And when he hath made her to drink the water<\/strong>,…. For, as before observed, and here by Jarchi again, if she says I will not drink it, after the roll is blotted out, they oblige her, and make her drink it whether she will or not, unless she says I am defiled:<\/p>\n then it shall come to pass, [that] if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband<\/strong>; or has committed adultery:<\/p>\n that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter<\/strong>; the water drank by her, and having the curses scraped into it, shall enter into her, and operate and produce bitter and dreadful effects:<\/p>\n and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot<\/strong>; not through any natural virtue in the water, or what is put into it, either the dust of the floor of the tabernacle, or the scrapings of the parchment roll, these could have no physical influence to produce such effects; but they must be ascribed to a supernatural cause, the power and curse of God attending this draught. A certain Jewish writer b says, though very falsely, that the priest put poison into the water, which produced such effects; but then, how could an innocent woman escape the effects of it? that must be allowed to be miraculous and supernatural, was it so; but there is no manner of reason to believe that anything of this kind was put into it, The Jews say c, as soon, or before she had made an end of drinking: the water, the effects appeared; her face turned pale immediately, her eyes bolted out, and she was filled with veins, her body swelled, and they called out, Cast her out, cast her out, that she may not defile the court. And the text seems to intimate, as if the operation was immediate; yea, moreover, they say d, that as the waters searched her, so they searched him (the adulterer), because it is said twice, “shall enter, shall enter”; and that the same effects appeared in him as in her, but in neither, unless the husband was innocent; for if he was not pure from the same sin himself, the waters would not search his wife e hence they say f, when adulterers increased (under the second temple) the bitter waters ceased, according to Ho 4:14<\/span>; see Mt 12:39<\/span>. This practice has been imitated by the Heathens; the river Rhine, according to Julian the emperor g, tried the legitimacy of children; and so lakes have been used for the trial of perjury and unchastity, as the Stygian lake for perjury, and another of the same name near Ephesus for unchastity; into which, if persons suspected of adultery descended, having the form of an oath hanging about their necks, if they were pure, the waters stood unmoved, but if corrupt, they swelled up to their necks, and covered the tablet on which the oath was written h. The priestesses of a certain deity being obliged to live a single life, were tried by drinking bullocks’ blood, upon which, if false to their oath and corrupt, they immediately died, as Pausanias i relates; and Macrobius k speaks of some lakes in Sicily, the inhabitants called the Cups, to which recourse was had when persons were suspected of any ill, and where an oath was taken of them; if the person swore truly, he departed unhurt, but if falsely, he immediately lost his life in the lake. Philostratus l relates of a water near Tyana, a city in Cappadocia, sacred to Jupiter, which the inhabitants call Asbamaea, which to those that kept their oaths was placid and sweet, but to perjured persons the reverse; it affected their eyes, hands, and feet, and seized them with dropsies and consumptions; nor could they depart from the water, but remained by it, mourning their sad case, and confessing their perjury: but what comes nearest to this usage of the Jews is a custom at marriages among the savages at Cape Breton m: at a marriage feast, two dishes of meat are brought to the bridegroom and bride in two “ouragans” (basins made of the bark of a tree), and the president of the feast addresses himself to the bride thus,<\/p>\n “and thou that art upon the point of entering into a respectable state, know, that the nourishment thou art going to take forebodes the greatest calamities to thee, if thy heart is capable of harbouring any ill design against thy husband, or against thy nation: shouldest thou ever be led astray by the caresses of a stranger; or shouldest thou betray thy husband, and thy country, the victuals contained in this “ouragan” will have the effects of a slow poison, with which thou wilt be tainted from this very instant; but if, on the other hand, thou remainest faithful to thy husband, and to thy country, if thou wilt never insult the one for his defect, nor give a description of the other to the enemy, thou wilt find this nourishment both agreeable and wholesome.”<\/p>\n Now if these relations can be credited, then much more this of the bitter waters, for though there was something wonderful and supernatural in them, yet nothing incredible:<\/p>\n and the woman shall be a curse among her people<\/strong>: the time she lives; but then all this while she was looked upon as an accursed person, and despised and shunned by all.<\/p>\n b R. Samuel Tzartzah, Mekor Chayim, fol. 91. 3. c Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 4. d Ibid. c. 5. sect. 1. e T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 28. 1. Gersom in loc. f Misn. Sotah, c. 2. sect. 9. g Orat. 2. p. 151. Ep. 16. p. 131. h Vid. Salden. Otia, l. 1. Exercitat. 6. sect. 24. i Achaica, sive, l. 7. p. 450. k Saturnal. l. 5. c. 19. l Vita Apollonii, l. 1. c. 4. m Genuine Letters and Memoirs relating to the Isle of Cape Breton, &c.<\/p>\n If The Woman Is Defiled Her Body Will Swell and She Will Be Accursed Among The People ( Num 5:27<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> ). <\/p>\n Num 5:27<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong><\/p>\n ‘And when he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water which causes the curse shall enter into her and be bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman shall be a curse among her people.’ <\/p>\n Having made her drink the water, the ceremony was then over and the consequences were left to God. She would leave the court of the Dwellingplace ostensibly an innocent woman, but all would know that if she was really guilty this would be revealed by what would follow. For if she was guilty and if she was defiled and was defiling the camp, the water would enter her and would be bitter, and, probably because of her deep sense of guilt, would also make her body swell and her uterus fall away and she would become a curse among the people. Being a curse among her people may simply mean that she was seen as cursed because she could produce no more children. Or it may signify her rejection by all decent people. <\/p>\n The psychosomatic effect on a guilty woman of going through this ceremony as well as of lying before Yahweh would be horrendous and would certainly have huge effects on the responses of her body. It would probably cause what she expected to happen actually to happen. <\/p>\n The result described could possibly signify that the woman had suffered a prolapsed uterus. In such a condition, which often occurs after multiple pregnancies, the pelvic floor collapses (in that case weakened by the pregnancies, and possibly in this case deeply affected and weakened by the trauma of her experience), and the uterus literally falls down. It may lodge in the vagina, or it may actually fall out of the body through the vagina. (It regularly happens to cattle and vets have to push it back in). If it does so, it becomes oedematous and swells up like a balloon. Conception becomes impossible, and the woman’s procreative life is effectively over. <\/p>\n Alternatively the thought may be of a cancerous growth which would distend her stomach, affect her ability to bear children and make her infertile, and finally destroy her. Such cancerous growths do sometimes result from traumatic experiences. <\/p>\n Others have thought in terms of a phantom pregnancy which makes the body swell up, but that does not seem dramatic enough for what is described here. Others have seen it as a serious miscarriage, or thrombophlebitis. But the point is that it would produce effects which would prevent her from further defiling sexual behaviour in the future, and would prevent her from childbirth. <\/p>\n In the parallel in the chiasmus this condition contrasts with the spirit of jealousy which had taken hold of the husband. If his jealousy was justified this will be the result. <\/p>\n Num 5:27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, [that], if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.<\/p>\n Ver. 27. And her belly shall swell.<\/strong> ] This was a usual miracle among the Jews; and showed that their religion was of God.<\/p>\n if she be defiled: Num 5:20, Pro 5:4-11, Ecc 7:26, Rom 6:21, 2Co 2:16, Heb 10:26-30, 2Pe 2:10 <\/p>\n the woman: Deu 28:37, Psa 83:9-11, Isa 65:15, Jer 24:9, Jer 29:18, Jer 29:22, Jer 42:18, Zec 8:13 <\/p>\n Reciprocal: Num 5:22 – go into 1Ki 8:32 – condemning 2Ch 6:23 – requiting 2Ch 21:15 – by disease Psa 109:18 – so let Pro 5:11 – when<\/p>\n Num 5:27. The water shall enter into her These effects, the Jews tell us, presently followed; for she grew pale, and her eyes were ready to start out of her head, so that they cried out, Carry her away, lest she defile the court of the temple, by dying there. But if what has just been observed from the Jewish writers be true, that, upon confessing her guilt, the woman was only divorced and condemned to lose her dowry, it is probable there were not many instances wherein 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 hazard of sudden and immediate death, with all the miserable circumstances here described, rather than confess and gain time to repent. And the woman shall be a curse among her people Such woful effects shall the before-mentioned bitter draught produce, that she shall become a perfect proverb of a curse and wretchedness in the mouths of all her neighbours.<\/p>\n And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, [that], if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Numbers 5:27”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"