Numbers 5:23

"And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness: and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causeth the curse; and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. And the priest shall take the meal-offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal-offering before Jehovah, and bring it unto the altar: and the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away: and the woman shall be a curse among her people. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed."

We are amazed at Gray's criticism of this passage thus: "In the present text, the woman is twice brought before Jehovah, twice made to swear, and twice, if not thrice, made to drink the potion. The text has either been interpolated, or rests on a compilation from two parallel but distinct sources."[21]

The double mention of bringing the woman "before Jehovah" records movement in the ceremony. In the first (Numbers 5:16) she is brought inside the tabernacle, and in the second (Numbers 5:18) she is seated. In the reference to the double swearing, there is a similar lack of discernment. In the first (Numbers 5:19) is recorded what the woman was to swear, but in the second (Numbers 5:22) the actual swearing is recorded in the form of the double "Amen." The allegation that she was required to drink the potion twice is also an error. In these instructions, it is recorded that the priest was to make the woman drink the bitter water (Numbers 5:24-26), but in the same breath with this commandment is the word that she was to drink it afterward from the moment that the handful of the meal-offering had been burnt upon the altar (Numbers 5:26). One certainly has to have a fertile imagination to find all those "doubles" in this record.

"Blot them out into the water of bitterness ..." This refers to writing the curse on book paper and then washing it off into the bitter water.[22] The ink that was used would then blend with the water, along with the dust, adding to the symbolism.

"A curse and an oath among thy people ..." Note that the death penalty is not to be enforced here, no matter if the accused was guilty. The reason for this appears in the fact that, "In such cases, the sin was punishable by the death of both the man and the woman (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 22:22)."[23] A number of commentators have overlooked this, but right here is the basis for Jesus' refusal to condemn the unfortunate woman taken in adultery (John 8). It would have been grossly unfair to condemn only one of two participants in such a sin, and the text here makes it clear enough that "the other guilty party" (if indeed there was guilt) was simply unavailable.