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Texts -- Numbers 5:21-31 (NET)

Context
5:21 Then the priest will put the woman under the oath of the curse and will say to the her , “The Lord make you an attested curse among your people , if the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your abdomen swell ; 5:22 and this water that causes the curse will go into your stomach , and make your abdomen swell and your thigh rot .” Then the woman must say , “Amen , amen .” 5:23 “‘Then the priest will write these curses on a scroll and then scrape them off into the bitter water . 5:24 He will make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse , and the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness . 5:25 The priest will take the grain offering of suspicion from the woman’s hand , wave the grain offering before the Lord , and bring it to the altar . 5:26 Then the priest will take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial portion , burn it on the altar , and afterward make the woman drink the water . 5:27 When he has made her drink the water , then, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband , the water that brings a curse will enter her to produce bitterness – her abdomen will swell , her thigh will fall away , and the woman will become a curse among her people . 5:28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean , then she will be free of ill effects and will be able to bear children . 5:29 “‘This is the law for cases of jealousy , when a wife , while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 5:30 or when jealous feelings come over a man and he becomes suspicious of his wife ; then he must have the woman stand before the Lord , and the priest will carry out all this law upon her. 5:31 Then the man will be free from iniquity , but that woman will bear the consequences of her iniquity .’”

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Bible Dictionary

  • Adultery

    [ebd] conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried woman was fornication. Adult...
    [isbe] ADULTERY - a-dul'-ter-i: In Scripture designates sexual intercourse of a man, whether married or unmarried, with a married woman. 1. Its Punishment: It is categorically prohibited in the Decalogue (seventh commandment, Ex 20...
    [smith] (Exodus 20:14) The parties to this crime, according to Jewish law, were a married woman and a man who was not her husband. The Mosaic penalty was that both the guilty parties should be stoned, and it applied as well to the be...
    [nave] ADULTERY. Gen. 20:3; 2 Sam. 12:14; Job 24:15-17 v. 18.; Job 31:1, 9-12; Prov. 2:16, 18, 19 v. 17.; Prov. 5:3, 4 vs. 5-22.; Prov. 6:24-29, 32, 33; Prov. 7:5-23; Prov. 9:13-18; Prov. 22:14; Prov. 23:27, 28; Prov. 29:3; Prov. ...

  • Jealousy

    [isbe] JEALOUSY - jel'-us-i (qin'ah; zelos): Doubtless, the root idea of both the Greek and the Hob translated "jealousy" is "warmth," "heat." Both are used in a good and a bad sense--to represent right and wrong passion. When jeal...
    [nave] JEALOUSY. Prov. 6:34; 27:4; Eccl. 4:4; Song 8:6. Law concerning, when husband is jealous of his wife, Num. 5:12-31. Image of, Ezek. 8:3, 4. Forbidden, Rom. 13:13. Attributed to God, Ex. 20:5; 34:13, 14; Num. 25:11; Deut...

  • WATER OF JEALOUSY

    [ebd] a phrase employed (not, however, in Scripture) to denote the water used in the solemn ordeal prescribed by the law of Moses (Num. 5:11-31) in cases of "jealousy."
    [smith] (Numbers 5:11-31) The ritual prescribed consisted in the husband?s bringing before the priest the woman suspected of infidelity, and the essential part of it is unquestionably the oath to which the "water" was subsidiary, sym...

  • RIGHTEOUSNESS

    [isbe] RIGHTEOUSNESS - ri'-chus-nes (tsaddiq, adjective, "righteous," or occasionally "just" tsedheq, noun, occasionally = "riahteousness," occasionally = "justice"; dikaios, adjective, dikaiosune, noun, from dike, whose first mean...

  • LAW IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

    [isbe] LAW IN THE OLD TESTAMENT - || I. TERMS USED 1. Torah ("Law") 2. Synonyms of Torah (1) Mitswah ("Command") (2) `Edhah ("Witness," "Testimony") (3) MishpaTim ("Judgments") (4) Chuqqim ("Statutes") (5) Piqqudhim ("Precepts") II...

  • SWELL

    [isbe] SWELL - swel (tsabhah): In the ordeal of the Water of Jealousy described in Nu 5:11-31 (P), the effect on the unfaithful wife ot the drinking of the holy water was to cause the thigh to fall away (Revised Version) or rot (th...

  • Husband

    [nave] HUSBAND. Gen. 2:23, 24 Matt. 19:5; Mark 10:7. Num. 5:11-31; Deut. 22:13-21; Deut. 24:5; Prov. 5:15-19; Eccl. 9:9; Mal. 2:14-16; 1 Cor. 7:3, 5; 1 Cor. 7:14, 16, 33; 1 Cor. 11:3; Eph. 5:22-33; Col. 3:18, 19; 1 Tim. 5:8; 1 Pet...

  • Women

    [nave] WOMEN Creation of, Gen. 1:27; 2:21, 22. Named, Gen. 2:23. Fall of, and curse upon, Gen. 3:1-16; 2 Cor. 11:3; 1 Tim. 2:14. Promise to, Gen. 3:15. Had separate apartments in dwellings, Gen. 24:67; 31:33; Esth. 2:9, 11. Ve...

  • Wife

    [nave] WIFE Called Desire of the Eyes, Ezek. 24:16. Help, Gen. 2:18, 20. Fruitful Vine, Psa. 128:3. The judgment denounced against Eve, Gen. 3:16. Relation of, to husband, Gen. 2:18, 23, 24; 1 Cor. 11:3-12. Domestic duties of,...

  • Priest

    [nave] PRIEST. Before Moses Melchizedek, Gen. 14:18; Heb. 5:6, 10, 11; 6:20; 7:1-21. Jethro, Ex. 2:16. Priests in Israel before the giving of the law, Ex. 19:22, 24. Called angel, Eccl. 5:6. Mosaic Ex. 28:1-4; 29:9, 44; Num....

  • NUMBERS, BOOK OF

    [isbe] NUMBERS, BOOK OF - num'-berz: I. TITLE AND CONTENTS 1. Title 2. Contents II. LITERARY STRUCTURE 1. Alleged Grounds of Distribution 2. Objections to Same (1) Hypothesis Unproved (2) Written Record Not Impossible (3) No Book E...

  • Bitter Water

    [nave] BITTER WATER At Marah, Ex. 15:23. A ceremonial water used by the priest, Num. 5:18-27.

  • Self-crimination

    [nave] SELF-CRIMINATION, Num. 5:11-27; 1 Kin. 8:31, 32; Acts 22:24. See: Self-condemnation. Instances of Achan, Josh. 7:19-25.

  • Oath

    [isbe] OATH - oth (shebhu`ah, probably from shebha`, "seven," the sacred number, which occurs frequently in the ritual of an oath; horkos; and the stronger word 'alah, by which a curse is actually invoked upon the oath-breaker Sept...
    [nave] OATH, a solemn qualification. Used in solemnizing covenants: Between Abraham and the king of Sodom, Gen. 14:22, 23; and Abimelech, Gen. 21:22, 23; between Isaac and Abimelech, Gen. 26:26-29, 31. Abraham requires oath of his ...

  • Amen

    [isbe] AMEN - a-men' (in ritual speech and in singing a-men', a'men) ('amen; amen, = "truly," "verily"): Is derived from the reflexive form of a verb meaning "to be firm," or "to prop." It occurs twice as a noun in Isa 65:16, where...
    [smith] literally "true" and used as a substantive, "that which is true," "truth," (Isaiah 65:16) a word used in strong asseverations, fixing, as it were, the stamp of truth upon the assertion which it accompanied, and making it bind...
    [nave] AMEN A word used to reenforce a statement, Num. 5:22; Deut. 27:12-26; Neh. 5:13; 2 Cor. 1:20; Rev. 1:18; 22:20. Used in prayer, 1 Kin. 1:36; 1 Chr. 16:36; Neh. 8:6; Psa. 41:13; 72:19; 89:52; 106:48; Jer. 28:6; Matt. 6:13; 1...

  • BITTER; BITTERNESS

    [isbe] BITTER; BITTERNESS - bit'-er, bit'-er-nes (mar, or marah = "bitter" (literally or figuratively); also (noun) "bitterness" or (adverb) "bitterly"; "angry," "chafed," "discontented," "heavy" (Gen 27:34; Ex 15:23; Nu 5:18,19,23...

  • ROT; ROTTENNESS

    [isbe] ROT; ROTTENNESS - rot, rot'-'-n-nes (verb raqebh, noun raqabh (riqqabhon, Job 41:27), with maq, "decay" (Isa 5:24), and `abhash, "shrivel" (so Joel 1:17 the Revised Version margin)): "Rottenness of the bones" (Prov 12:4; 14:...

  • THIGH

    [isbe] THIGH - thi (yarekh; Aramaic yarekhah (Dan 2:32); meros (Judith 9:2; Sirach 19:12; Rev 19:16); as part of a sacrificial animal (Ex 29:22, etc.) shoq, the King James Version, the Revised Version margin "shoulder"; in addition...

  • TABLET

    [isbe] TABLET - tab'-let: A rigid flat sheet (plate, pad or slab) used to receive writing. Stone, clay, wood and perhaps bronze, gold and lead tablets, at least, are mentioned in the Bible. In the Old English sense of "locket" the ...

  • CURSE

    [isbe] CURSE - kurs ('alah (Nu 5:21,23,17, etc.), me'erah (Prov 3:33; Mal 2:2, etc.), klalah (Gen 27:12,13); katara (Gal 3:10,13)): This word as noun and verb renders different Hebrew words, some of them being more or less synonymo...
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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • Moses broke the tablets of the law (v. 19) symbolizing the fact that Israel had broken its covenant with Yahweh. He then proceeded to destroy the golden calf, the symbol of the illicit covenant into which they had entered (cf...
  • To formulate a statement that summarizes the teaching of this book it will be helpful to identify some of the major revelations in Numbers. These constitute the unique values of the book.The first major value of Numbers is th...
  • I. Experiences of the older generation in the wilderness chs. 1-25A. Preparations for entering the Promised Land from the south chs. 1-101. The first census and the organization of the people chs. 1-42. Commands and rituals t...
  • The point of this section is the importance of maintaining purity in the marriage relationship to preserve God's blessing on Israel.In verses 11-15 the writer explained the first steps an Israelite man who suspected his wife ...
  • Aharoni, Yohanan. The Land of the Bible. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed. New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William Foxwell...
  • A discussion of divorce and remarriage fits into this context because they both involve respect for the rights of others. The first of the two situations Moses dealt with in this section concerns a married, divorced, and rema...
  • The target audience of this warning passage was originally the leaders as well as the ordinary citizens of Israel.5:1 Hosea called on the Israelite priests, the whole population of Israel, and the royal household to hear this...
  • The first sentence in this pericope (section) serves as a title for the section, as the sentence in verse 1 did for 1:1-17. Matthew recorded the supernatural birth of Jesus to demonstrate further His qualification as Israel's...
  • Matthew evidently included this instruction because the marriage relationships of His disciples were important factors in their effective ministries. Jesus clarified God's will for His disciples that was different from the co...
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