Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 5:21
Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
Verse 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 Jer 29:22-23: “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 neighbours’ wives.” – Ainsworth.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
An oath, i.e. a form of cursing or imprecatory oaths, that when they would curse a person, they may wish that they may be as cursed and miserable as thou wast upon this occasion. See the phrase Isa 65:15; Jer 29:22 and compare Gen 48:20; Rth 4:11,12.
Thy thigh; a modest signification of the genital parts, used both in Scripture, as Gen 46:26; Exo 1:5, and other authors, that the sin might be evident in the punishment.
To rot, Heb. to fall, i.e. to die or waste away, as the word is used, 1Ch 21:14, compared with 2Sa 24:15.
To swell, suddenly and violently till it burst, which the Jews note was frequent in this and like cases, as Exo 32:20. And it was a clear evidence of the truth of their religion.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. The Lord make thee a curse,c.a usual form of imprecation (Isa 65:15Jer 29:22).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing,…. An oath which has a curse annexed to it, if taken falsely, which was to be pronounced upon the woman if guilty:
and the priest shall say unto the woman; pronouncing the imprecation or curse upon her, she having taken the oath, should she be guilty of the crime suspected of, and she had swore concerning:
the Lord make thee a curse, and an oath among the people; accursed according to the oath taken; or let this be the form of an oath and imprecation used by the people, saying, if I have done so and so, let me be accursed as such a woman, or let not that happen to me, as did to such a woman, so Jarchi:
when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; upon drinking the bitter waters; but though these things followed upon that, yet not as the natural cause of them, for they are ascribed to the Lord, and to a supernatural and miraculous power of his, which went along with the drinking of them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21. The Lord make thee an oath So signal a mark of Jehovah’s wrath was she to bear, that in future adjurations she was to be held up as the conspicuous example and measure of his vengeance, and the imprecation was to be, “May I become like this accursed woman!”
Make thy thigh to rot Hebrew, to fall.
Belly to swell Greek, to be burnt. The precise nature of the punishment here threatened is more clearly gathered from the original. The thigh is a euphemism for the sexual organs.
Gen 46:26. Hence the painful infliction, the falling of the womb, attended by an inflammation, which, in the Septuagint, is rendered by the word burn. Michaelis suggests that an ovarian tumour, with its dreadful suffering and emaciation, is here denounced as the penalty. Josephus calls it the ordinary dropsy. Theodoret says, “The punishment shall come from the same source as the sin.” See Rom 6:19. The instrument of the momentary sin shall be the channel through which the penal pain shall be poured during all the life of the convicted adulteress. Verily, “the way of the transgressor is hard.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Priest Charges the Woman with An Oath of Cursing ( Num 5:21-22 ).
Num 5:21-22
‘Then the priest shall cause the woman to swear with the oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh makes your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell, and this water which causes the curse shall go into your bowels, and make your body to swell, and your thigh to fall away.” And the woman shall say, “Amen, Amen.” ’
Having previously received her oath of innocence he would now call on her to swear the oath of cursing (the parallelism confirms that there are two oaths). This probably began something like, ‘If I have been unfaithful to my husband, let this water of bitterness cause the curse to come upon me.’
The priest would then continue his words where he had broken off previously, “Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, when Yahweh makes your thigh to fall away, and your body to swell, and this water which causes the curse shall go into your bowels, and make your body to swell, and your thigh to fall away.” The reference to her ‘thigh’ almost certainly means her sexual organs. It was customary not to mention them by name, especially in public. The point is that if she was guilty she would by her words have called on herself the curse which would go into her bowels, and make her body swell, and her sexual organs be affected. This would then be evidence to all who heard of it that she was guilty and she would become a curse among them as unable to produce children. Furthermore her wickedness would in future be used as an oath because it was so heinous (just as someone might swear by Sodom when arguing innocence or when threatening reprisal).
The woman was then to respond fervently, ‘Amen. Amen. May it be so, may it be so.’ In other words, ‘Let this thing surely be’. The willingness with which she said it would count for more than a thousand protestations of innocence.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Num 5:21. The Lord make thee a curse, &c. i.e. The Lord make thee such an object of his malediction, and such a dreadful monument of his vengeance, that men may make thy case a model of imprecation; saying, If I swear falsely, may I be as accursed as such a woman! see Calmet. The former part of this verse seems an evident interruption of the narrative, and must be read as in a parenthesis.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Num 5:21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
Ver. 21. Thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell. ] God takes notice of the offending member; as he did in those blasphemers, who gnawed their tongues; Rev 16:10 Absalom’s hair; Jeroboam’s hand; the adulterer’s loins; Pro 5:11 Zimri and Cozbi, thrust through the belly. Num 25:8 Charles II, King of Navarre, Joan, Queen of Naples, &c., suffered as they sinned.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
charge, &c. This ordeal was provided for in the Laws of Khammurabi, 131, 132. See App-15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
an oath: Jos 6:26, 1Sa 14:24, Neh 10:29, Mat 26:74
The Lord make: Isa 65:15, Jer 29:22
rot: Heb. fall, 2Ch 21:15, Pro 10:7
Reciprocal: Gen 24:3 – swear
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
5:21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a {k} curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
(k) Both because she had committed so heinous a fault, and forswore herself in denying the same.