Page 96 - Pentateuch - Student Textbook

tabernacle (3:10, 38) and to pack up the furnishings (4:15, 18-20). The rest of the workforce carried the
materials. The nation of Israel had a unique place in relationship to God, but they did not have direct
access. The Levites were allowed to come closer, and the sons of Aaron closer yet, teaching very
powerfully. Not just anyone would do. Not just any method or system was acceptable.

Besides this graded approach to God, instructions were given to help keep the nation as a whole in the
right condition. People with skin diseases or who had touched a dead body had to be outside the camp
for a time (5:1-4). Restitution had to be made for wrongs done to others (5:5-10). A man who suspected
his wife of unfaithfulness (or probably a woman who suspected her husband of unfaithfulness) could
bring her before God through a fairly elaborate test (5:11-31). People who wanted to make special vows
to God were given specific instructions so that they did not do so in a light manner (6:1-21).

Chapters six and seven stick out. These two alone are new legislation addressed to the whole nation
rather than to the leaders. The first is about a man who has “feelings of jealousy (5:14, 30) and suspects
his wife of unfaithfulness. The issue is not “sin.” An admission of guilt would have a different result. The
issue here is undiscovered sin brought into the presence of God at the tabernacle. The classification is
“impurity” (vv. 14, 19, 20, 27, 28, 29). The legislation teaches about the inner life of a person, not unlike
the warning of Jesus about looking “at a woman lustfully (Matt. 5:28).” God’s standard of holiness is far
greater than that of humans. He looks at the heart. Cleansing is not just a matter of outward appearance
or admissions. Cleansing must go deep. “No sin of any sort could be tolerated among God’s holy
people.
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Chapter seven records instruction called a Nazirite vow that anyone could make, dedicating oneself to
God for a length of time. The instructions highlight not drinking wine or any grape products, just like the
priests of Israel (Lev. 10:9). Like a priest the person was required to avoid a corpse
(Lev. 12). During the period of the vow, a person was not supposed to cut his hair.
This may be a simple daily reminder of having taken a vow or it may reflect the
different headgear worn by the high priest (Ex. 39:30). Without the duties of a priest,
the “vow of ‘Nazirite’ status made it possible for an Israelite to voluntarily separate
himself/herself to the Lord at a high level of holiness for a period of time that the
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individual specified.” The vow taught the people to anticipate service to God on
the part of each person, much like the priesthood of the believers in NT times (1 Pet.
2:5; 9).

Fig. 63: Nazarite hair
This is not all. The Levites who stood between the nation and God had to be made
clean before they could serve God (8:1-26). Specific sacrifices were required. Two young bulls were used
in the ceremony. First the Israelites laid their hands on the Levites. Then the Levites were to lay their
hands on the heads of the bulls. Offering the bulls, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt
offering, made atonement for the Levites. The chain was necessary to avoid God’s wrath at the whole
nation if someone were to approach him improperly (8:19).

Once again, further purification was needed for the whole nation. Yearly they were to observe the
Passover, as instructed in previous books. Now questions arose about some who might miss the
celebration. What about those who had a skin disease or who had touched a dead body or who were

102 Sailhamer, Pentateuch, 377.
103 Gane, Leviticus, Numbers, 532.

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