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Scripture Reading: Num. 5:11-31
In this message we will continue to consider the dealing with defilement described in chapter five of Numbers.
In Num. 5:11-31 we have the dealing with a wife over whom her husband was jealous. This case reveals that God is not only sovereign over each of His children but also that He may even do something miraculous in dealing with a particular kind of defilement.
In understanding the book of Numbers, we can easily understand in a logical way the corporate and individual dealings in 5:1-10. However, it is not easy to comprehend logically the dealing in 5:11-31, something that is not mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. The only way to understand this dealing logically is to take it as part of typology.
The revelation in the Bible is given to us in different ways. First, the divine revelation is given in clear words, such as Genesis 1:1, where we are told that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
Second, the revelation is conveyed through historical records. The books from Exodus to Malachi are a long history of the children of Israel, unveiling to us an abundance of divine truth.
Third, the divine revelation is given through the lives of different characters, such as the great men in Genesis (Adam, Abel, Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph). For example, Enosh was a weak, frail, mortal man, but he was characterized by his calling on the name of the Lord (Gen. 4:26). Although Enosh was weak, by calling on the name of the Lord he was made rich and strong, for he entered into the strength and riches of the One on whom he called.
Finally, the divine revelation is given through typology. Typology implies figures, shadows, types, and patterns. For instance, Abraham's two wives are figures of two covenants: Hagar signifies the covenant of law, and Sarah, the covenant of grace (Gal. 4:21-31). The story of Sarah and Hagar may be considered not only as a figure but also as a shadow. Neither the covenant of law nor the covenant of grace had been enacted at the time of Hagar and Sarah. Nevertheless, Hagar and Sarah are, respectively, shadows of the covenants of law and of grace.
Even clear words and figures of speech may be related to typology. Proverbs 4:18 says, "The path of the righteous is as the dawning light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day" (ASV). This proverb is a clear word, yet in this word is a figure of speech that is a part of typology. The "dawning light," the sunrise, signifies Christ's coming (Luke 1:78). This figure may also signify our revival in the morning. From this illustration we see that a clear, plain word may include a figure of speech which may be regarded as a part of typology.
The typology in the Bible is a great thing and has many aspects. Probably, in the Old Testament the divine revelation conveyed through typology may equal that in plain words.
It is difficult to explain Numbers 5:11-31 by clear words. What is portrayed here has nothing to do with history or with a character, but it does have something to do with typology.
In typology, God gained a people at Mount Sinai and used them to build a habitation on earth. He then gave them a set of laws, regulations, and ordinances for their worshipping of Him. After this, He came in to form this people into an army. The people gained by God to be formed into an army that can fight for Him and a priesthood that can serve Him should be altogether clean — in their being, nature, speaking, appearance, behavior, the way they move and act, and even in what they possess.
The corporate dealing in chapter five includes only three things: leprosy, discharges, and deadness. Nevertheless, these things comprise all the uncleanness that needs to be dealt with among God's holy people. On the side of the individual, the dealing with one's faithfulness is a dealing according to God's righteousness. This is why there is the need of such a portion as 5:1-10.
Numbers 5:11-31 is a particular portion in all the sixty-six books of the Bible, showing us not only God's sovereignty but also His miracle. The record here is a record of a miracle.
The test with the water of bitterness (v. 18) used a combination of water (referring to the Holy Spirit), dust from the floor of the tabernacle (referring to man's human nature), and the meal offering (referring to Christ). The wife who was under suspicion was asked to drink the water. If she was sinful, the water would work in her abdomen to cause it to swell and to cause her thigh to be reduced. This does not seem to be a record of something divine. However, this is a wonderful miracle.
The record in Numbers 5 is similar to the record of what the Lord Jesus did in John 9:1-7. He healed a blind man by mingling spittle with dust to make clay and then anointing the blind man's eyes with the clay. Today, if the Lord tried to do this to us, we might consider it a joke, and we might not be willing to allow Him to do such a thing to us.
In the record of Numbers 5:11-31 we can see typology. The water typifies the Holy Spirit, the meal offering of barley typifies the resurrected Christ, and the dust represents the created man (Gen. 2:7). Hence, creation, the Spirit, Christ, and His death and resurrection are all involved. The water into which was put dust from the floor of the tabernacle became not only a water of bitterness that brought a curse, but also a working water that caused the abdomen to be enlarged and the thigh to be reduced.
If we would expound 5:11-31, we must know how to expound the types. The hardest point for us to expound is the dust on the floor of the tabernacle. Dust refers to the natural man, to the man created by God, and the tabernacle is God's dwelling. God's dwelling place is built upon the man created by Him. This is the dust on the floor of the tabernacle. God's dwelling place is holy, yet there is a kind of dust that can be joined to God's dwelling place. To take such a dust and put it into the water is to take a human nature that can be joined to God's dwelling place and put it into the Holy Spirit. This water containing dust is then put together with Christ as the meal offering made of barley (in resurrection) but with no frankincense and no oil (without the effectiveness of resurrection and without the Holy Spirit) upon it. Here we see the human nature created by God conjoined with God's dwelling place, put into the Holy Spirit, and applied with the resurrected Christ. Such a thing will be a real test of our chastity.
Corporately and individually God's people should be chaste to God. It is not sufficient merely to be clean. To be clean is one thing, and to be chaste is another. We may not have leprosy, we may not have discharges, and we may not have any contact with deadness, but are we chaste? We may be very faithful, but we do not have a high character if we are not chaste. A wife may be good in every way, but if she has another love, the other love will spoil her in her chastity. God's people should not only be clean in every way and in every respect — they should also be chaste. Thus, we need to learn how to be chaste toward the Lord.
Let us now briefly consider some of the details related to the dealing with a wife over whom her husband was jealous.
The dealing with a wife over whom her husband was jealous typifies Christ's jealousy over His believers and His church. We must remember that the church and all the believers have a husband — Christ. We may not be rebellious (leprous), we may be quite self-controlled and restrained (not discharging), and our behavior may be altogether right with both God and man, but as a wife to Christ, are we chaste? To be chaste, a wife should not have any love other than her husband. If a wife appreciates any other man, she is on the verge of losing her chastity.
If we are a chaste wife to Christ, we can follow our Husband to fight. David had a fighting wife (1 Sam. 25). In Revelation, Christ's fighting army is composed of His overcomers, who are a fighting wife to match Christ (Rev. 19:7-9, 11-14). In order to be a part of the Lord's fighting army, we must be chaste. The dealings in the book of Numbers show that the requirement for God's people to be formed into an army is very high.
The church and all the believers should have only Christ as their love (2 Cor. 11:2-3). If the church or any of the believers seeks and pursues anything other than Christ, that is spiritual adultery in the eyes of God. Those who commit spiritual fornication will be judged and cursed by God (1 Cor. 16:22) and will not be able to fight for God and serve God. Once we lose our chastity, we lose our ability to fight for God and to serve Him.
The man who was jealous over his wife was to bring her to the priest (Num. 5:15a). The priest here may signify Christ or someone who is very close to God.
"The man shall bring his wife to the priest, and bring her offering for her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance" (v. 15). The priest was then to place this meal offering of jealousy into the hands of the woman (v. 18). The meal offering signifies Christ in His humanity offered to God that God's people may be acceptable. In this case, the meal offering was of barley meal with no oil or frankincense upon it. Barley signifies the resurrected Christ, oil signifies the Holy Spirit, and frankincense signifies resurrection. Such a meal offering of jealousy brought iniquity to remembrance.
"The priest shall present the woman before Jehovah, and unbind the hair of the woman's head" (v. 18a). The unbinding of the woman's hair shows that she has not subjected herself to the headship. The priest also took the holy water (the Holy Spirit) in an earthen vessel (the natural man) and took the dust (the nature of the natural man — Gen. 3:19; Psa. 22:15) from the floor of the tabernacle and put the dust into the water to make it the water of bitterness that brings the curse (Num. 5:17-22).
"Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and wash them off into the water of bitterness; and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse" (vv. 23-24a). The curses here refer to the word of God's judgment.
"The priest shall take the meal offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal offering before Jehovah and bring it to the altar. And the priest shall take a handful of the meal offering, as its memorial portion, and offer it up in smoke upon the altar" (vv. 25-26a). The waving of the meal offering signifies resurrection. The handful of the meal offering that was offered up in smoke was burned to God as a memorial portion.
"When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and has acted unfaithfully against her husband, then the water that brings the curse shall enter into her to cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall waste away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people" (v. 27). For the womb (abdomen) to swell meant that it became abnormal. For the thigh to waste away meant that the woman's strength was decreasing. This dealing involved creation, redemption, resurrection, the Holy Spirit, and God's habitation. Such a dealing was surely miraculous.
"If the woman has not defiled herself and she is clean, then she shall be clear and shall conceive children" (v. 28). Literally, the Hebrew word translated "children" means seed. The woman who had not defiled herself would conceive seed.
The dealing in 5:11-31 indicates that God's test of His people's chastity is very severe. Our character must be high in chastity. Then we can fight for God and serve God.
