The typology in the Bible is a great thing and has many aspects. Probably, in the Old Testament the divine revelation conveyed through typology may equal that in plain words.

It is difficult to explain Numbers 5:11-31 by clear words. What is portrayed here has nothing to do with history or with a character, but it does have something to do with typology.

In typology, God gained a people at Mount Sinai and used them to build a habitation on earth. He then gave them a set of laws, regulations, and ordinances for their worshipping of Him. After this, He came in to form this people into an army. The people gained by God to be formed into an army that can fight for Him and a priesthood that can serve Him should be altogether clean—in their being, nature, speaking, appearance, behavior, the way they move and act, and even in what they possess.

The corporate dealing in chapter five includes only three things: leprosy, discharges, and deadness. Nevertheless, these things comprise all the uncleanness that needs to be dealt with among God's holy people. On the side of the individual, the dealing with one's faithfulness is a dealing according to God's righteousness. This is why there is the need of such a portion as 5:1-10.

Numbers 5:11-31 is a particular portion in all the sixty-six books of the Bible, showing us not only God's sovereignty but also His miracle. The record here is a record of a miracle.

The test with the water of bitterness (v. 18) used a combination of water (referring to the Holy Spirit), dust from the floor of the tabernacle (referring to man's human nature), and the meal offering (referring to Christ). The wife who was under suspicion was asked to drink the water. If she was sinful, the water would work in her abdomen to cause it to swell and to cause her thigh to be reduced. This does not seem to be a record of something divine. However, this is a wonderful miracle.

The record in Numbers 5 is similar to the record of what the Lord Jesus did in John 9:1-7. He healed a blind man by mingling spittle with dust to make clay and then anointing the blind man's eyes with the clay. Today, if the Lord tried to do this to us, we might consider it a joke, and we might not be willing to allow Him to do such a thing to us.

In the record of Numbers 5:11-31 we can see typology. The water typifies the Holy Spirit, the meal offering of barley typifies the resurrected Christ, and the dust represents the created man (Gen. 2:7). Hence, creation, the Spirit, Christ, and His death and resurrection are all involved. The water into which was put dust from the floor of the tabernacle became not only a water of bitterness that brought a curse, but also a working water that caused the abdomen to be enlarged and the thigh to be reduced.

If we would expound 5:11-31, we must know how to expound the types. The hardest point for us to expound is the dust on the floor of the tabernacle. Dust refers to the natural man, to the man created by God, and the tabernacle is God's dwelling. God's dwelling place is built upon the man created by Him. This is the dust on the floor of the tabernacle. God's dwelling place is holy, yet there is a kind of dust that can be joined to God's dwelling place. To take such a dust and put it into the water is to take a human nature that can be joined to God's dwelling place and put it into the Holy Spirit. This water containing dust is then put together with Christ as the meal offering made of barley (in resurrection) but with no frankincense and no oil (without the effectiveness of resurrection and without the Holy Spirit) upon it. Here we see the human nature created by God conjoined with God's dwelling place, put into the Holy Spirit, and applied with the resurrected Christ. Such a thing will be a real test of our chastity.

Corporately and individually God's people should be chaste to God. It is not sufficient merely to be clean. To be clean is one thing, and to be chaste is another. We may not have leprosy, we may not have discharges, and we may not have any contact with deadness, but are we chaste? We may be very faithful, but we do not have a high character if we are not chaste. A wife may be good in every way, but if she has another love, the other love will spoil her in her chastity. God's people should not only be clean in every way and in every respect—they should also be chaste. Thus, we need to learn how to be chaste toward the Lord.

Let us now briefly consider some of the details related to the dealing with a wife over whom her husband was jealous.