The law of jealousies (Num 1-5)

Episode 55: The law of jealousies

(Numbers 1-5)

Moses takes a census

1 ¹ In the second year after leaving Egypt, God said to Moses,

² Take a census of all the people of Israel who are at least twenty years old and able to go to war.

⁴⁵ The number of able-bodied Israelite men over twenty years old was 603,550.

The law of jealousies

5 ¹¹ God said to Moses,

^12-15 When the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he suspects that his wife has had sex with another man, he shall bring his wife to the priest. ¹⁶ And the priest shall set her before me.

¹⁹ The priest shall say to the woman:

^20-21 If you’ve had sex with a man who is not your husband, God will cause this water to make your thigh rot and your belly swell.

²² And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen.”

²⁴ Then the priest will make her drink the bitter water that causes the curse.

²⁷ If she is defiled and has had sex with a man who is not her husband, God will make her belly swell, her thigh will rot, and she will be a curse among her people.

²⁸ But if she is not defiled, then she shall be free and will conceive seed.

²⁹ This is the law of jealousies, when a wife has sex with a man who is not her husband.

³⁰ Or when the spirit of jealousy comes on a man, and he is jealous over his wife.

³¹ The man is guiltless, and the woman shall bear her iniquity.

A few more words about this episode

As you may have noticed, we left a few things out in this episode. So here's what you're missing.: The number of soldiers from each of the non-Levite tribes. (Numbers 2); God kills Aaron's sons (Nadab and Abihu) in Numbers 3:4. But we already covered that in Episode 45 (Lev 10:1-3); There are instructions for priests in Numbers 3:5-13, but we had enough of that already in Episode 36.; There's a census for Levites in Numbers 3:14-51 for those who are interested.; The duties of the sons of Kohath (Aaron and Moses's grandfather) are listed in Numbers 4.; Rules for lepers are repeated in Numbers 5:1-4. (See Episode 47 ); And there's a bit more about sins and trespasses in Numbers 5:5-10, but you've probably had enough of that in previous episodes.
God will cause this water to make your thigh rot (v. 20): We forgot to mention that the "thigh" here is probably a euphemism for genitals and reproductive tract. Remember back in Episode 9, when Moses made his servant swear by putting his hand under his thigh. "Thigh" there also probably meant private parts.
SAB blog: Father Mike Schmitz explains the law of jealousies to us

Episode 55: The law of jealousies

(Numbers 1-5)

Moses takes a census

The law of jealousies

A few more words about this episode

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