October 14, 2024
Please use the comment section on this page to share insights from today’s reading OR your own personal Bible reading.
Reading along with us in Numbers and Colossians? Here’s today’s reading:
Numbers 5 (NIV)
The Purity of the Camp
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2“Command the Israelites to send away from the camp anyone who has a defiling skin disease or a discharge of any kind, or who is ceremonially unclean because of a dead body. 3 Send away male and female alike; send them outside the camp so they will not defile their camp, where I dwell among them.”……Continue Reading
Numbers 5
My immediate reaction to this law of jealousy was not great….the idea that any time a man felt jealous he was to parade his wife down to the priest to go through such a ritual to resolve his feelings seemed a bit much, However, then I thought of the time (and in reality still today) the other ways a man might handle his jealousy toward his wife through abuse or even murder and felt a little differently. Having this way to “settle” the dispute safely for the woman especially in cases where she was not guilty was God’s way of providing protection for her. While it still seems like a mini-trial for the woman at the husband’s possible irrational jealous thoughts at least it was showing a way to have God’s hand in bringing the couple back to a peaceful place.
Numbers 5
Numbers 5.
”And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you”— then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell; and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.” ‘Then the woman shall say, “Amen, so be it.”“
Numbers 5:19-22 NKJV
Only God and the woman (and the other man) knows if she has done this or not. If a woman is falsely accused, this is recourse for her to confirm her innocence. And the priest and God can affirm her innocence, otherwise couldn’t a husband just accuse and divorce her, or worse?
Numbers 5
I do see protection for women here as well. Rather than a man being able to accuse his wife randomly, there would be a drawn out procedure that would bring objective results that would reveal the truth of the matter. God is certainly committing His miraculous power to the whole process. It is also important to see that the woman would be given a chance to confess and not go through the process. One can’t help but wonder why there wouldn’t be a similar procedure for a jealous wife, but at least God provides here a way for her to prove her innocence. It does show that God cares about purity and faithfulness in marriage, but also not supporting random accusation that has no recourse.