Numbers 5:19-31 NIV

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:28

And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean ,.... If she is not guilty of adultery, but pure from that sin: then she shall be free ; from the effects of the bitter water; they shall have no such influence upon her, but she shall be as soured and healthful as ever; nay, the Jewish writers say more so, that if she had any sickness or disease upon her she would now be freed from it F14 Maimon. Hilchot Sotah, c. 3. sect. 22. ; the Targum of Jonathan has it, her splendour shall shine,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:29

This is the law of jealousies ,.... Which was appointed by God to deter wives from adultery, and preserve the people of Israel, the worshippers of him, from having a spurious brood among them; and to keep husbands from being cruel to their wives they might be jealous of, and to protect virtue and innocence, and to detect lewdness committed in the most secret manner; whereby God gave proof of his omniscience, that he had knowledge of the most private acts of uncleanness, and was the avenger... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:30

Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife ,.... See Gill on Numbers 5:14 , and shall set the woman before the Lord ; has carried the matter so far as to bring his wife to the priest or civil magistrate, and declare his suspicion, and the ground of it: and the priest shall execute upon her all this law ; he shall proceed according to the law, and perform every rite and ceremony required; nor could any stop be put to it, unless the woman owned... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:31

Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity ,.... Which otherwise he would not, by conniving at her loose way of living, and not reproving her for it, and bringing her either to repentance or punishment; and retaining and encouraging jealousy in his mind, without declaring it, and his reasons for it: the sense of the passage seems to be, that when a man had any ground for his suspicion and jealousy, and he proceeded according as this law directs, whether his wife was guilty or not guilty,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:21

The Lord make thee a curse and an oath - Let thy name and punishment be remembered and mentioned as an example and terror to all others. Like that mentioned Jeremiah 29:22 , Jeremiah 29:23 ; : "The Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives." - Ainsworth. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:22

Thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot - What is meant by these expressions cannot be easily ascertained. ירך לנפל lanpel yarech signifies literally thy thigh to fall. As the thigh, feet, etc., were used among the Hebrews delicately to express the parts which nature conceals, (see Genesis 46:26 ;), the expression here is probably to be understood in this sense; and the falling down of the thigh here must mean something similar to the prolapsus uteri , or falling down of the womb,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:23

The priest shall write these curses - and he shall blot them out - It appears that the curses which were written down with a kind of ink prepared for the purpose, as some of the rabbins think, without any calx of iron or other material that could make a permanent dye, were washed off the parchment into the water which the woman was obliged to drink, so that she drank the very words of the execration. The ink used in the East is almost all of this kind - a wet sponge will completely efface... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:24

The bitter water that causeth the curse - Though the rabbins think that the priest put some bitter substance in the water, yet as nothing of the kind is intimated by Moses, we may consider the word as used here metaphorically for affliction, death, etc. These waters were afflicting and deadly to her who drank them, being guilty. In this sense afflictions are said to be bitter, Isaiah 38:17 ; so also is death, 1 Samuel 15:32 ; : Ecclesiastes 7:26 . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:29

This is the law of jealousies - And this is the most singular law in the whole Pentateuch: a law that seems to have been copied by almost all the nations of the earth, whether civilized or barbarian, as we find that similar modes of trial for suspected offenses were used when complete evidence was wanting to convict; and where it was expected that the object of their worship would interfere for the sake of justice, in order that the guilty should be brought to punishment, and the innocent be... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:31

This woman shall bear her iniquity - That is, her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot; see Numbers 5:22 ; (note). But if not guilty after such a trial, she had great honor, and, according to the rabbins, became strong, healthy, and fruitful; for if she was before barren, she now began to bear children; if before she had only daughters, she now began to have sons; if before she had hard travail, she now had easy; in a word, she was blessed in her body, her soul, and her substance: so... read more

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:28

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:29

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:30

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 5:31

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:21

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:22

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:23

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:24

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:29

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 5:31

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