[To make their camp a worthy home of the Divine Presence (Shechinah), the Israelites were cautioned to free their camp of tumah, “ritual contamination” (Ramban). What constitutes ‘uncleanness’ might be surprising since here, it seems to focus on physical or material impurities, those associated with disease, waste, death and the like. If we fail to associate these with impurities connected with behavior, morality and spirituality, then the lesson is wasted on shortsighted learners.
The latter part of this chapter deals with how to determine if a wife has committed adultery, on no other basis than a husband’s suspicion. The test for innocence or guilt seems strange, intended to have some kind of a psychological effect on the ‘suspectee’ . . . perhaps it worked in those days, perhaps it works even today since there are body-language experts who now analyze facial, hand and bodily movement to explain if a person is lying or not.
A petty but laughable example: my sister and I were always irritated by a neighbor’s chicken which would come pecking on our garden and messing up my sister’s flowering plants; we would joke about one day catching the chicken and making a chicken dish out of it. An opportunity came, we caught the chicken and pretended we would cut its neck and defeather it . . . we intended to just play with it and not really go through with it, but as my sister pretended to cut its neck, the ultra-sharp knife cut deep enough for blood to spurt, so we panicked and went through with the plan we had only joked about and intended to have fun with. We cooked our favorite chicken dish and as we sat down to eat, our neighbor came by to ask if we had seen his chicken . . . we both jumped up, covered the chicken dish with our hands and said exactly the same words at the same time: “WHAT CHICKEN????” We laughed about it later each time we’d retell the story, but it’s an example of how a guilty complex works. I think our neighbor knew . . . but was nice enough to let it go.
Commentary from Pentateuch and Haftarah, ed. Dr. J.H.Hertz; translation by EF/Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.–Admin1]
Numbers/Bamidbar 5
[1-4. REMOVAL OF UNCLEAN PERSONS FROM THE CAMP]
1 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:2 Command the Children of Israel, that they may send-away from the camp anyone (with) tzaraat, anyone (with) a flow, and anyone tamei by a (dead) person.
put out of the camp every leper. After detailing the arrangement of the camp and the ordering of the march, there follows the injunction that the ceremonial purity of the camp is to be safeguarded. Three classes of unclean persons are to be excluded:
- the leper
- one that hath an ‘issue’ (see Lev. XV)
- one who has become polluted by contact with the dead (Num. XIX,11-22).
According to the Rabbis, the first was to be excluded from the whole camp. Those afflicted with issues were excluded from the Sanctuary proper and he Levite encampment around the Sanctuary. One who had had contact with the dead was only excluded from the Sanctuary proper. Later in Canaan there were special houses outside the cities for lepers.
4 Thus did the Children of Israel, sending-them-away outside the camp,
5-10. Restitution for Wrongs. The removal of physical impurities must be accompanied by the removal of moral wrongs.
5 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:6 Speak to the Children of Israel: A man or a woman-when they do any sin (committed by) humans by breaking-faith, yes, faith with YHVH, and that person realizes his guilt:
any sin . . . against the LORD. i.e. any of the wrongs current amongst men. Bachya, the renowned Jewish moralist, takes these words to mean:’Any wrong which a man commits against his fellow is at the same time treason against God.’
a trespass against the LORD. Breach of trust or wrongful misappropriation of the property of another; see Lev. V,14. The laws there laid down in regard to restitution and the bringing of guilt offering are here repeated, with further provisions in v. 7 regarding public confession, and in v.8 regarding the property of a wronged person who died without leaving any kinsman to whom restitution might be made.
7 they are to confess their sin that they have done, and (each one) is to make-restitution for one’s guilt in its capital-amount, adding its fifth to it, and is to give it to the one toward whom one incurred-guilt.shall make restitution for his guilt. i.e. he shall restore that which he guiltily holds in his possession.
8 Now if the man has no redeemer, to make-restitution of guilt- payment to him, the guilt-payment is to be restored to YHVH, (it is) the priest’s, besides the ram of purgation with whichpurgation is effected for him.
if the man have no kinsman. According to the Talmud, the reference is to the case of a proselyte who dies and leaves no heirs, as every Israelite would have some near or distant relative. For the meaning of the term goel, ‘kinsman,’ see on Lev. XXV,25.
the priest’s. He was to receive it as the representative of God; Lev. XXIII,20, ‘they shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.’
9 And any contribution, including any of the holy-offerings of the Children of Israel that they bring-near for the priest, shall be his.heave-offering of all the holy things. The priest’s due from any contribution brought to the Altar. It constituted his maintenance and was regarded as his legal property.
10 So every-man, his holy-offerings shall be his, every-man, what he gives to the priest, shall be hisevery man’s hallowed things hall be his. Every man who brings a gift to the Altar may allocate it to any priest he choses, and no fellow-priest may dispute his right to it.
[11-31. ORDEAL OF JEALOUSY
The ordinance was intended to remove the very suspicion of marital unfaithfulness in the midst of Israel. As such crime is destructive of the foundations of social order, it was necessary to arrive at certainty in cases of doubt, and at the same time to afford protection to the innocent wife against unreasonable jealousies. If a husband suspect his wife of unfaithfulness, he may bring her to the Sanctuary for an oath of purgation and the drinking of ‘the water of bitterness’. If she is innocent, no injuries result; if guilty, the combined oath and ordeal produce physical effects that proclaim her guilt to the world. This law is the only explicit instance in Scripture of trial by ordeal, an institution that was well-nigh universal in antiquity and a regular feature of Western European life down to the late Middle Ages. In Israel, the Ordeal of Jealousy was abolished by Johanan ben Zakkai soon after the Destruction of the Temple. From that time, divorce alone was customary in cases of well-proved faithlessness.]
11 YHVH spoke to Moshe, saying:12 Speak to the Children of Israel and say to them: Any-man, any-man whose wife goes-astray, breaking-faith, yes, faith with him,
if any man’s wife go aside. From the right path and become suspect in the eyes of her husband. By a slight change of punctuation the Heb. verb can be translated, ‘if any man’s wife commit folly,’ and the Rabbis base thereon the saying ‘No one sinneth unless the spirit of folly has entered into him.’
13 in that a man lay with her, (with) an emission of seed, and it was hidden from the eyes of her husband, -she concealed herself, since she had made-herself-tamei- and since there was no witness against her, she was not apprehended-she being defiled secretly. Even the presence of one witness to such defilement ruled out the Ordeal procedure. She was then tried on the evidence.
14 and the rush of jealousy comes over him, and he is jealous toward his wife, she having made-herself-tamei; or the rush of jealousy comes over himspirit of jealousy. i.e. an uncontrollable impulse. The Rabbis required the husband first to prohibit the woman, in the presence of witnesses, to hold any further communication with the man suspected; and then only, in case of the wife’s disobedience, could the husband subject her to the Ordeal. The Ordeal could not be made use of if there was any connivance on the part of the husband.
15 and he is jealous toward his wife, though she did not make-herself-tamei- the man is to bring his wife to the priest. He is to bring a near-offering for her: a tenth of an efa of barley meal; there is not to be poured on it any oil, there is not to be put on it any frankincense, for it is a grain-gift of jealousy, grain-gift of reminding that reminds of iniquity.and shall bring her offering for her. i.e. on her account; the offerings required in her case.
the tenth part of an ephah. A little under seven pints.
of barley meal. Offerings usually cosisted of fine rather than coarse meal, and the ingredient was wheat rather than barley. It was thus to indicate the abased condition of the suspected woman.
no oil . . . nor put frankincense thereon. These symbols of joy and festivity would not harmonize with the grievous nature of the occasion (Philo).
bringing iniquity to remembrance. Unlike other offerings, it is a reminder not of Divine mercy, but of the guilt to be discovered and to be punished by God. Dillman considers this phrase to be the technical term for accusation.
16 The priest is to bring-her-near and have-her-stand before the presence of YHVH;before the LORD. Near the Altar of burnt-offering; in later times, to the eastern gate of the Temple.
17 then the priest is to take holy water in an earthenware vessel, and from the dirt that will be on the floor of the Dwelling the priest is to take (some) and place (it) in the water.holy water. Taken from the brazen laver which stood near the Altar (Exod. XXX,18).
dust. Also holy, in virtue of the place whence it was taken.
an earthen vessel. Cheap and coarse, like the offering itself.
18 When the priest has had the woman stand before the presence of YHVH, he is to loosen (the hair of) the woman’s head and is to place on her palms the grain-gift of reminding -it is a grain-gift of jealousy!- and in the hand of the priest is to be the Water of Bitterness Bringing the Bane.the hair . . . go loose. As a sign of mourning (Lev.X,6), or in token of her shame, as it was a sign of lack of morality for a woman to appear publicly with her hair unloosed.
in her hands. To make her feel the severity of the ordeal to such an extent that she volunteer a confession of her guilt.
water of bitterness. Water which produces woeful results (Rashi).
that causeth the curse. Better, that brings the guilt to light (Luzatto, following the Samaritan version).
19 The priest is to have her swear, saying to the woman: If a man did not lie with you, and if you did not stray to make-yourself-tamei under your husband(‘s authority), be-clear from this Water of Bitterness Bringing the Bane!being under thy husband. i.e. as a wife under the authority of her husband, and therefore bound to be faithful to him. The priest begins with the assumption of innocence.
be thou free from this water. Be unpunished by it.
20 But you, if you strayed under your husband(‘s authority), if you made-yourself-tamei, and a man gave you his emission, other than your husband:21 the priest is to have the woman swear the oath curse, and the priest is to say to the woman: may YHVH make you a curse and a cause-for-oath in the midst of your kinspeople, when YHVH makes your thigh fall and your belly flood;
a curse and an oath. So that people employ thy name both as a warning example and as an imprecation.
22 may this Water of Bitterness enter your innards, to cause the belly to flood and the thigh to fall! And the woman is to say: Amen! Amen!Amen. Its original meaning is ‘So be it!’ A solemn affirmation to a preceding statement. Whosoever answers Amen to an oath, it is as if he had himself pronounced that oath.
In later times, Amen becomes in the Synagogue—as distinct from the Temple—the regular liturgical response of the worshippers. It was often doubled at the end of a psalm or prayer. Great spiritual value was attached by the Rabbis to the reverent response of Amen in prayer. ‘Whosoever says Amen with all his strength, to him the gates of Paradise shall be opened.’ Amen is now one of the commonest words of human speech. Three great Religions have brought it into the daily lives of men of all races, climes, and cultures.
23 Then the priest is to write these curses in a document and is to blot (them) into the Water of Bitterness,in a scroll. On anything that can receive writing (Mishnah). In Roman times, a royal proselyte to Judaism , Queen Helena, donated a tablet of gold to the Temple, with the chapter of the Ordeal of Jealousy written on it, and the priests would transcribe the oath from that table.
blot them out. Or, ‘wash them into the bitter water.’ A symbolical action to indicate that the curse is in this manner conveyed to the potion.
24 he is to make the woman drink the Water of Bitterness Bringing the Bane, so that the Water Bringing the Bane may enter her, for “bitterness.”make the woman drink. This is said by anticipation, because she did not really drink it till after the offering; v.26. The translation should read, ‘and when he shall make the woman to drink the water that brings the guilt to light, the water that brings the guilt to light shall enter into her and become bitter.’ The solemnity of the oath, and the awe-inspiring ritual which accompanied it, might of themselves deter a woman from taking it, unless she were supported by the consciousness of innocence (Speaker’s Bible).
and become bitter. lit. ‘for bitterness’; i.e. proving unpleasant and injurious.
25 Then the priest is to take from the hand of the woman the grain-gift of jealousy, he is to elevate the grain-gift before the presence of YHVH, and is to bring-it-near, to the slaughter-site.26 The priest is to scoop out of the grain-gift its reminder-portion, and is to turn it into smoke upon the slaughter-site; after that he is to make the woman drink the water.
27 When he has had her drink the water, it shall be: if she made-herself-tamei and broke-faith, yes, faith with her husband, the Water Bringing the Bane shall enter her, for “bitterness,” her belly shall flood and her thigh shall fall, and the woman shall become an object-of-curse among her kinsfolk.
that causeth the curse. Better, that bringeth the guilt to light.
28 But if the woman did not make-herself-tamei and she is pure, she is to be cleared and she may-bear-seed, yes, seed.she shall be cleared. Acquitted and proved innocent; and as Divine compensation for the suffering she had undergone, she would bear offspring—an indication of God’s favour in Scripture.
29 This is the Instruction for cases-of-jealousy, when a woman strays under her husband(‘s authority) and makes-herself-tamei, 30 or when there comes over a man a rush of jealousy, so that he is jealous toward his wife: he is to have the woman stand before the presence of YHVH, and the priest is to perform regarding her (according to) all this Instruction. 31 The man shall be clear of iniquity, but that woman shall bear her iniquity.clear from iniquity. Of having cast suspicion on one who is innocent (Sforno). The Rabbis, however, inferred from these Heb. words that the Ordeal proved ineffective if the husband was himself guilty of immorality.
shall bear her iniquity. Should she be proved guilty.