Study 3 From The Book of Numbers is: Numbers 5:1-6:21
Many of the civil and religious laws of Israel and the rites connected with them are hard for us to understand. They may seem strangely abhorrent, sometimes inhumane or quasi-magical in character. It is important to bear in mind (a) the authority of the priest in every sphere of Israel’s life, including that of cleanliness and hygiene, which were as much a part of ‘religious’ ceremony as the worship in the Tabernacle ; (b) the background of religious rites common to the whole of the ancient Near East and used by Israel, thought transformed both by her faith in the one true God, and in order to make them usable in His worship; and (c) the need that this new, God-chosen nation should be constantly reminded of the holiness and moral demands of her God.
- What sort of people were to be ‘put out’ of the camp, and why? Cf. Lv. 13: 46; 15:31. What interests of humanitarian justice are satisfied in the commands of 5:11-31? These seem like purely magical rites, but note verses 16, 18, 21 and 30.
- How did the Nazirites’s separation to God find expression? What was the point of it all, since it was apparently not and act of service which could be offered to God as acceptable in an of itself apart from the regular offerings of the Tabernacle? See 6:14-16; and cf. Lv. 1-7 for details. How far is there a similar challenge to consecration confronting the believer in Christ? Heb. 9: 10-14; Rom. 12:1, 2.
Note. 6:2. A ‘Nazirite’ was a man who desired for a period to set himself apart for God in an unusual way. The Hebrew root, nazir, expresses the idea of separation or consecration.
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