The Strange Ritual of Bitter Waters and Rotting Thighs: Decoding Numbers 5:11-31 | (un)ANSWERED

The Bible, Fringe Questions, and the Problem of Misreading the Text

We've all experienced the odd occurrence of the Bible and was left with fringe questions. Watch and listen as we leave no question unanswered.

This text is one of many that I have come across and did not know what to make of it. I remember in all honesty the first time reading this text thinking, how bizarre. Jealousy? Waters of bitterness? Curses and rotting thighs?

What am I supposed to make of this? Because of the confusion surrounding this text, many leftists use this text to state that even God performs abortions through a hellish cocktail designed to kill the baby in the womb.

But is this truly the case? What is this text even about? Join me as we dive into Numbers 5 .11 -30 concerning the statutes of jealousy on an unfaithful wife. Let's go to God's word now and see what the text has to say about the matter.

Numbers 5 .11 -30. And there is no witness against her, and she has not been caught in the act. If a spirit of jealousy comes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, and she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him, and he is jealous of his wife, but she has not defiled herself, the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephaph of barley meal.

He shall not pour oil on it, nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, a reminder of iniquity. Then the priest shall bring her near, and have her stand before Yahweh.

And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel, and the priest shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle, and put it into the water. The priest shall then have the woman stand before Yahweh, and let the hair of the woman's head go loose, and he shall place the grain offering of remembrance in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy, and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings curses.

Then the priest shall have her swear an oath, and shall say to the woman, If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray into defilement, being under the authority of your husband, be free from this water of bitterness that brings curses.

If you, however, have gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has lain with you, Then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman, Yahweh make you a curse and an oath among your people, by Yahweh making your thigh fall away, and your abdomen swell.

And this water that brings curses shall go into your stomach, and shall make your abdomen swell, and your thigh fall away, and the woman shall say, Amen, Amen. The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness.

Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings curses, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness. And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman's hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before Yahweh, and bring it near to the altar.

And the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as it is a memorial offering, and offer it up in smoke of the air. And afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. So he will have her drink the water, and it will be that, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings curses will go into her to cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell, and her thigh will fall away, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive a seed. This is the law of jealousy, when a wife being under the authority of her husband goes astray and defiles herself, or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before Yahweh, and the priest shall apply all this law to her.

Moreover the man will be free from guilt, but that woman shall bear her guilt. That's a lot there, right? But let's break it down into easier to grasp sections so we can get a handle on what is being said.

Two or Three Witnesses and the Protection of the Woman

First, we find that the husband, without any witnesses at all, is jealous and suspects his wife of being unfaithful. Hold on to that, alright? The Bible demonstrates that in order to build a case against anyone, there must be two to three independent lines of testimony.

Where does it say that, Andrew? Well, Deuteronomy 19 .15 states this. It states, Alright, that's the second giving of the law, Deuteronomy. This is echoed by Paul in the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 13 .1, which states this.

Okay? In God's judgment, all will know whether or not adultery was actually committed. God's law is so amazing, guys, because this statute of jealousy here, given to us in Numbers, is actually a protection for the woman.

The husband is not allowed to treat the woman sinfully just because he's jealous. If indeed she has not committed adultery, this test actually protects her from her husband bearing false witness. Take that, leftists and feminists.

You maybe should read the text for itself. But you're probably thinking, Andrew, I didn't hear the words abortion, miscarry, baby, or anything like that within the text. You know, I would tell you that's a very astute observation from you.

I read from the LSB for this very purpose, and I'm going to make the distinction clear right now. The NIV states in Numbers 5 .19 -22,. So it's a translational issue. And the leftists go to the NIV to try to state that God is the one who actually tells the priests to perform abortions through a hellish cocktail.

So now, the question we must ask ourselves is why does the NIV translate that section of scripture with womb and miscarry? Well, the NIV, guys, is not a literal translation of the Bible, and it tends to interpret certain literal sections of Hebrew with the translator's personal bias.

The literal translations of womb and miscarry in the Hebrew is womb yorek, which actually means thigh fall away, and miscarry is also yorek, thigh fall away. So that's only one word, but in the NIV, it's translated into womb and miscarry.

Other text, like I was reading from earlier, the LSB, does not say womb miscarry. In 5 .21, it states from the LSB,. One thing we must understand is that yorek is not even the typical Hebrew word for miscarry, and this is an extremely important point to make.

The typical word used in the Bible for miscarry is shekol, and that means this, to be bereaved, make childless, miscarry. To be bereaved, again, to make childless, to cause barrenness, to show barrenness, or abortion, to miscarry.

So the word that is typically used in the Bible for childless, barren, or miscarry isn't even used in this passage. The usage of this Hebrew word within its context is found 23 times in the Bible, and Numbers 5 .11 -30 is actually not one of them.

Again, the translator's interpretation of the text in the NIV fails to accurately convey the meaning of the curse. And the answer is found from the following verses, which we will read from in the NIV.

After that, he is to have the woman drink the water. When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell, and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse.

Now, verse 28. If, however, the woman has not made herself impure but is clean, she will be cleared of guilt and she will be able to have children. There's no information within the immediate context of the passage to surmise that the woman is already pregnant.

Nothing. Remember, the husband is jealous and supposes that something has occurred, but he has no evidence. Pregnancy is evidence. A woman not being on her menstrual period is very evident within the Hebrew culture since there are laws in place for men to avoid menstruation since it was deemed to be unclean.

Furthermore, the literal translation of verse 28 renders that she will be cleared of guilt and able to conceive. Therefore, the curse itself is one that will make a woman barren, not kill a child that is already in the womb.

There's no context in the passage that defines that the woman is already pregnant, nor does the context show that a miscarriage is occurring. To hold this position, one would have to undermine the fact that the man has no evidence that adultery has been committed.

Again, the lack of a menstrual cycle is huge evidence within Hebrew culture. The passage shows that part of the curse is if the woman did indeed commit adultery, the womb would be unable to bear children in the future, not kill a child already in the womb.

Historical Jewish Interpretation and the Septuagint

Let's also think historically. It's important to understand how this section of scripture was interpreted in the pre-Christian era. So, there's a Greek translation of the Old Testament that was used during the time of Jesus, and it's called the Septuagint.

The text is rendered, Numbers 5 .22 is this,. And this water that brings the curse shall enter your belly to swell the belly and make your thigh fall to pieces. Furthermore, there is something called the Mishnah, which shows the Jewish tradition interpretations of the law and other different types of texts.

And it states this, A woman who was pregnant or was nursing a child was not to undergo the test at all. It's from the Mishnah, Nashim, Sotah 4 .3. You can look it up yourself. So, we can see historically that the text was never treated the way that the NIV translators treated the text.

I would have to say, in this part of scripture, the NIV fails to accurately represent the full meaning of the text. So, look guys, we cannot put something into a text that is actually not there. And the Bible, if you do, will end up refuting the error that is placed in it, which the Bible does.

No Abortion in the Bitter Waters Ritual

Look, the priests were not performing abortions on women who were unfaithful to their husbands, okay? Getting water and putting dirt in water, making bitter waters, does not cause an abortion. Think about that.

One of the arguments that the leftists give is that there's a cocktail that the person drinks and supposedly there's a chemical poisoning that occurs. Read the text, it's just dust and water, okay? If anything were to occur, it would be God giving the judgment.

Even if a baby were to be dying, it would be God taking the life, not another human being, because it's God that does the judgment. But again, the text doesn't even support that idea. God is the author of life and death, he can take it when he wants.

Also, the text still does not state it. So, let's sum all of this up. What is being said here, through the actual translation of the text, is that the thigh rots away and the abdomen swells. There's nothing that talks about a miscarriage or an abortion.

God is not telling the Levitical priests to give a hellish cocktail to a woman that will chemically cause some form of abortion. Look, it's just water and dirt. What we see here is God is the one who sees and knows everything, so if the woman was unfaithful, God is the witness when the man has no witness.

But also, the protection for the woman that if her husband is jealous for no reason, he cannot bear false witness against her. We can't think one-minded, guys. God is not the author of confusion. And God, in his law, is just and righteous.

Abortion, Innocent Blood, and the Moral Warning

It's a beautiful thing. Look, God hates the hands that shed innocent blood. And in Deuteronomy 18, there's a condemnation for the Canaanites. And the Jews are told not to be like them. Do not sacrifice your children to Molech.

Abortion, and what is happening today in America and throughout the world, is an evil abomination to God. And we are facing the very repercussions and judgments for it. So much so that we have debased minds that actually try to go to the biblical text to justify what God hates in it and says he performs them himself.

Think for yourselves, guys. Read the text. The translation was the issue. I consider this one answered.