seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Numbers 5:11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him 13 so that another man has sexual relations with her, and this is hidden from her husband and her impurity is undetected (since there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act), 14 and if feelings of jealousy come over her husband and he suspects his wife and she is impure—or if he is jealous and suspects her even though she is not impure— 15 then he is to take his wife to the priest. He must also take an offering of a tenth of an ephah of barley flour on her behalf. He must not pour olive oil on it or put incense on it, because it is a grain offering for jealousy, a reminder-offering to draw attention to wrongdoing.
16 “‘The priest shall bring her and have her stand before the Lord. 17 Then he shall take some holy water in a clay jar and put some dust from the tabernacle floor into the water. 18 After the priest has had the woman stand before the Lord, he shall loosen her hair and place in her hands the reminder-offering, the grain offering for jealousy, while he himself holds the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 Then the priest shall put the woman under oath and say to her, “If no other man has had sexual relations with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. 20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have made yourself impure by having sexual relations with a man other than your husband”— 21 here the priest is to put the woman under this curse—“may the Lord cause you to become a curse among your people when he makes your womb miscarry and your abdomen swell. 22 May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries.”
“‘Then the woman is to say, “Amen. So be it.”
23 “‘The priest is to write these curses on a scroll and then wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and this water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering will enter her. 25 The priest is to take from her hands the grain offering for jealousy, wave it before the Lord and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is then to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial offering and burn it on the altar; after that, he is to have the woman drink the water. 27 If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse. 28 If, however, the woman has not made herself impure, but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and will be able to have children.
29 “‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband, 30 or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her. 31 The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’”
Here's the link to the commentary I read.The water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter: Over time, the judgment of God would be evident. If she came down with some type of internal disease, especially affecting her womb, it would be seen as evidence of her guilt. But if she was free from disease, and continued to bear children, it would be seen as vindication.
This is the law of jealousy: This was a ceremony meant to bring resolution. Either the husband was right or wrong in his jealousy; if his wife had in fact been adulterous, he was right — if she had not been, he was wrong. The issue had to be settled, and this was the way given by God to ancient Israel to settle it.
Yep, I skipped a few chapters of rules and regulations. Please go back and read those chapters as soon as you get the time. The reason I stopped here... well quite frankly it's about abortion.
In 2 Samuel 11&12, David [David and Goliath, David] and Bathsheba were unfaithful to Uriah, Bathsheba's husband. Uriah was killed [assassinated actually] so he couldn't bring charges against David. David went to Nathan, the priest, and then the baby died. Interesting coincidence????It was a big deal to the Israelites, that no man had to raise another man's child. If a man thought his wife was cheating on him... she might be pregnant with another man's son... and that required some intercession because jealousy might lead to a husband to beat a suiter to death.
This potion caused abortion of any fetus.
This potion, according to the commentary, messed the womb up so bad... the unfaithful wife will never carry children.
I'm glad God is in control. It occurs to me that a man could accuse a woman of misconduct so he wouldn't have to support children one way or another! God is the one in control in these verses.
So why didn't the Israelite women question this whole mess? Women had no say. Women didn't get any say in anything until the 1920s. Women were a commodity.
I gotta say.... make a woman baron is not economically smart. Without children, there is no one to grow up to work in the fields or tend to the flocks.
A man had to be pretty jealous to boil out the guts of a woman.
The On-line Bible titled the whole section "Test for an unfaithful wife".
This is titled "the Law of Jealousy" in verse 29.
I prefer to title it.... "Law of Jealousy... Abortion"
