Malcom: Welcome to Immerse: the Daily Bible reading Experience.
Day 100 and 34
the Lord gave these instructions to Moses.
Command the people of Israel to remove from the camp anyone who
has a skin disease or a discharge, or who has become ceremonially
unclean by touching a dead person.
This command applies to men and women alike.
Remove them so they will not defile the camp in which I live among them.
So the Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses and
removed such people from the camp.
Then the Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions
to the people of Israel.
If any of the people, men or women, betray the Lord by doing wrong to
another person, they are guilty.
They must confess their sin and make full restitution for what they have done.
Adding an additional 20% and returning it to the person who was wronged.
But if the person who was wronged is dead and there are no near relatives
to whom restitution can be made, the payment belongs to the Lord
and must be given to the priest.
Those who are guilty must also bring a ram as a sacrifice, and they will be
purified and made right with the Lord.
All the sacred offerings that the Israelites bring to a
priest will belong to him.
Each priest may keep all the sacred donations that he receives,
and the Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions
to the people of Israel.
Suppose a man's wife goes astray and she is unfaithful to her husband and has
sex with another man, but neither her husband nor anyone else knows about it.
She has defiled herself even though there was no witness and
she was not caught in the act.
If her husband becomes jealous and is suspicious of his wife and
needs to know whether or not she has defiled herself, the husband
must bring his wife to the priest.
He must also bring an offering of two quarts of barley flour
to be presented on her behalf.
Do not mix it with olive oil or frankincense.
For it is a jealousy offering, an offering to prove whether or not she is guilty.
The priest will then present her to stand trial before the Lord.
He must take some holy water in a clay jar and pour into it dust he
has taken from the tabernacle floor.
When the priest has presented the woman before the Lord, he must unbind
her hair and place in her hands the offering of proof, the jealousy
offering to determine whether her husband's suspicions are justified.
The priest will stand before her holding the jar of bitter water that
brings a curse to those who are guilty.
The priest will then put the woman under oath and say to her, if no other man
has had sex with you and you have not gone astray and defiled yourself while
under your husband's authority, may you be immune from the effects of this
bitter water that brings on the curse.
But if you have gone astray by being unfaithful to your husband and have
defiled yourself by having sex with another man, At this point, the priest
must put the woman under oath by saying, may the people know that the
Lord's curse is upon you when he makes you infertile, causing your womb to
shrivel and your abdomen to swell.
Now may this water that brings the curse and enter your body and cause
your abdomen to swell and your wound to shrivel, and the woman will be
required to say yes, let it be so.
And the priest will write these curses on a piece of leather and
wash them off into the bitter water.
He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings on the curse.
When the water enters her body, it will cause bitter suffering.
If she is guilty, the priest will take the jealousy offering from
the woman's hand, lift it up before the Lord and carry it to the altar.
He will take a handful of the flower as a token portion and burn it on the altar.
He will require the woman to drink the water.
If she has defiled herself by being unfaithful to her husband,
the water that brings on the curse will cause bitter suffering.
Her abdomen will swell and her womb will shrink, and her name will
become a curse among her people.
But if she has not defiled herself and is pure, then she will be unharmed and
will still be able to have children.
This is the ritual law for dealing with suspicion.
If a woman goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband's
authority, or if a man becomes jealous and is suspicious that his wife has been
unfaithful, the husband must present his wife before the Lord, and the priest
will apply this entire ritual law to her.
The husband will be innocent of any guilt in this matter, but his wife
will be held accountable for her sin.
Then the Lord said to Moses, give the following instructions
to the people of Israel.
If any of the people, either men or women, take the special vow
of a Nazarite setting themselves apart to the Lord in a special way.
They must give up wine and other alcoholic drinks.
They must not use vinegar made from wine or from other alcoholic drinks.
They must not drink fresh grape juice and they must not eat grapes or raisins.
As long as they are bound by their Nazarite vow, they are not
allowed to eat or drink anything that comes from a grapevine.
Not even the grape seeds or skins.
They must never cut their hair throughout the time of their vow, for they are holy
and set apart to the the Lord until the time of their vow has been fulfilled.
They must let their hair grow long and they must not go near
a dead body during the entire period of their vow to the Lord.
Even if the dead person is their own father, mother, brother, or sister,
they must not defile themselves.
For the hair on their head is the symbol of their separation to God.
This requirement applies as long as they are set apart to the Lord.
If someone falls dead beside them, the hair they have dedicated will be defiled.
They must wait for seven days and then shave their heads.
Then they will be cleansed from their defilement.
On the eighth day, they must bring two turtle doves or two
young pigeons to the priest.
At the entrance of the tabernacle, the priest will offer one of
the birds for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.
In this way, he will purify them from the guilt they incurred
through contact with the dead body.
Then they must reaffirm their commitment and let their hair begin to grow again.
The days of their vow that were completed before their defilement no longer count.
They must rededicate themselves to the Lord as a nazarite for
the full term of their vow, and each must bring a one-year-old
male lamb for a guilt offering.
This is the ritual law for Nazarites.
At the conclusion of their time of separation as nazarites, they must each
go to the entrance of the tabernacle and offer their sacrifices to the Lord.
A one-year-old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering.
A one-year-old female lamb without defect for a sin, offering a ram
without defect for a peace offering.
A basket of bread made without yeast, cakes of choice, flour mixed with
olive oil and wafers spread with olive oil, along with their prescribed
grain offerings and liquid offerings.
The priest will present these offerings before the Lord.
First, the sin offering and the burnt offering, then the ram for
a peace offering along with the basket of bread made without yeast.
The priest must also present the prescribed grain offering
and liquid offering to the Lord.
Then the nazarites will shave their heads at the entrance of the tabernacle.
They will take the hair that had been dedicated and place it on the fire
beneath the peace offering sacrifice.
After the Nazarites head has been shaved, the priest will take for each
of them the boiled shoulder of the ram, and he will take from the basket, a
cake and a wafer made without yeast.
He will put them all into the nazarites hands.
Then the priest will lift them up as a special offering before the Lord.
These are holy portions for the priest, along with the breast
of the special offering and the thigh of the sacred offering that
are lifted up before the Lord.
After this ceremony, the nazarites may again drink wine.
This is the ritual law of the Nazarites who vow to bring
these offerings to the Lord.
They may also bring additional offerings if they can afford it, and they must be
careful to do whatever they vowed when they set themselves apart as nazarites.
Then the Lord said to Moses, tell Aaron and his sons to bless the people
of Israel with this special blessing.
May the Lord bless you and protect you.
May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.
Whenever Aaron and his sons bless the people of Israel in my
name, I myself will bless them.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.