In part 1 of this series I shared how God had revealed his plans for salvation in the first and third chapters of the book of Numbers. You can read that blog by clicking here. Now I want to look at chapter 5. The chapter I have titled “God’s remedy for jealousy”.
In the beginning of this chapter we have God telling the people how they make compensation for their sins. In verse 6 we see how they handle sins committed against another person. It goes on to say that person acts unfaithfully towards the Lord and is guilty. God is saying if you sin against someone it is as if you are being unfaithful to me your God, because I have chosen you to represent me to the earth and to be my people and I will be your God. God values people. He feels our pain and hurts as if they are his own. So when you sin against another person, it is as if you have done that act directly towards God himself. That thought right there should make us stop and think before we act. This is Becca’s theology so take it as you want. I believe God uses the word unfaithful in verse 6 of this chapter to link to verse 11-31 which is about potential unfaithfulness in marriage. God is a covenant God. A concept I feel is lost in our western modern culture. A covent is a binding promise. One you can’t just walk away from if you don’t like how things are going. It is for life, for good and for bad, it’s not an option to not fulfill one’s covenant vow. God made a covenant with you when you confessed that Jesus is your savior. He says He will be your God from that moment on. Whether you are good or bad, you now belong to Him. He may punish our sins, but He won’t stop being our God. Because of Jesus our sin cannot separate us from God, but it can invoke His jealousy.
Which leads us right up to verse 11-31. God understands jealousy. He calls Himself a jealous God – see Ex.34:14, Deut. 6:15, and Ex. 20:5 for a few examples. He wants our undivided love, our full devotion, love and affection for Him and no other god. So understand this emotion. God sets up a way for us to handle this emotion. If a man has suspicion that his wife has been unfaithful, he is to bring her to the priest who is to give the woman a test to see if she has been unfaithful or not.
Ok let me stop right here and address a few things – first, this is weird I get it. It is an odd way to work this out in a marriage. And it does seem very unfair to the wife, because there is not a test for the man. First we have to realize this is written in a time when men had many wives, thus making it hard for men to be considered “unfaithful” (Don’t blast me with anger on this topic, I don’t know why God allowed this in the Old Testament.) The culture when this was written is a male dominant culture we can all agree, but that doesn’t make the principal behind this strange ritual invalid. Just keep reading and keep your heart open to what the Lord is saying here, and remember I am a woman writing this so to all you feminists who want to shout unfair I feel you, but hang in here with me for a little while longer.
Here is how the ritual went. The man would bring the potential unfaithful woman to the priest who would have her stand before the Lord, take dirt from the tabernacle floor mix it with water, remove her head covering, and place in her hands the grain offering for jealousy. The woman is to take an oath saying if she has not been unfaithful this water will not bring a curse on her stomach; however, if she has it will bring a curse causing her belly to swell. The priest is to write the curses on a scroll and wash the words he wrote off in the water and have the woman drink it. The priest then takes the grain offering the woman is holding and burns it, then she is to drink the water. If she is guilty her stomach will swell, she will get sick and be unable to have children. If she is not guilty then she will be fine and the water won’t effect her. If she is found guilty she is to bear her own iniquity.
Alright here is what this says – God does not want a husband to linger in his thoughts of jealousy. He wants to quickly restore trust in a marriage. Application for today – take that feeling to God, men. Ask God who is truth and light to reveal truth and bring anything that is hidden into the light. I believe women who feel jealous about their husbands should do the same thing. Go stand before God and ask Him to bring light to the situation. And let me just point out right here that God does not say if the woman is guilty the man can divorce her. He simply says she is to bear her iniquity. If this is where you find yourself, that one or the other in a marriage has been unfaithful, seek out a Godly counselor, spend time in deep prayer, seek God like you never have before, and trust Him for healing.
For the woman, God is her defender. If her husband has wrongly accused her, God will let it be known. The word says righteousness protects the innocent. If she has done nothing wrong then God as her defender will prove that. And then she is to trust God to heal the jealous heart of her husband.
In this ritual known as ‘Sotah’ the name of God was dissolved into the water. In the Hebrew culture it was forbidden to erase the name of God. This is one reason that they don’t fully write out the name of God. But here we see God allows His name to be dissolved and ingested by the woman. God wants to rebuild trust in a marriage so much so that He allows His Holy name to be used in a way that is not allowed in other circumstances. In this ritual description in Numbers chapter 5, we see the phrase ‘before the Lord’ 4 times. The dirt from the tabernacle floor and the dissolved name of the Lord points to the presence of God. God wants us to take our feeling of jealousy to Him, if and when needed we will involve church leaders to help heal the marriage. God is personally invested in marriage as it represents His covenant with us.
Remember God calls Himself a jealous God. He understands feelings of jealousy and the hurt that follows. He also calls Himself merciful in Ex. 34:6. He is the defender of the innocent as seen in Psalm 18:1-2. God wants to be in the middle of our marriage, in the middle of the mess, in the middle of our jealous hearts. He wants to heal. He went to great lengths to prove this in creating a ritual just for this purpose.
Today we don’t have to take our spouse to the church and have the pastor or priest give them some weird concoction to drink, but we should take them before the Lord in prayer, and trust God to show us truth and heal us.
The remedy for jealousy is prayer, going before God, and asking him to show us the truth. Then trust Him to heal what is broken whether in our own heart due to our own issues, or in the relationship due to poor choices. God is merciful. He is a restorer. He is our healer. Trust Him with the process and know He understand.
To read the next post in this series click here.
