Seder 106: Num 5:11-31---Suspicion of Adultery

 A major theme in Numbers 5 is the importance of purity, both ritual and moral, for the children of Israel as they prepared to depart from Mt. Sinai early in the second year of the Exodus.  Strong marriages would promote moral purity, and jealousy between marriage partners would threaten Israelite marriages.  

Numbers 5:11-31 describes a case where a husband becomes consumed with jealousy toward his wife, who denies any wrongdoing.  An impasse results.  If that impasse persists, a ceremony is to be carried out at the tabernacle in which the wife is made to drink a special mixture of holy water.  If she is innocent of adultery, there will be no negative consequences from her drinking the water.  If she is guilty, she will suffer physical consequences that will render her unable to bear children.  

One unusual thing about this case is the fact that God promises to intervene and reveal the truth.  Normally God would not intervene in this way in Israel's justice system, and there are provisions in the Torah for what to do in cases of unsolved crimes.  For example, if a man asked his neighbor to watch an animal while he was away and something happened to the animal while no one was looking, the owner would have to accept an oath from the neighbor that the neighbor had not harmed the animal (Ex 22:10-11).  

So one other possibility for this case of suspected adultery would be for the suspected party to take an oath before God that no adultery had taken place, with the provision that the jealous spouse would have to accept that oath.  An interesting question:  Why doesn't the Torah simply go with that possibility?    

The fact that God promises to intervene in such a case may say something about

• how important it is to God to save a marriage.
• the vulnerable position of women in that culture, and how God wanted to protect women.
• the dangerous, destructive power of human jealousy.

One lesson for us might be the importance of avoiding the snare of jealousy.  This case can also lead us to reflect upon the difference between destructive human jealousy and God's "jealousy" for his people, which stems from his love for them.  We might contrast the jealous husband with God, who is faithful to Israel despite their unfaithfulness to him (see e.g. Hosea 2:16-23).   

Questions are raised by Num 5:31, which begins, "The man shall be free from iniquity."  This may mean that if the wife turns out to be innocent, the man will not be prosecuted for making a false accusation.  On the other hand, a Jewish tradition says that it means the test will only be efficacious if the jealous spouse has not been unfaithful.  

We don't know how often this ceremony was ever carried out.  Jewish tradition says that Johanan ben Zakkai ruled in about 70 AD that the test would no longer be used from then on.  The efficacy of the test relied on the people involved fearing God and trusting the answer the test gave, and the rabbis were not sure that the people still had sufficient morality and fear of God for the test to be worthwhile.

A Christian legend recorded in the Infancy Gospel of James, chapter 16, has both Mary and Joseph undergoing the ceremony and being vindicated when Mary's pregnancy leads to accusations against them.  

Num 5:28 says that if the woman turns out to be innocent, then she will be able to have children.  Today's Western readers tend to observe that a wife was put through such an ordeal by her husband, she would likely no longer want to have children with him.  Other cultures can be different, however.  Rob Wilson, in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 18, 2022, noted that women in some cultures may be proud of how jealous their husbands are.