah!  In the words of Dr. Gill, "...each of them concerned in the blessing of the Lord's people, the spiritual Israel of God; Jehovah the Father blesses with all spiritual blessings, with electing, adopting, justifying, and pardoning grace, with regenerating and calling, and persevering grace, and with eternal life: Jehovah the Son blesses particularly with redeeming grace, and has a concern in all the other blessings; the saints are blessed with them in him, they are all in his hands, they are procured by him, come through him, and are the gifts of his grace: and Jehovah the Spirit blesses as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification, as the spirit of faith, as a comforter, as the spirit of adoption, and as the earnest and sealer of the saints unto the day of redemption."

(27) "And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them."

There are two possible meanings for putting the Lord's name upon the children of Israel, as is often the case with multiple meanings for individual scriptures.  They shall put the Lord's name on the people; the children of Israel will be His special people called by His name.  Also they were to pronounce the blessing on them in the name of the Lord; in effect, it was permission to use His sacred name to bless them.  The Lord promised He would indeed bless them.

Adam Clarke, in his Commentary on the Bible, pointed out that the law for a Nazarite was an illustration of what it is to be a Christian:

1.  Every genuine Christian is a true Nazarite. He is separated from the world, and dedicated solely to the service of God.
2.  His life is a life of self-denial; he mortifies and keeps the flesh in obedience to the Spirit.
3.  All this enters into the spirit of his baptismal vow; for in that he promises to renounce the devil and all his works, the pomps and vanities of this wicked world, and all the sinful lusts of the flesh - to keep God’s holy word and commandments, and to walk in the same all the days of his life.
4.  The person who is faithful has the blessing of God entailed upon him. Thus shall ye bless the children of Israel, etc.

I would add that just like the Nazarite who became defiled, a Christian who has fallen may pick himself up and start anew in following Christ.  Isn't that wonderful?!  It's not, "Sorry, you failed," but He welcomes us back with loving open arms.  It's true that we start over in the sense that the good deeds from before don't cover what comes after when we backslide, but the beauty is that the coming to Christ even late in life can cover all the sins of a lifetime before:

“But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed shall not be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live...But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be mentioned; in his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them shall he die...When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive." - Ezekiel 18:21-22, 24, 26-27

Unlike the people in the Old Testament who had only the law, we are now saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, but the same principle applies:

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them, and their sins and iniquities I will remember no more." - Hebrews 10:16-17

"Now the just shall live by faith; but if any man draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.” - Hebrews 10:38

“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.” - Romans 4:7-8

"As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." - Psalm 103:12

"For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them." - 2 Peter 2:20-21

I believe there is a difference between backsliding into sin and totally turning away and rejecting Christ.  God knows the heart of man.  David sinned; he committed adultery and murder, but God called him a man after His own heart (Acts 13:22).  God, in His mercy, will draw us back to life in Him, but there are warnings that He will not do this indefinitely:

"Seek the LORD while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." - Isaiah 55:6 (emphasis on "while" is mine)

"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting." - Romans 1:28

Unclean Removed From Camp, and Law of Jealousy Regarding a Woman Accused of Adultery

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Numbers 5:1) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (2) “Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is defiled by the dead."

In the last chapter and post, the Lord had Moses and Aaron count the Levites who were thirty to fifty years of age and able to do the service of the tabernacle, and describe the particular service each group would do.  Now the Lord spoke to Moses regarding purifying the camp.  He told Moses to command the children of Israel to put out of the camp all who were ceremonially unclean, lepers, those with discharge issues, and those who had been made unclean by the touching of the dead.

(3) "Both male and female you shall put out, outside the camp you shall put them, that they may not defile their camps in the midst of which I dwell.”

Whether male of female, any person who had been made unclean was to be put outside the camps so that he or she would not defile the camp in the midst of which the Lord dwelt.  The tabernacle was the dwelling place of the Lord and it was in the midst of the camps of the children of Israel.

(4) And the children of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp; as the LORD spoke to Moses, so the children of Israel did.

The children of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded and put all the unclean outside their camps.

(5) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (6) “Speak to the children of Israel: ‘When a man or woman commits any sin that men commit to do a trespass against the LORD, and that person is guilty, (7) Then he shall confess the sin which he has committed; and he shall recompense his trespass with the principal and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to the one he has wronged.'"

Now the Lord told Moses to instruct the children of Israel on what to do when a man or woman committed a sin.  I can't help but notice the Lord said when a person committed a sin, not if; the Lord knew all people would sin.  "Any sin that men commit" would be any of the sins of men that are commonly committed because of the infirmity of the flesh and the temptations of Satan.  Also noteworthy is that any sin that a person commits is a trespass against the Lord; every sin against man is a sin against the Lord as it is disobedience to His direct command.  The consensus of the commentaries I generally study suggest that the word "guilty" in verse 6 refers to the person's own admission that he is guilty, for obviously if he sinned, he is guilty.  When he was convicted in his conscience that he was guilty, he was to confess his sin, and then make restitution to the person he wronged by paying the whole of what he defrauded his neighbor of, plus one-fifth more.

(8) "‘But if the man has no kinsman to recompense the trespass to, let the trespass be recompensed to the LORD, to the priest, besides the ram of the atonement, by which an atonement is made for him.'"

If the man who was wronged had no kinsman, because evidently in this case he had been killed, then the restitution, the principal plus one-fifth, was to be given to the priest of the Lord, in addition to the ram of atonement, the trespass offering for atonement that was made law back in Leviticus 6:6.

(9) "'And every offering of all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his.'"

Every offering of all the holy things, which would be things given to the Lord, that was brought to the priest, was to be the priest's.  I believe the point here is that it no longer belonged to the person who brought it, and could never be taken back by him.

(10) "'And every man's hallowed things shall be his; whatever any man gives the priest, it shall be his.'"

Every man's hallowed things, those things that were made holy because they had been vowed or offered to the Lord, were to be the priest's.  Whatever thing was given to the priest was to be the priest's alone.  John Wesley, in his Explanatory Notes on the Entire Bible, reminds us that this was not to be understood of the sacrifices, where only part was offered to the Lord, and the remainder was eaten by the offerer and the priest.  This spoke of things that were devoted to God, and could not be offered in sacrifice, such as a man consecrating a house to the Lord; that would be the priest's.

(11) And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, (12) “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and commits a trespass against him, (13) And a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed, and she is defiled, and there is no witness against her, neither was she taken in the act, (14) And the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife, and she is defiled, or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he is jealous of his wife, and she is not defiled...'"

The Lord continued speaking to Moses.  He told him to talk to the children of Israel about the circumstance of a man whose wife went astray and trespassed against him by committing adultery.  If a man lay with her carnally, and it was done in secret and concealed from her husband, and she was indeed defiled, but she was not caught in the act and there were no witnesses against her, and the spirit of jealousy came over the husband...  This seems to indicate that the husband became jealous and suspected his wife of having an adulterous affair.  There had been no witnesses, but he suspected that she had lain with another man carnally and had defiled herself.  So whether the man became jealous of his wife and she was defiled, or if he was jealous but she was not defiled, this train of thought is continued in the next verse.

(15) "'Then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.'"

The man was to bring his wife whom he suspected of committing adultery to the priest.  He was also to bring an offering for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley meal, which was an omer, said to be about the amount a man could eat in one day.  The meal was to have no oil or frankincense on it.  Albert Barnes, in his Notes on the Bible, suggested that, "The offering was to be of the cheapest and coarsest kind, barley...representing the abused condition of the suspected woman."  Additionally, he wrote, "It was, like the sin-offering...to be made without oil and frankincense, the symbols of grace and acceptableness."  This was an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing that sin to remembrance.

(16) "‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD.'"

The priest was to bring the woman before the Lord.

(17) "'And 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 was then to take holy water from the laver, putting it in an earthen vessel, and then he was to take dust from the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.  The old commentators I study, suggest that the dust represented the baseness of the accused crime, and the fact that it came from the tabernacle floor made it holy dust, perhaps representing the vile act was a sin against the holy Lord, which adultery surely is.  Adultery is a sin against the direct commandment of the Lord, as put forth in the Ten Commandments, "Thou shall not commit adultery."

(18) "'And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering; and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causes the curse.'"

The priest was to stand the woman before the Lord and uncover her head.  Uncovering her head perhaps signified her own immodesty in what she did (or was accused of doing), but it certainly was a shameful thing for her to be exposed that way to men, as suggested in other verses (1 Cor. 11:5-6).  The priest then put the offering of memorial, the jealousy offering of barley meal described above, in her hands.  The priest held in his hand the vessel of holy water with the dust in it.  This would not have caused it to be bitter tasting, but it was bitter because the holy water had been defiled by the dust representing the depraved act.  The water with the dust did not in itself cause the curse, but it symbolized and declared her to be accursed.

(19) "‘And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, be free from this bitter water that causes the curse."'"

The priest was to put the woman under oath and tell her that if no man other than her husband had lain with her, and she had not gone astray to be defiled by another man, she would be free from the curse that the dusty holy water represented.

(20) "'“But if you have gone aside to another instead of your husband, and if you are defiled, and some man has lain with you besides your husband--" (21) Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, "The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh rot and your belly swell; (22) And this water that causes the curse shall go into your bowels, to make your belly swell and your thigh rot." And the woman shall say, "Amen, amen."'"

However, if the woman had indeed committed adultery with another man, then the priest would "charge", originally "shaba", the woman.  "Shaba" as defined by Strong's, was a root meaning "to be complete", a root of "sheba", meaning "seven" or "seven times"; therefore "shaba" meant to "seven oneself", meaning to swear, as if repeating a declaration seven times; the priest would charge the woman with an oath of cursing, which Brown-Driver-Briggs defines more simply in one of its definitions, as "curse".  I believe the meaning is that the priest would charge the woman by her own oath, or by his, an oath that would bring a curse if she had indeed committed adultery.  The priest would then say to the woman, pronouncing the curse upon her, "The LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people..."  Dr. John Gill, in his Exposition of the Entire Bible, explained this somewhat difficult language this way, "accursed according to the oath taken; or let this be the form of an oath and imprecation used by the people, saying, if I have done so and so, let me be accursed as such a woman, or let not that happen to me, as did to such a woman..."  The curse pronounced was that the Lord would make her thigh rot and her belly swell, if she was guilty.  I used to wonder about the significance of the thigh, but John Wesley explained it very convincingly that the thigh was just a modest word for the private part meant.  That does make a lot of sense.  She would rot and her belly would swell if she were guilty of adultery.  Upon drinking the holy water, the curse would come upon her, rotting her and making her swell.  The woman was to agree to this if she were found to be guilty; if she was not guilty, she had nothing to fear.

(23) "'And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water.'"

The priest was to write these curses in a book and blot them with the dusty holy water which probably was symbolic of transferring the curses to the water.

(24) "'And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causes the curse, and the water that causes the curse shall enter into her and become bitter.'"

The priest would then make the woman drink the water.  The water, upon entering her when she drank it, would then become bitter.  Probably it was not bitter tasting, but rather bitter because it caused the above mentioned curse if the woman was guilty.

(25) "'Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar.'"

Actually, it appears that the priest took the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand before she was forced to drink the water, as stated in the next verse.  He waved the offering back and forth before the Lord, and offered it upon the altar.

(26) "'And the priest shall take a handful of the offering, the memorial of it, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.'"

The priest would take a handful of the offering, a reminder of the woman's iniquity, and burn it on the altar, and then make the woman drink the cursed water.

(27) "'And when he has made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she is defiled, and has done trespass against her husband, that the water that causes the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot; and the woman shall be a curse among her people.'"

When the priest made the woman drink the water, if she was defiled and had committed adultery, then the water would become bitter and cause her belly to swell and her thigh to rot.  This scripture proves there was nothing literally bitter about the water, but rather it was supernatural that the water would cause the curse if the woman was guilty.  There were some commentaries I read that tried to suggest that the priest might have put something bitter in the water, but I see absolutely no reason to assume that.  If she was guilty, and the curse came upon her, she would be looked upon by the people as an accursed woman, probably shunned by all.

(28) "'And if the woman is not defiled, but is clean, then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.'"

If the woman was not defiled and guilty of adultery, then she would be free from the curse and would be able to conceive.  This indicates the rotting of her "thigh" was actually the rotting of her private child-bearing parts, and the swelling of her belly indicated the disease within her.

I briefly wondered if the curse would be immediately visible or if it would come over time.  I concluded it would have to be immediately visible; how else would a woman be made known to be a curse among her people?  And imagine if a woman was not guilty, but she was unable to bear children right away or at all; people would assume she had been guilty and was cursed even though she wasn't.  To have the people witnesses to this curse, it must have been immediately visible to them.

(29) "‘This is the law of jealousy, when a wife goes astray to another instead of her husband, and is defiled; (30) Or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.'"

The preceding instruction was to be considered the law of jealousy; it was to be applied when a wife committed adultery against her husband, and also when a man became jealous and suspected his wife of committing adultery.  He would bring his wife to the priest, thus bringing her before the Lord, and the priest would execute the law as described in the above verses.

(31) "'Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.'"

By bringing his wife to the priest when he knew of or suspected her of adultery, he would then be innocent of iniquity, obviously meaning he would be guilty of iniquity if he did not bring her to the priest.  This shows that the act of allowing his wife's loose living to go on, or even if only once committed, to go unpunished, would be considered a sin against God.  By bringing his wife to the priest, he was pronounced innocent, and the woman would bear the punishment of her sin, if she was indeed guilty.

This brings to my mind another scripture, Romans 1:32, "Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."  Also Ezekiel 33:8-9:  “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you shall surely die!’ if you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, if he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul."  Not only did God command against evil, but those who allowed, enabled, or condoned it, were also guilty of sin against the Lord.  Note the Lord commanded in verse 1 of this chapter that the people put all the unclean outside their camp.  Not only were the people to obey God's commands, but they were to turn out of the camp those others who were unclean before the Lord.  If this pertained to those people who unknowingly or even necessarily became ceremoniously unclean, how much more must it have applied to those who knowingly and willingly sinned.  The people had a responsibility to keep sin out of their camp; therefore they could not turn a blind eye to it, or they, too, would be guilty of sin.

What a lesson for us now!  Think of how much people celebrate sins against God these days.  People cheered when same-sex marriage was made lawful; Obama lit up the White House in rainbow colors in celebration of it, a symbol that our entire country condoned and celebrated that which God called an abomination.  Think of how the choice of killing a baby is celebrated; women march for the right of murder, and people celebrate and promote those demonstrations.  We are not guiltless if we condone such sins against God.  We cannot judge those who commit such sins; after all, "There but for the grace of God, go I."  We all sin and are guilty before God, and no one sin is greater than another in the eyes of the Lord, but we should not be celebrating these sins.  We should be praying for these sinners and for ourselves to be led by and to the Lord.  Jesus loved all the sinners and came to save them, but He wished them to "go and sin no more".