Lesson date: 11/02/5856AA

Chapter 5 is easily divided into to parts: Part 1 is found in verses 1-10; and Part 2 is found in verses 11-31. Part 1 I call “Being put out of the Camp and Part 2 is called The Torah of Jealousy. Part 1 is based upon the Torah of Leprosy (Lev. 13) and The Torah of one who has a Discharge (Lev. 15).

In the Torah of Leprosy we learned that not only our bodies can be infected but so can our “establishments”, i.e. a house or a house of worship.  It was the Torah of Leprosy that explained to me something I had always wondered about in Scripture, Mark 11:11: Mar 11:11 And יהושע went into Yerushalayim and into the Set-apart Place. And having looked around on all, He went out to Běyth Anyah with the twelve, as the hour was already late.

In the Torah of the one who has a Discharge we learned that it not only did it apply to having a leaking sore, boil or pimple but it could also include having an outburst from our mouths that makes us unclean or causes sin. In this Torah we looked at our interpersonal relationships that we have with our spiritual family and the responsibilities that we have in those relationships.

I have only mentioned the Torah of Jealousy a few times and that is my fault because, of what it means to us in our relationship with our Creator, YHVH and, our Messiah. How does this relate to us? Are we not the Bride of our Messiah? Were we not unfaithful in worshipping other gods? YHVH proclaimed to us that He was jealous: Exo 20:3 “You have no other mighty ones against My face.

Exo 20:4 “You do not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of that which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth,

Exo 20:5 you do not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, יהוה your Elohim am a jealous Ěl, visiting the crookedness of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

Here is the second indication that we have to see that there may be more here than just what meets the eyes in Bemidbar 5:14, a spirit of jealousy (H853) comes upon him and he becomes jealous (H853) of his wife

The “husband” suspects his wife has been unfaithful to him and he will take his wife and present he to the priest along with one tenth of an ephah of flour. Now listen to how ridiculous this sounds, “I think my wife is cheating on me and I am suppose to bring a 4 pound bag of flour.” It doesn’t make sense, right?

Let’s just see if that is right. 1/10^th of and ephah of flour is a omer. It takes 10 omers to make an ephah just like it takes 10 to have a quorum or righteous government in the case of Abraham: Gen 18:27 And Aḇraham answered and said, “Look, please, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to יהוה,

Gen 18:28 “Suppose there are five less than the fifty righteous, would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” And He said, “If I find there forty-five, I do not destroy it.”

Gen 18:29 And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there are found forty?” And He said, “I would not do it for the sake of forty.”

Gen 18:30 And he said, “Let not יהוה be displeased, and let me speak: Suppose there are found thirty?” And He said, “I would not do it if I find thirty there.”

Gen 18:31 And he said, “Look, please, I have taken it upon myself to speak to יהוה: Suppose there are found twenty?” And He said, “I would not destroy it for the sake of twenty.”

Gen 18:32 And he said, “Let not יהוה be displeased, and let me speak only this time: Suppose there are found ten?” And He said, “I would not destroy it for the sake of ten.”

If it takes 10 omers to make one ephah and you only have one then that omer is alone. But that is not all. What other quality is there to the flour? one-tenth of an ěphah of barley flour. Barley flour represents the Messiah Himself. And, what other quality does it have? is not to pour oil on it or put frankincense on it, Oops, the oil represents the Ruach Hakodesh and you do not have any in this judgement. The frankincense represents purity. We are completely alone in the presence of the priest.

Then what happens? Num 5:16 And the priest shall bring her near, (H853) and shall make her stand before יהוה. The priest makes the unfaithful wife stand before YHVH. He then goes to the bronze laver and takes some of the set-apart water (the Word) and places the set-apart water in an earthen vessel. Do you see it? The Word was placed in an earthen vessel. In other words the Word was made flesh>Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh and pitched His tent among us, and we saw His esteem, esteem as of an only brought-forth of a father, complete in favour and truth.

After this the priest takes the dust and places it in the earthen jug What is the dust? Gen 13:16 “And I shall make your seed as the dust of the earth, so that, if a man could count the dust of the earth, then your seed also could be counted. The dust is from the floor of the Set-Apart Place and represents all the generations of the Children of Yisra’el who have remained faithful as a witness against the woman.

Next, the priest would uncover her head which means she is no longer under the protection of her husband, it is just her before YHVH and she must rely upon YHVH’s mercy. Starting to sound familiar?

And next: Num 5:18 And the priest shall make (H853) the woman stand before יהוה, and shall uncover (H853) the woman’s head, and put (H853) the offering for remembering in her hands,

Before I go any farther I want to point out the exact word that is used for “uncover” which is para = H6544 – פָּרַע – pâra‛ – paw-rah’ – A primitive root; to loosen; by implication to expose, dismiss; figuratively absolve, begin: – avenge, avoid, bare, go back, let, (make) naked, set at nought, perish, refuse, uncover, let loose.

It implies that once her head is uncovered and there is a ponytail or braid that it it also undone. Exo 32:25 And Mosheh saw that the people were let loose, for Aharon had let them loose, to their shame among their enemies. Or, said in other words, naked and ashame because there was a lack of restraint in honoring her husband.

Think about the symbolism I have laid out above because I want to add to it now. The wife is holding the offering in her hand which identifies her as one of the Children of Yisra’el. The now bitter water represents Torah. How? Because if we break Torah we sin and if we sin we have to pay a price. Many people today look upon Torah as a curse but it is not the breaking of Torah brings the curse, death. Here is another thing I want you to see in the bitter water. It is made bitter by the dust of the Set-Apart Place which can also represent walking in the footsteps of our Messiah. Do you see the symbolism?

Deu 28:15 “And it shall be, if you do not obey the voice of יהוה your Elohim, to guard to do all His commands and His laws which I command you today, that all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:

Now, here is the scariest part to me, standing spiritually “naked”, uncovered before the High Priest the woman is to say “Amein, Amein” fully acknowledging the curse and willingly accepts the outcome as “Truth”.

IF the woman is guilty her thigh will waste away and her belly will swell up. She will not be able to conceive a child but she will always go around looking as though she is with child but never give birth. If she is innocent she will be able to conceive and bear children. In other words she will be fruitful.

There is still more that has to be done. In verse 23 we see the High Priest writes the curses in a scroll and then scrapes them off into the bitter water. The scroll was animal skin so the mixture is made even more bitter by the addition of the dried animal skin scraped in the water: Rev 10:9 And I went to the messenger and said to him, “Give me the little book.” And he said to me, “Take and eat it, and it shall make your stomach bitter, but it shall be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”

Rev 10:10 And I took the little book out of the messenger’s hand and ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.

Col 2:14 having blotted out that which was written by hand against us – by the dogmas – which stood against us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the stake.

Exo 15:23 And they came to Marah, and they were unable to drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. So the name of it was called Marah.

Exo 15:24 And the people grumbled against Mosheh, saying, “What are we to drink?”

Exo 15:25 Then he cried out to יהוה, and יהוה showed him a tree. And when he threw it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a law and a right-ruling for them, and there He tried them.

Verses 24, 25 and 26 show a progression of events. The woman will drink the bitter water and take on the curses, then and only then does the priest take a portion of the offering of barley flour and throw it on the altar and afterwards the woman drink of the bitter water a second time. Do you see how beautiful this is? Gal 3:10 For as many as are of works of Torah are under the curse, for it has been written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all that has been written in the Book of the Torah, to do them.”

Gal 3:11 And that no one is declared right by Torah before Elohim is clear, for “The righteous shall live by belief.”

Gal 3:12 And the Torah is not of belief, but “The man who does them shall live by them.”

Gal 3:13 Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the Torah, having become a curse for us – for it has been written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree.”

We see our Messiah not just coming once to remove the “curse of Torah”, death but coming a second time to take us as His Bride.

There are some who say that this is not just or right because the husband is forgiven his jealousy so, he got off easy. That’s insane. They cannot see YHVH is the Jealous Husband and He did not get off easy He drank the bitter water for you: Joh 19:28 After this, יהושע, knowing that all had been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be accomplished, said, “I thirst!”

Joh 19:29 A bowl of sour wine stood there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and held it to His mouth. (They took sour wine and put it on a bitter herb.)

Joh 19:30 So when יהושע took the sour wine He said, “It has been accomplished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

The Wife (Israel) Who Commits Adultery: (In other words this is us.)

1. Write curses in a book: Number 5:23 (Exodus 32:19-20)
2. Must drink bitter water: Numbers 5:24 (Exodus 32:19-20)
3. Slain with a sword (blade): Ezekiel 16:38-40; 23:47; (Exodus 32:26-28)
4. Forsaken by husband: Deuteronomy 31:16-17
5. Husband hides his face from wife: Deu. 31:18; Isa. 8:17; 54:8
6. Stripped naked: Hosea 2:2-3; Ezekiel 23:22,26
7. Slain with thirst: Hosea 2:2-3
8. Laughed to scorn: Ezekiel 23:32
9. Mocked: 2 Kings 19:21; Isaiah 37:22
10. Cast lots: Joel 3:3; Obadiah 1:11

Yeshua Taking On the Sin of the Unfaithful Wife: (This is what YHVH did for us.)

1. Blotting out curses: Col. 2:14; Gal.3:13
2. Drink the bitter cup: Matt. 26:42; 27:48
3. Pierced with a blade (spear) John 19:34
4. Forsaken: Matt. 27:46
5. Hid His Face: Matt. 27:45 (Darkness representing YHVH turning His Face)
6. Stripped naked: Matt. 27:28
7. Thirst: John 19:28
8. Laughed to scorn: Matt. 9:24; Mark 5:40; Luke 8:53
9. Mocked: Matt. 27:31; Luke 23:36
10. Cast lots: Matt. 27:35; Luke 23:34: John 19:24

The beauty of this chapter is that it shows us that Yeshua will come back for his Bride and that He has already accomplished all the hard stuff, all we have to do is believe in Him and keep His commands> Joh_14:23 יהושע answered him, “If anyone loves Me, he shall guard My Word. And My Father shall love him, and We shall come to him and make Our stay with him.

Ahavah,