Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 5:24
And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter.
24. and become bitter ] lit. ‘for bitterness,’ i.e. proving injurious.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 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, c. These waters were afflicting and deadly to her who drank them, being guilty. In this sense afflictions are said to be bitter, Isa 38:17 so also is death, 1Sa 15:32: Ec 7:26.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
To drink, to wit, after the jealousy-offering was offered, as is affirmed, Num 5:26.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse,….. Having the curse imprecated upon herself, if guilty, scraped into it; and this she was obliged to drink, whether she would or not; so it is said, if the roll is blotted out, and she says I am defiled, the water is poured out, and her offering is scattered in the place of ashes; if the roll is blotted out, and she says I will not drink, then force her, and make her drink whether she will or no z:
and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter; produce the sad and bitter effects mentioned.
z Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah) c. 3. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
24. Shall cause the woman to drink This verse is proleptical. The drinking is not twice, but only once, in Num 5:27. The eating or drinking anything symbolizes its full acceptance. So the prophets, Jer 15:16; Eze 3:1-3; and Jesus Christ, Joh 4:14; Joh 6:50.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Num 5:24. And become bitter And become is not in the Hebrew: the word is lemarim,in amaritudinem,for bitterness; and by a comparison of the 27th verse, it appears that this alteration in the phrase is used as referring to the case of guilt. Very many and extraordinary are the effects which the wonder-loving rabbis tell us immediately followed this draught: but if what Bishop Patrick observes from the Jewish writers be true, that, upon confessing her guilt, the woman was only divorced without dowry, it is probable there were but few instances where this miraculous judgment was inflicted; for it is hardly to be supposed, that any woman, conscious of her guilt, would, by asserting her innocence thus solemnly, in defiance of the Almighty, venture upon the certain hazard of sudden and immediate death, with all the miserable circumstances here described, rather than confess, and gain time to repent, after the experiment had been already tried by one or more.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
become bitter = turn to bitterness.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Zec 5:3, Zec 5:4, Mal 3:5
Reciprocal: Num 5:18 – the bitter water