Various Jewish Laws

In Numbers 5:2, we read, "Command the children of Israel, that they cast out of the camp every leper, and whosoever hath an issue of seed, or is defiled by the dead." Some Christians imagine that because the Lord said in Exodus 15:26. "I the Lord am your Healer.", all that the Israelites did whenever they were sick was to pray to the Lord and get healed. But this is not true. Here we read of lepers who were not healed, but put outside of the camp. Could the Lord ave healed them? Certainly. But He didn't. He commanded them to be put outside the camp.

We must be honest and realistic when we talk about physical healing. Otherwise we will bring many weak believers under condemnation and into bondage. We can not lock God down into a doctrinal box and say: "God heals everyone who has faith in Him. No-one who trusts in the Lord need ever be sick. Those who are sick, remain sick because they lack faith." People who have taken that unrealistic position have ended causing the death of many believers, who could have been healed if they had been treated in a hospital. A lot of folly is practiced by unrealistic Christians who live by logic more than by revelation.

There was a law for the cleansing of lepers, that we saw in Leviticus chapter 13 and 14. Those Israelites could not dictate to God and say, "Lord, You said that You are our Healer. Now, Lord, heal this leper. We are not going to put him outside the camp." But the Lord said, "Put him outside the camp." It is better to humble ourselves and acknowledge that there are many cased where the Lord does not heal, for some good reason known to Him alone. Jesus Himself said, "And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian." (Luke 4:27) - in spite of God saying "I the Lord am your Healer."

The Bible is realistic. But those who major on one favorite verse here, or one favorite verse there, go astray. We must devote ourselves to the study of God's Word if we are to avoid going astray and avoid leading others astray. It grieves my heart when I see poor people suffering through being led astray by their Priest and Bishops who do not know God or His Word.

In Numbers 5:6-8, it says that when a man has sinned against another in a matter that requires him to make restitution to the wronged man, "he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong." This is righteousness, to make up for the interest that the other man lost on his money during the period. If the restitution is made after many years, obviously a higher percentage than 20% should be added. That was why Zaccheus (who was a shrewed accountant) knew that he had to return four times what he had taken wrongly from others. He did a quick mental calculation and knew that if 20% had to be added for a debt that was one year old, then over 300% would have to be added for eight years old debts (at compound interest)! And the Lord did not stop Zaccheus from repaying that, because He also knew that that was righteous.

Chapter 5:11-31: Here we read of how God exposes sin in an unfaithful wife. If a man's wife had committed adultery, god exposes her by making her belly swell and her thigh rot, when the priest made her drink water that contained some dust from the floor of the tabernacle. Then, what the woman did in secret would be revealed. In Acts 5, we read that what Ananias and Sapphira did in secret was revealed by God. The difference was that under the new covenant, sin was exposed by God not by water but by the Holy Spirit. Peter exposed Ananias and Sapphira supernaturally through the discernment of the Spirit. It is very important for our spiritual leaders to have spiritual discernment so that they can seethe true spiritual condition of people.

Numbers 6:1-21 deals with the Nazirite vow. (note that this is not 'Nazarite'. It has nothing to do with Nazareth-Matthew 2:23).

A Nazirite was one who took a voluntary vow to be dedicated exclusively to the Lord for a period of time. During this period, he was not permitted to cut his hair or drink grape juice or wine. Samson was such a Nazarite for life. So we see here, that there were two ways in which Samson could have lost his strength- by allowing his hair to be cut, or by drinking the fruit of the vine. His strength was not in his hair but in his dedication- which was shown not by cutting his hair and not drinking wine. Either of the two would have made him loses his strength. But Jesus did cut his hair and did drink wine, because He was not a Nazarite.

In Chapter 6:22-27, we see the blessing which Aaron was commanded to bless the people of Israel. This was the greatest blessing that God could give those under the old covenant-and it was not just health and wealth. It was far more. the Lord did not tell Aaron to bless them saying, "May the Lord bless you with plenty of money and good health." No. The blessing was:

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee." -May He preserve you from all evil.

"The Lord shine his face to thee" -May His glory shine upon you.

"The Lord have mercy on thee" -May He be merciful to you and forgive you all your sins

"The Lord turn his countenance to thee" -May He show you His favour.

"The Lord give thee peace" -May you have a peaceful heart, a peaceful life and a peaceful home.

There was nothing greater that they could get than this.