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.  

Seder 59: Exodus 19, 1 Peter 2---God's Treasured Possession

 With the Exodus the Israelites changed masters.  They went from being slaves to Pharaoh to being servants of Yahweh, the King of the Universe.  

God rescued them for a purpose, and he revealed that purpose to them at Mt Sinai.  They were to be "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exod 19:6), God's instruments in the program he began with Abraham to bring blessing to all nations (Gen 12:1-3).  

As God's representatives, the Israelites were to 

• be an example to the nations;
• proclaim the truth, as Moses had to Jethro in Exod 18;
• intercede on  behalf of the nations;
• preserve God's word and promises.

The covenant made at Sinai would define how a whole nation of Abraham's descendants could carry out these things.  

The Israelites accepted God's "marriage proposal," saying "I do" (v 8).  They then had to undergo a program of purification in preparation for God's upcoming appearance (vv 9-15).  

We can compare Israel's preparation period at Sinai with the experience of Jesus' first disciples who waited for Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5, 13-14).   Through this remnant of Israel God began the New Covenant community.  

Peter later drew upon Exodus 19 and some additional scriptures to describe that community in 1 Peter 2:9-10: 

"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy."

Peter's references to a holy nation and royal priesthood come from Exodus 19.  The "chosen race" comes from Isa 43:20-21, where God refers to "my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise."

The Greek for "his own possession" in 1 Peter 2:9 is eis peripoiesin.  Carmen Imes (Bearing God's Name, p 170) points out that this Greek term is found in the LXX only in Mal 3:17, a prophecy in which God speaks of taking a righteous remnant of Israel, a subset of his larger "treasured possession."

In 1 Peter 2:10, Peter refers to Hosea 2:23, a promise that God would readopt Israel and renew his covenant with them, so that they would again be his people.  Early Christians also saw in this prophecy a hint that God would be taking people from the nations, those who were formerly "not his people," and making them his people.

In a sermon at Church of the Messiah on June 12, 2021, Rob Wilson emphasized the importance of unity among the people of God.  He reminded us of a Jewish tradition, based on Exodus 19:2, that Israel (singular), as a single witnessing body, camped before Mt Sinai to hear the word of God.