And the priest shall set the woman before Jehovah, and uncover the woman's head, and put the memorial oblation in her hands, which is the jealousy offering; and in the hand of the priest shall be the bitter water that bringeth the curse.
A husband suspects his wife of being unfaithful, and no witness can settle the matter. So the case goes into the sanctuary, where God alone can answer it, and where hidden sin — real or only imagined — comes into the open.
Nothing has been proved here. One writer marks out what makes the case unusual, and how carefully God met it.
There was another case: not a trespass, but a suspicion of evil — and that in the closest relationship of all, a husband about his wife. The LORD had His eye on this… He ordered the administration of what is called here "the waters of jealousy." The wife was to be brought to the priest; everything was to be done in a holy way. It was not human feeling, but connection with God Himself, and a judgment of what was unsuitable for His presence.
The priest sets her before God, who searches hearts, then loosens her hair. Writers read that act in two ways. Some see the removal of the sign of her subjection to her husband, since for this moment she answers to God alone.
A suspected wife was set by the high priest in the presence of God as the Searcher of hearts. Her head was uncovered as a sign that on this occasion she knew no subjection to anyone but the Lord. So she removed the covering from her head, because that covering was the sign of subjection to her husband.
Others read the same act as a public mark of shame.
In the Old Testament, an uncovered or shaved head on a woman was a mark of shame. This verse shows it, where a wife was under suspicion by her husband… She must have no marks of shame upon her in the presence of the Lord.
What she holds is a grain offering unlike any other. Every missing ingredient says something, and the ceremony it belongs to ends in God's own verdict.
The offering was not of fine flour, as in the grain offering, but of barley meal, which was coarser. It had no leaven in it, for that would have implied the guilt of the accused woman before the test. It had no oil or frankincense either. No joy and worship could go with this offering of jealousy… It was a most solemn ceremony of a searching nature. The innocent woman had nothing to fear; for her, drinking the bitter water that brings the curse only resulted in vindication. The guilty one was found out by the LORD, and the curse rested upon her.
The verse calls this an offering of remembrance. One writer sees the plain barley as fitting a sorrow at home: "It was a domestic sorrow, that never ought to occur; but if the sin was there it must be judged" (Morrish Bible Dictionary).
The priest holds bitter water: holy water from the sanctuary, with dust from the tabernacle floor stirred in. That dust carries the weight of the ordeal.
The dust here is, as usual, "the dust of death." Coming from the tabernacle floor, it shows that God has still come in for man. Death remains, and it is judgment on the flesh, and yet for blessing. The cross of Christ has made this familiar to us as Christians.
The ordinance reaches past one marriage. One writer applies it to Israel, found unfaithful and yet promised a future.
She has played the harlot, it is true, and the trial of jealousy has found it so. She has said, "I will go after my lovers." But the Lord has also said, "I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy." When this comes to pass, the very blessing promised to the wife who stood acquitted shall be Israel's. She shall then be made free — the free woman and a joyful mother of children.
The trial also speaks to anyone under suspicion today.
It may be very painful for us to be suspected. But when we are, let us never resent it in the pride of our hearts… A restless desire to explain away and deny is always a sign of weakness at the least, and very often of guilt. As a rule, the fiercer the denial, the more certain the guilt… It is very evident that a dead man does not resent an injury.
- Suspicion — a doubt no one can prove does not stay at home to fester; it goes into God's presence and is settled there.
- Stripped — the loosed hair and the offering without oil or frankincense leave the scene bare of covering and of joy. Commentators differ over whether the loosed hair marks shame or answering to God alone.
- Death — the water carries dust from the sanctuary floor — the dust of death, judgment on the flesh and yet for blessing, made familiar by the cross.
- Verdict — God alone gives it: the guilty one is found out, the innocent one is vindicated.
- Mercy — the same trial pictures a nation found unfaithful, yet promised at last the blessing of the acquitted wife.
And the priest shall adjure her, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone astray in uncleanness, in being with another instead of thy husband, be free from this bitter water that bringeth the curse.
A husband suspects his wife but has no proof. In Numbers 5:19 the priest's first words offer her a way out, not a curse — so why does God act on a mere suspicion, and what is this bitter water?
The chapter deals with what defiles the place where God lives among His people. This last case involves no proven wrong. There is only a shadow over the closest of human bonds.
But there is another case, where there was not a trespass but a suspicion of evil. It happens in the closest relationship — the husband about his wife. Now the Lord had His eye on this. He did not want anyone to grow hardened. What is more dreadful than to be carrying suspicions? … The wife was to be brought to the priest; everything was to be done in a holy way. It was not human feeling, but connection with God Himself, and a judgment of what was unsuitable for His presence.
The chapter moves in three steps, and this ordinance is the last one.
In the first section, the people as a whole judge evil. In the second, each person judges himself, confesses, and makes restitution. In the third, we learn that God cannot endure even the mere suspicion of evil.
The priest puts the woman under oath, but he never gives the verdict.
However, this was not a matter even for the priest to judge. When they followed the procedure Scripture laid down, the whole matter rested in the hand of God, who would bring the woman's guilt or her innocence to light.
The law called for oaths on other occasions too.
The law set out several occasions when a person had to swear an oath. In those cases God required His people to swear by His name (Deuteronomy 6:13; Exodus 22:11; Numbers 5:19-21). The oath did more than confirm the truth. It was also a solemn vow before the Lord, in the knowledge of His presence.
Her drink has two ingredients, both from the tabernacle — the tent where God lived among Israel.
The woman had to drink bitter water, made of "holy water" with dust from the floor of the tabernacle in it. This pictures the Holy Spirit applying what death is, as God's judgment of sin, by the word to the conscience. If she had been unfaithful it would be a curse to her. It pointed in a figure to Israel's unfaithfulness to the Lord.
The two ingredients point in opposite directions.
The priest was to take holy water in an earthen vessel and mix dust with it from the tabernacle floor. The holy water speaks of life, but the dust speaks of death (Psalm 22:15). Where there was no sin unto death, there would be life; but guilt would lead to death.
God Himself provided the test, and it settles the case either way.
Where there was even the suspicion of evil, and no evidence available, He Himself devised a method of trial that brought the truth perfectly to light. The guilty one had to drink death, and found it to be judgment. The faithful one drank death, and found it victory.
Read as a picture of Israel, the ordinance does not end with the curse. It ends with restoration.
She has played the harlot, it is true, and the trial of jealousy has found it so. She has said, "I will go after my lovers." But the Lord has also said, "I will betroth you to Me in righteousness, in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy" (see Hosea 2, 3). And when that day comes, the blessing promised to the wife who stood acquitted in the trial of jealousy will be Israel's.
The ordeal also has a lesson for anyone who falls under suspicion.
It may be very painful for us to be suspected. But when we are, let us never resent it in the pride of our hearts… A restless desire to explain away and deny is always a sign of weakness at the least, and very often of guilt. As a rule, the fiercer the denial, the more certain the guilt… When the heart is willing to have God test everything in His presence, the Lord takes up the cause of the one suspected without cause, and makes everything flourish as never before.
- Suspicion — God will not let a shadow sit untested in the home or the camp. Even unproven evil is unsuitable for His presence.
- Oath — The priest speaks the words, but they place the woman before God. He alone knows, and He alone gives the verdict.
- Water — Holy water speaks of life; the dust from the tabernacle floor speaks of death, God's judgment of sin.
- Freedom — The priest's first word to her is release. The innocent drink death and find victory; the guilty drink and find judgment.
- Restoration — For Israel the test exposed unfaithfulness, yet God's promise ends in re-betrothal and blessing. The believer under false suspicion can face the test without resentment.