Does God recommend a procedure that will cause an abortion in Numbers 5:27-28?

Back up a few verses

A Test for Adultery

11And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 12"Speak to the people of Israel, If any man’s wife goes astray and breaks faith with him, 13if a man(J) lies with her sexually, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her,(K) since she was not taken in the act, 14and if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, 15then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah[c] of barley flour.(L) He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance,(M) bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16"And the priest shall bring her near and set her before the LORD. 17And the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD and(N) unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, 'If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband’s authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, 21then' (let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman)(O) 'the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh fall away and your body swell. 22May this water that brings the curse(P) pass into your bowels and make your womb swell and your thigh fall away.' And the woman shall say,(Q) 'Amen, Amen.'

23"Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24And he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. 25And the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand(R) and shall wave the grain offering before the LORD and bring it to the altar. 26And the priest(S) shall take a handful of the grain offering, as its memorial portion, and burn it on the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. 27And when he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has broken faith with her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away, and the woman(T) shall become a curse among her people. 28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be free and shall conceive children.

29"This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife,(U) though under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30or when the spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife. Then he shall set the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall carry out for her all this law. 31The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman(V) shall bear her iniquity."

Just read the passage twice. First, it doesn't mention the woman being pregnant. Also the mixture of water and dust could hardly be construed as an abortive concoction. This ceremony was to place a curse upon her if she had "defiled herself" with another man. It does not mention aborting a pregnancy. Broken Angel, please reference the verses and Bible translation you used to get that impression. Don't just make a statement and run. Broken Angel, since you can't reference any specifics, then I must assume YOU are the one seeing what you WANT to see. I always know that the ideas have run out when they get mad and curse at me. The mixture was WATER and DUST! Every woman in the world would be sterile if that would do it. JFK, blown away, what else is there left to say!! - Billy Joel

if her abdomen swells I would assume that she is still pregnant. I don't know about the "thigh shall rot" The thigh has nothing to do with being pregnant. It seems like they knew that, since it is said that the belly or abdomen will swell. Thigh shall rot can also mean a STD, you never know. You would have to know how abortions and STD were done in biblical times.

I do know that it can cause miscarriages and/or sterializations.

Just a thought.

If you read it all, you see that it is God who will decide what happens to the woman. And, the NIV is a paraphrase (and not always the best). It is not a translation.

Sounds more like a test than an abortion to me.

Actually, it is. The rue and other herbs of purification from the floor would cause a miscarriage, or spontaneous abortion. .

The Jews' punishment for killing a fetus is only a fine. I think that's in Hebrews 3.

God's abortions are called miscarriages.

My Lord!

Whoda thunk that anti-abortionists are all heretics?

Why, yes, it does! Imagine that!