Numbers 5:19
Ver. 19. And the priest shall charge her by an oath,.... Or give her her oath:and say unto the woman, if no man hath lain with thee: besides her husband:and thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness [with another] instead of thy husband; which is but another phrase expressive of the same thing, the sin of adultery:be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse; if this is the case, it shall produce no bitter effects, or bring any curse upon thee. Numbers 5:20Ver. 20. But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband,.... Gone aside from the paths of modesty and chastity, and betook herself to another man's bed instead of her husband's:and if thou be defiled, by committing adultery:and some man hath lain with thee beside thy husband; these phrases are all synonymous, and a heap of words are made use of to express the sin, and that there might be no evasion of it, and that it might be clear what was intended, this being said on oath. Numbers 5:21Ver. 21. Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing,.... An oath which has a curse annexed to it, if taken falsely, which was to be pronounced upon the woman if guilty:and the priest shall say unto the woman; pronouncing the imprecation or curse upon her, she having taken the oath, should she be guilty of the crime suspected of, and she had swore concerning:the Lord make thee a curse, and an oath among the people; accursed according to the oath taken; or let this be the form of an oath and imprecation used by the people, saying, if I have done so and so, let me be accursed as such a woman, or let not that happen to me, as did to such a woman, so Jarchi:when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; upon drinking the bitter waters; but though these things followed upon that, yet not as the natural cause of them, for they are ascribed to the Lord, and to a supernatural and miraculous power of his, which went along with the drinking of them. Numbers 5:22Ver. 22. And this water that causeth the curse,.... Upon the drinking of which the curse follows, if guilty:shall go into thy bowels; and there operate and produce the above effects, which are repeated again to inject terror:to make [thy] belly to swell, and [thy] thigh to rot; here ends the form of the oath, which begins Nu 5:19;and the woman shall say, amen, amen; so be it; let it be as pronounced, if I am guilty; which, as Aben Ezra observes, is repeated for the sake of confirmation; though the Jewish writers commonly understand it as respecting various things, the oath and the curse, the thing charged with, and the persons suspected of {x}.{x} Misn. ib. sect. 5. Targum Jon. & Jerus. & Jarchi in loc. Numbers 5:23Ver. 23. And the priest shall write these curses in a book,.... The above curses imprecated on herself by an oath; the words and the letters of them were written at length, in a scroll of parchment; and, as some say also, her name, but not her double amen to them {y}:and he shall blot [them] out with the bitter water: wash them out with it, and into it, or scrape them off of the parchment into it.{y} Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah, c. 2) sect. 3. Numbers 5:24Ver. 24. And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse,..... Having the curse imprecated upon herself, if guilty, scraped into it; and this she was obliged to drink, whether she would or not; so it is said, if the roll is blotted out, and she says I am defiled, the water is poured out, and her offering is scattered in the place of ashes; if the roll is blotted out, and she says I will not drink, then force her, and make her drink whether she will or no {z}:and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter; produce the sad and bitter effects mentioned.{z} Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah) c. 3. sect. 3. Numbers 5:25Ver. 25. Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand,.... Which she was obliged to hold in her hand while the above rites and ceremonies were performed; which was very heavy, being an omer of barley flour, a measure about three quarts, which was put into an Egyptian basket made of small palm tree twigs: and this was put into her hands to weary her, as before observed, that, having her mind distressed, she might the sooner confess her crime:and shall wave the offering before the Lord: backwards and forwards, upwards and downwards, as Jarchi; who also observes, that the woman waved with him, for her hand was above the hand of the priest so the tradition is,"he (her husband) took her offering out of the Egyptian basket, and put it into a ministering vessel, and gave it into her hand, and the priest put his hand under hers, and waved it {a}:''and offer it upon the altar: this was the bringing of it to the southwest corner of the altar, as Jarchi says, before he took a handful out of it, as in other meat offerings.{a} Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah) c. 3. sect. 1. Numbers 5:26Ver. 26. And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, [even] the memorial thereof,.... For good or evil, according as her works were, as Aben Ezra observes; a memorial for good, if innocent, and a memorial for evil, if guilty:and burn [it] upon the altar; as the handful of other meat offerings used to be, Le 1:2;and afterwards shall cause the woman to drink the water; oblige her to it; having proceeded thus far, and no confession made, namely, an oath taken, the curses of it written in a scroll and scraped into the waters, and the jealousy offering waved and offered. Numbers 5:27Ver. 27. And when he hath made her to drink the water,.... For, as before observed, and here by Jarchi again, if she says I will not drink it, after the roll is blotted out, they oblige her, and make her drink it whether she will or not, unless she says I am defiled:then it shall come to pass, [that] if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband; or has committed adultery:that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter; the water drank by her, and having the curses scraped into it, shall enter into her, and operate and produce bitter and dreadful effects:and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot; not through any natural virtue in the water, or what is put into it, either the dust of the floor of the tabernacle, or the scrapings of the parchment roll, these could have no physical influence to produce such effects; but they must be ascribed to a supernatural cause, the power and curse of God attending this draught. A certain Jewish writer {b} says, though very falsely, that the priest put poison into the water, which produced such effects; but then, how could an innocent woman escape the effects of it? that must be allowed to be miraculous and supernatural, was it so; but there is no manner of reason to believe that anything of this kind was put into it, The Jews say {c}, as soon, or before she had made an end of drinking: the water, the effects appeared; her face turned pale immediately, her eyes bolted out, and she was filled with veins, her body swelled, and they called out, Cast her out, cast her out, that she may not defile the court. And the text seems to intimate, as if the operation was immediate; yea, moreover, they say {d}, that as the waters searched her, so they searched him (the adulterer), because it is said twice, "shall enter, shall enter"; and that the same effects appeared in him as in her, but in neither, unless the husband was innocent; for if he was not pure from the same sin himself, the waters would not search his wife {e} hence they say {f}, when adulterers increased (under the second temple) the bitter waters ceased, according to Ho 4:14; see Mt 12:39. This practice has been imitated by the Heathens; the river Rhine, according to Julian the emperor {g}, tried the legitimacy of children; and so lakes have been used for the trial of perjury and unchastity, as the Stygian lake for perjury, and another of the same name near Ephesus for unchastity; into which, if persons suspected of adultery descended, having the form of an oath hanging about their necks, if they were pure, the waters stood unmoved, but if corrupt, they swelled up to their necks, and covered the tablet on which the oath was written {h}. The priestesses of a certain deity being obliged to live a single life, were tried by drinking bullocks' blood, upon which, if false to their oath and corrupt, they immediately died, as Pausanias {i} relates; and Macrobius {k} speaks of some lakes in Sicily, the inhabitants called the Cups, to which recourse was had when persons were suspected of any ill, and where an oath was taken of them; if the person swore truly, he departed unhurt, but if falsely, he immediately lost his life in the lake. Philostratus {l} relates of a water near Tyana, a city in Cappadocia, sacred to Jupiter, which the inhabitants call Asbamaea, which to those that kept their oaths was placid and sweet, but to perjured persons the reverse; it affected their eyes, hands, and feet, and seized them with dropsies and consumptions; nor could they depart from the water, but remained by it, mourning their sad case, and confessing their perjury: but what comes nearest to this usage of the Jews is a custom at marriages among the savages at Cape Breton {m}: at a marriage feast, two dishes of meat are brought to the bridegroom and bride in two "ouragans" (basins made of the bark of a tree), and the president of the feast addresses himself to the bride thus,"and thou that art upon the point of entering into a respectable state, know, that the nourishment thou art going to take forebodes the greatest calamities to thee, if thy heart is capable of harbouring any ill design against thy husband, or against thy nation: shouldest thou ever be led astray by the caresses of a stranger; or shouldest thou betray thy husband, and thy country, the victuals contained in this "ouragan" will have the effects of a slow poison, with which thou wilt be tainted from this very instant; but if, on the other hand, thou remainest faithful to thy husband, and to thy country, if thou wilt never insult the one for his defect, nor give a description of the other to the enemy, thou wilt find this nourishment both agreeable and wholesome.''Now if these relations can be credited, then much more this of the bitter waters, for though there was something wonderful and supernatural in them, yet nothing incredible:and the woman shall be a curse among her people: the time she lives; but then all this while she was looked upon as an accursed person, and despised and shunned by all.{b} R. Samuel Tzartzah, Mekor Chayim, fol. 91. 3. {c} Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 4. {d} Ibid. c. 5. sect. 1. {e} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 28. 1. Gersom in loc. {f} Misn. Sotah, c. 2. sect. 9. {g} Orat. 2. p. 151. Ep. 16. p. 131. {h} Vid. Salden. Otia, l. 1. Exercitat. 6. sect. 24. {i} Achaica, sive, l. 7. p. 450. {k} Saturnal. l. 5. c. 19. {l} Vita Apollonii, l. 1. c. 4. {m} Genuine Letters and Memoirs relating to the Isle of Cape Breton, &c. Numbers 5:28Ver. 28. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean,.... If she is not guilty of adultery, but pure from that sin:then she shall be free; from the effects of the bitter water; they shall have no such influence upon her, but she shall be as soured and healthful as ever; nay, the Jewish writers say more so, that if she had any sickness or disease upon her she would now be freed from it {n}; the Targum of Jonathan has it, her splendour shall shine, the brightness and beauty of her countenance:and shall conceive seed; a man child, as the same Targum; and the Jewish writers say, if she was barren before, now she would be fruitful; but no more is meant by it than that her husband should receive her gladly, and she should live comfortably with him hereafter, and the blessing of God would be upon her, which would still be a confirmation of her chastity.{n} Maimon. Hilchot Sotah, c. 3. sect. 22. Numbers 5:29Ver. 29. This [is] the law of jealousies,.... Which was appointed by God to deter wives from adultery, and preserve the people of Israel, the worshippers of him, from having a spurious brood among them; and to keep husbands from being cruel to their wives they might be jealous of, and to protect virtue and innocence, and to detect lewdness committed in the most secret manner; whereby God gave proof of his omniscience, that he had knowledge of the most private acts of uncleanness, and was the avenger of all such. The reasons why such a law was not made equally in favour of women, as of men, are supposed to be these: because of the greater authority of the man over the woman, which would seem to be lessened, if such a power was granted her; because marriage was not so much hurt, or so much damage came to families by the adultery of men, as of women; because women are more apt to be suspicious than men, and in those times more prone to adultery, through their eager desire of children, that they might not lie under reproach {o}:when a wife goeth aside [to another] instead of her husband, and is defiled; is suspected of going aside to another man, and is supposed to be defiled by him.{o} Vid. Salden. ut supra, (Otia, l. 1. Exercitat. 6.) sect. 19. Numbers 5:30Ver. 30. Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife,.... See Gill on "Nu 5:14";and shall set the woman before the Lord; has carried the matter so far as to bring his wife to the priest or civil magistrate, and declare his suspicion, and the ground of it:and the priest shall execute upon her all this law; he shall proceed according to the law, and perform every rite and ceremony required; nor could any stop be put to it, unless the woman owned she was defiled. Numbers 5:31Ver. 31. Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity,.... Which otherwise he would not, by conniving at her loose way of living, and not reproving her for it, and bringing her either to repentance or punishment; and retaining and encouraging jealousy in his mind, without declaring it, and his reasons for it: the sense of the passage seems to be, that when a man had any ground for his suspicion and jealousy, and he proceeded according as this law directs, whether his wife was guilty or not guilty, no sin was chargeable on him, or blame to be laid to him, or punishment inflicted on him:and the woman shall bear her iniquity; the punishment of it, through the effects of the bitter waters upon her, if guilty; nor was her husband chargeable with her death, she justly brought it on herself: or if not guilty, yet as she had by some unbecoming behaviour raised such a suspicion in him, nor would she be reclaimed, though warned to the contrary, she for it justly bore the infamy of such a process; which was such, as Maimonides says {p}, that innocent women would give all that they had to escape it, and reckoned death itself more agreeable than that, as to be served as such a woman was; See Gill on "Nu 5:18".{p} Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 49. p. 499.
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.