Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 5:13
And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and [there be] no witness against her, neither she be taken [with the manner];
13. and be kept close &c.] and she be undetected, though she has defiled herself. since she was not
14b. The merest suspicion on the husband’s part might render her liable to the ordeal.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
She utterly denying it, Pro 30:20, and none being able and willing to discover it; for if it was witnessed, she was to die for it, Lev 20:10; Deu 22:22.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And a man lie with her carnally,…. That is, is suspected that he has so done, not that it is a clear case, for it follows;
and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close; so that it is not known by her husband, nor by any other; “she hath hid herself”, so Ainsworth, being in a private place with another man, though warned to the contrary by her husband:
and she be defiled, and [there be] no witness against her; of her being defiled, though there may be of her being in private with such a man:
neither she be taken [with the manner]; or in the act of uncleanness.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Adultery is Hidden from Her Husband and There Is No Witness ( Num 5:13 ).
Num 5:13
“ And it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, and she be not taken in the act,”
The emphasis here is on the fact that this grave sin has been kept hidden, although Yahweh will know about it. Her husband does not know, she deliberately keeps it hidden, there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act. But she has been defiled. And because she is defiled the camp is defiled. All may suffer because of her sin.
All of us need to recognise that when we carry around secret sin we defile wherever we go. Many a church’s witness is marred by the secret sin of its members.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
These verses contain a very circumstantial account, of the law of jealousy. The process of trial is very solemn and awful; and the event, suited to the nature of the dispensation, under which the church then was. But among the disciples of a better dispensation, founded upon better promises, there can need no waters of jealousy, for we know that GOD judgeth the secrets of all hearts by JESUS CHRIST, the Great High Priest of our profession; and though in the present day of abounding transgression, sins of uncleanness and unfaithfulness abound; yet that scripture is not less in force, whoremongers and adulterers will GOD judge. LORD! keep us from all our enemies, and especially from the defilements of our own corrupt nature, and may we learn as members of CHRIST’S mystical body, to say with the same holy zeal and indignation, as the Apostle: shall I then take the members of CHRIST, and make them the members of an harlot? GOD forbid! 1Co 6:15 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Num 5:13 And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and [there be] no witness against her, neither she be taken [with the manner];
Ver. 13. And it be hid from the eyes ] As Pro 30:20 . Such a privy whore was Livia, the wife of Augustus Caesar, who, though otherwise very observant of her husband, yet lived in adultery with Eudemus her physician: qui specie artis frequens secretis, saith Taeitus; who, under a show of curing her, corrupted her. So do the Jesuits many dames at this day; being, as one saith of them, Connubi sanctifugae, clam meretricitegae. The friars are said to send men whose wives are barren, in pilgrimage to St. Joyce the patroness of fruitfulness, and meanwhile to lie with their wives.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lev 18:20, Lev 20:10, Pro 7:18, Pro 7:19, Pro 30:20
Reciprocal: Rom 7:3 – So then