Numbers 5:15 - Exposition

He shall bring her offering for her. קָדְבָּנָהּ , "her offering;" עָלֶיהָ , "on her account." It was to be a meat offering—not connected on this occasion with any other sacrifice—of the fruits of the earth, symbolizing the fruits of her guilty, or at least care. less and suspicious, conduct. As of barley meal, not of fine wheat flour, it indicated her present low and vile estate (deserved or undeserved); as without incense or oil, it disclaimed for itself the sanctifying influences of God's grace and of prayer. Thus every detail of the offering, while it did not condemn the woman (for one found guilty could not have made any offering at all), yet represented her questionable repute and unquestionable dishonour, for even the unjust suspicion of the husband is a dishonour to the wife. Barley meal. In the days of Elisha half the price of fine flour ( 2 Kings 7:1 ), and only eaten by the poor ( Ezekiel 4:12 ; John 6:9 ). An offering of jealousy. Literally, "of jealousies." קְנָאֹת , an intensive plural. An offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance. θυσία μνημοσίνου , Septuagint. An offering to bring the woman into judicial remembrance before the Lord, in order that her sin (if any) might be remembered with him, and be declared.