Numbers 5:17 - Exposition

Holy water. Probably from the laver which stood near the altar ( Exodus 30:18 ). The expression is nowhere else used. The Septuagint has ὕδωρ καθαρὸν ζῶν , pure running water. In an earthen vessel. Cheap and coarse, like the offering. Of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle. This is the only place where the floor of the tabernacle is mentioned. As no directions were given concerning it, it was probably the bare earth cleared and stamped. The cedar floor of the temple was overlaid with gold ( 1 Kings 6:16 , 1 Kings 6:30 ). This use of the dust has been held to signify the fact

(a) that man was made of dust, and must return to dust ( Genesis 3:19 ); or

(b) that dust is the serpent's meat, i.e; that shame and disgust are the inevitable fruit of sin ( Genesis 3:14 ; Isaiah 65:25 ).

Of these,

(a) is not appropriate to the matter in question, since mortality is common to all, and

(b) is far too recondite to have been intended here.

It is very unlikely that the spiritual meaning of Genesis 3:14 was known to any of the Jews. A much simpler and more intelligible explanation is to be found in the obvious fact that the dust of the tabernacle was the only thing which belonged to the tabernacle, and which was, so to speak, impregnated with the awful holiness of him that dwelt therein, that could be mixed with water and drunk. For a similar reason the "sin" of the people, the golden calf, was ground to powder, and the people made to drink it ( Exodus 32:20 ). The idea conveyed to the dullest apprehension certainly was that with the holy dust Divine "virtue" had passed into the water—virtue which would give it supernatural efficacy to slay the guilty and to leave the guiltless unharmed.