EXPOSITION. himself, and part of the awful reverence to. CHAPTER V. be paid to his presence ill the midst of Ts:E UNCLEJ..N TO BE REMOVED (vers. 1- Israet It is of course easy to depreciate the 4). Ver. 2.-:Every leper. The law of the value of such outward cleanness, as compared leper had been given in great detail ill Levit. with inward ; but when we consider th& xiii and :civ., and it had been alxeady ordered frightful prevalence of filthiness in Christia.Ill that he should be pot out of the eamp (Levit. countries (1) of person and dress, (2) of talk,. xiii 46, and cf. xiv. 3). Every one that (3) of habit in respect of things not so much hath an issue. These defilements are treated sinful aa uncleanly, we may indeed o.cknow- of in Levit. rv. ; where, however, it is not ledge the heavenly wisdom of these regula.- expressly ordered that those so polluted tions, and the incalculable value of the tonlt should be put out of the camp. Who- of mind engendered by them. With th& ■oever ii defiled by the dead. The fact of Jews "cleanlineas" was not "next to god- being thus defiled is recognised in Levit. :z:.i. liness," it was pa.rt of godliness. 24 ; xxi. l, but the formal ree;ulations con- Ver. 4.-So did the children of IarHl. cerning it are not givon until eh. :riL 21. It is difficult to form an7. esti.ma te of the: Probably the popular opinion and practice numbers thus separated i 1f we may judge o.t was sufficiently definite to explain the present all from the prevalence of such defilements, command. (especially those under the second heo.d) Ver. 3.-That they aefilenot their camps, now, it must have aeriollllly aggravated botb in the midllt whereof I dwelt Cleanliness, the labour and the difficulty of the march. decency, and the anxious removal even of Here was a trial of thoir faith. unwitting pollutioll8 were things due to God OH, ~. 1--4.] THE BOOK OF NCT:iIBEUS. 33
HOMILETICS. Vera. 1-4.-The necessity ofr:tting away sin. In this section we have, spiritually, the necessary sentence of banishment upon those defiled with sin, and the duty of separating them. Consider, therefore- I. THAT NO LEPER MIOHT STAY IN TIIE CAMP OJ!' ISRAEL; RE MUST BE "WITHOUT." Even so it is the necessary fate of the sinner, who is the true leper,-a fate which God himself, as we may reverently believe, cannot alter,-tbat he must be for ever separated from the company of all pure and holy beings (Heh. xii. 14; Rev. xxi. 27; xxii. 15). Until he is healed he may be with, but not of, the people of God; numbered with them indeed, and following the earthly fortunes of the Church, as the lepers in the wilderness ; but really separated from them, and this the more profoundly because of tl,e outward proximity. If a sinner could go to heaven as a sinner, even there be would be a banished man, beholding the joy of the saints from outside with a sense of rlifference, of farness, which would itself be hell. II. THAT NO ONE UNCLEAN THROUGH A.NY ISSUE MIGHT STAY IN THE CAMP OF ISRAEL. And this was more severe, because it was a much more common and much less dreadful case than leprosy, being in most cases neither very apparent nor very per- manent; yet this also entailed banishment while it lasted. Even so all habits of sin, however little shocking to the natural mind, exclude the sinner until be be healed from the true fellowship of the saints. They are indeed " natural " enough to the fallen soul, as these issues are natural to our present body of humiliation, but they are not therefore harmless. One sinful habit, however common amongst men, would disqualify and unfit the soul for the companionship of heaven, and so would entail an inward and real exile even there. A habit of lying is one of the commonest out- comes of human life as it is ; but II whatsoever .. maketh a lie" must be" without." III. THAT NO ONE EVEN WHO HAD TOUCHED A DEAD DODY MIOHT STAY IN THE CAMP OJ!' ISRAEL, The defilement of death passed over with the taint of it upon all that came in contact with the dead. Even so that contact, to which we are daily arnl hourly exposed, with those dead in trespasses and sins is enough to unfit us for fellowship with pure and holy bein~s. If only the taint, the subtle contagion, the imperceptible communication of spiritual death pass upon us, ns it almost must in daily intercourse with the world, it separates pro tanto from the communion of saints. It must be purged by the daily prayer of repentance and supply of grace ere we can be at home and e.t one with the really holy. And note that these three forms of uncleanness-(1) leprosy, which was rare and dreadful; (2) issues, which are common and little noticed; (3) the taint of death, which was imperceptible save to God-represent in n descending scale the three forms of sin which separate from God and his saints, viz. (1) open and notorious wickedness; (2) sinful habits such as spring out of ordinary life, and are little regarded ; (3) the subtle taint of spiritual death caught by careless contact with the evil world. IV. THAT IT WAS THE DUTY OF ISRAEL-a duty to be discharged at cost of much inconvenience; a duty in which all must help, not sparing their own-To PUT AWAY ALL WHO WERE KNOWN TO BE POLLUTED FROM THE CAMPS. Even so it is the duty of the Churches of Christ to separate open sinners from their communion, not only lest others be defiled, but lest God be offended (Matt. xviii. 17; 1 Cor. v. 2, 11, 13 ; 2 Thess. iii. 6). And note that many uncle11n may have remained in the camp, whose uncleanness was not suspected, or could not be proved ; but if so, they alone were responsible. Even so there be very many evil men in the Church who cannot now be separated; but if the principle be zealously vindic11ted, the Church shall not suffer (Matt. xiii. 47, 49; 1 Cor. xi. 19; 2 Tim. ii. 20).
HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vere. 1-4.-The expulsion and restoration of the 1mclean. The host has DO\V been marshalled. The several tribes have taken the pl11ces allotted to them in rela- tion to the tabernacle and to one another. They are about to set forth on the march from the wilderness of Sinni. Before the signal is given, certain final instructions NUMDims, .D 34 THE BOOK 01'' NUMBERS. [ce. v. 1-1.