WATER, Holy. See Baptism ; Holy Water, WATER OF Jealousy (Numb. V, 11-31, D'l'nrin 1X2, " waters of bitterness," sometimes with D'^"i"iXXin add- ed, as causing a curse ; Sept. v^wp tov tXiyfiov ; Philo, ii, 310, TToTog IXfyxov). This was probably not the " water of seiiaration" for purification, mixed with the ashes of the red heifer, for, as its ceremonial property was to defile the pure and to purify the unclean (Numb. xix, 21) who touched it, it could hanllv be used in a rite the object of which was to establish the innocence of the upright or discover the guilt of the sinner with- out the symbolism jarring. Perhaps water from the laver of the sanctuary is intended. The ritual pre- scribed consisted in the husband's bringing the woman before the priest, and the essential part of it is unquestionably the oath, to which the " water" was subsidiary, S3'mbolical, and ministerial. With her he was to bring the tenth part of an ephah of barley-meal i as an offering. Perhaps the whole is to
^^ be regarded froin a judicial point of view,
— and this "offering" in the light of a court- fee. Yet being an offering to " bring iniqui- ty to remembrance" (v, 15), it is ceremo- nially rated as a " sin-offering ;" hence no oil is to be mixed with the meal before burning it, nor any frankincense to be placed upon it vvhen burned, which same rule was applied to " sin-offerings" gener- ally (Lev. V, 11). With meat-oiferings, on the contrary, the mixture of oil and the imposition of frankincense were prescribed (ii, 1, 2, 7, 14, 1!)). God himself was sud- denly invoked to judge, and his presence recognised by throwing a handful of the barley -meal on the blazing altar in the course of the rite. In the first instance, how- ever, the priest " set her before the Lord" with the offering in her hand. The Mishna (Soiah) prescribes that she be clothed
WATER OF JEALOUSY-
886
WATERBURY
in black with a rope glnlle around her waist ; and from the lUrectiiiii that the priest '-shall uncover her head" (Niiml). V, 18) it would seem she came in veiled, prob- ably also ill black. As she stood holdiiii; the offering, so tlie priest stood holding an earthen vessel of holy water mixed with the dust from tlie floor of the sanc- tuary, and, declaring her free from all evil consequences if innocent, solemnly devoted her in the name of Jeho- vah to be '"a curse and an oath among her people," if guilty, further describing the exact consequences as- cribed to tiie operation of the water in the "members" which she had '•yielded as servants to uncleaimess " (ver. 21, 22, 27; comp. Kom. vi, 19; and Tiieodoret, Quast. X in Numb.'). The words r>23, ^^S??, nii£3. rendered in the A. V. by the word "rot," rather indi- cate, according to Gesenius, s. v. SEl, to "become or make lean." Michaelis thought ovarian dropsy was intended by the symptoms. Josephus says, tov ti (jici-
Xdl'f iKTTtaOVTO^ al'T^, Kai T))l' KolXiai' VCt'fJOV KCITCI-
X«;«/3a)'0j'ro(.' (.'I nt. iii, 11, ()). The priest then " wrote these curses in a book, and blotted them out with the bitter water," and, having thrown, probably at this stage of the proceedings, the liandful of meal on the altar, "caused the woman to drink" the potion thus drugged, she, moreover, answering to the words of his imprecation, "Amen, Amen." .Josephus adds, if the sus- ))ici(>n was unfounded, she obtained conception ; if true, she died infamously. This accords with the sacred text, if she "be clean, then shall she be free and shall conceive, seed" (Numb, v, 28), words which seem to mean that when restored to her husband's affection she should be l)lessed with fruitfulncss; or that, if concep- tion liad taken place before her ap[)earance, it would liave its proper issue in child-bearing, which, if she had been unfaithful, would be intercepted by the operation of the curse. It may be supposed that a husband would not be forward to publish his suspicions of his own in- jury, unless there were symptoms of apparent concep- tion and a risk of a child by another being presented to him as his own. This is somewhat supported by the rendering in the A. V. of the words Ni ^*''''7'1 r;w3r3 (ver. 13) by "neither she be taken icith the nuiiiiui;" the italicized words being added as explana- tory, without any to correspond in the original, and pointing to the sudden cessation of " the manner" or '• custom of women " (Gen. xviii, 11 ; xxxi, 35), i. e. the menstrual dux, suggesting, in the case of a woman not past the age of child-bearing, that conception had taken ]ilace. If this be the sense of the original, the suspi- cions of the husband would be so far based upon a fact. It seems, however, also possible that the words may be an extension of the sense of those immediately preced- ing, "3 "pX "^VX when the connected tenor would be, '•and tliere be no witness against her, and she be not taken," i. e. taken in the fact; comp. John viii, 4, avrri ?) ywt) Karti\li<l>it] iiravTOipi'ipiii /(oi^fi'o/ui'J/. In the case of pregnancy the woman's natural apprehensions regarding her own gestation would oi)erate very strong- ly to make her shrink from the potion if guilty. For plainly the effect of such a ceremonial on the nervous system of one so circumstanced might easily go far to imperil her life even without the precise symptoms as- cribed to the water. Meanwhile the rule woidd oper- ;ite beneficially for the woman if innocent, who would bo, during this interval, imder the protection of tlie court to which the husband had himself appealed, and so far secure against any violent consccpicnce of his jealousy, which had thus found a vent recognised by law. Further, by thus interposing a period of proba- tion the fierceness of the conjugal jealousy might cool. On comparing this argument witli the further restric- tions laid down in the treatise Sotah tending to limit the application of this rite, tljere seems grave reason to tloubt whether recourse was ever had to it in fact. See Adui.tkuy. The custom of writing on a parchment