NUMBERS 5:11-31

 

Waters of Impurity (3 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 12 1/4")

The above assemblage is based on the strange procedure outlined in Numbers 5 by which a suspicious husband may determine his wife's fidelity. She is to appear before the priest with her hair unloosed and holding a grain offering. After pronouncing an oath of innocence, she is then to drink from a mixture of dust, ink and water. If she has lied, she will suffer from a fallen uterus.

There is much purposeful duplication of words and phrases in this passage which may tend to put off the modern reader as being totally unnecessary. So perhaps it would be helpful to see the hidden order behind this regulation, beginning with its division into four major sub-sections utilizing the paragraph divisions found in the NRSV.

                                                Figure 1: Organization of Numbers 5:11-31

    A. If a man is suspicious of his wife's fidelity, he shall bring his wife to the priest (11-15)

            B. The woman makes a solemn oath (16-22)

            B'. The woman drinks the water of bitterness (23-28)

    A'. If a man is suspicious of his wife's fidelity, he shall bring his wife to the priest (29-31)

It is quite easy to demonstrate the parallel nature of the similarly labeled pairs of sections by listing some key words and phrases in the order in which they appear in the text, beginning with A and A', whose overall structures are given below:

                                               Figure 2: Organization of Section A

            1. goes astray (11-12)

                        2. defiled herself (13)

                                    3. spirit of jealousy (14a)

                        2'. defiled herself (14b)

                                                4. jealous of his wife (14c)

                        2''. defiled herself (14d)

                                3'. spirit of jealousy (14e)

                                                4'. jealous of his wife (14f)

                        2'''. not defiled herself (14g)

                                                            5. bring wife to the priest (15a)

                                                                        6. iniquity (15b)

The interesting thing is that the parallel passage A' contains those very same phrases and words appearing in the identical order, but without all the duplications found in A.

                                                      Figure 3: Organization of Section A'

            1. goes astray (29a)

                    2. defiles herself (29b)

                            3. spirit of jealousy (30a)

                                        4. jealous of his wife (30b)

                                                    5. bring the woman before the LORD...the priest (30c)

                                                                    6. iniquity (31)

Next, turning to sections B and B', we see approximately the same phenomenon but with a different set of parallels based more on actions taking place rather than on key words and phrases, and not having nearly as neat a correspondence in terms of order of appearance.

                                                          Figure 4: Organization of Section B

    1. woman set before the LORD (16)

            2. priest prepares water (17)

    1'. woman set before the LORD (18a)

                    3. grain offering of remembrance placed in her hands (18b)

                            4. water of bitterness that brings the curse (18c)

                                    5. immunity to the water of bitterness if innocent (19b)

                                            6. oath of curse (20-21a)

                                                    7. results from drinking the water (21b)

                            4'. water of bitterness that brings the curse (22a)

                                                    7'. results from drinking the water (22b)

                                            Figure 5: Organization of Section B'

            2. priest prepares the water (23)

                          4. she drinks the water of bitterness that brings the curse (24)

                3. grain offering of jealousy taken from her hand (25a)

  1. offering brought before the LORD (25b)

                        4'. she drinks the water (26-27a)

                                                   7''. results from drinking if guilty (27b)

                               5. immunity if she is innocent (28)

The threatened results from drinking the water if guilty are enumerated in the sections labeled 7,7' and 7'' above. Note that the three consequences appear in exactly the opposite order in 7 and 7''.

    Section 7: make you an execration among people, uterus drops, womb discharges

    Section 7': womb discharges, uterus drops

    Section 7'': womb discharges, uterus drops, becomes an execration among people

So what is this all about? On the surface, it appears to be a trial by ordeal such as required for suspected witches in the Middle Ages. If you recall, all someone had to do is accuse a woman in order for the trial to be conducted. And one such common trial consisted of tying the woman hand and foot and throwing her in the water. If she survived, then she was a witch and was hanged; if she drowned, then she was innocent. But in either case, she was dead.

The biblical trial for suspicion of infidelity could not in fact be more different. Besides the solemn ceremony being conducted by a priest, we need to point out that there was absolutely no physical danger to the woman on trial since the harmless water she had to drink only contained a little dust and ink. Thus, the trial was weighted overwhelmingly in favor of the woman.

In fact, the only reasons this ceremony might have been effective in uncovering a woman's guilt were two-fold: (a) The solemn way it was conducted by the priest might have easily caused a guilty woman to confess her sins rather than lie under oath in God's presence. (b) The great fear woman of that day had