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Christians/Jews: Is this really how God wants you to test for adultery?

Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13 and a man has intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, 14 if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself, 15 the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as an offering for her one-tenth of an ephah 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 memorial, a reminder of iniquity.

16 ‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the Lord, 17 and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 The priest shall then have the woman stand before the Lord and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and place the grain offering of memorial 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 a curse. 19 The priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness, being under the authority of your husband, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; 20 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 had intercourse with you” 21 (then the priest shall have the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell; 22 and this water that brings a curse shall go into your stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh waste away.” And the woman shall say, “Amen. Amen.”

23 ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness. 25 The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; 26 and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away, and the woman will become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive children.

29 ‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself, 30 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 the Lord, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. 31 Moreover, the man will be free from guilt, but that woman shall bear her guilt.’”

(Numbers 5:11-31)

Can you admit that this "test" is essentially worthless, and basically just a superstitious ritual that can't determine whether a woman has committed adultery or not?

Update:

@danny: the KJV version also says "priest." So do ALL the English versions. You don't seem to know your bible at all.

Update 2:

@Mark: "So the test, as odd as it seem, would always appear to be accurate." Unless, of course, the woman didn't get pregnant from an adulterous affair. Or DID get pregnant from her husband and never had an affair, in which case she would be wrongly judged "guilty" of adultery. Oops.

3 Answers

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  • 8 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    Interestingly enough, "your thigh waste away and your abdomen swell" is pretty much the visual definition of pregnancy. So the test, as odd as it seem, would always appear to be accurate.

  • 8 years ago

    1. The word priest shows that this is out of a catholic bible, baaaad lol

    2. The 613 instructions/statutes of Mosheh (Moses) were there to guide and rule the Israelites only until the HaMessiach (Messiah) arrived.

    Yeshua/Yesus/Jesus came to atone for our sin as long as we accept him as our sacrificial lamb and repent our sin (including of adultery) and also taught us how to forgive if we are on the receiving side (if we choose to do so, he also said that in that case we may divorce too) and rendered the 613 laws, but not the 10 commandments obsolete.

    Before his sacrifice, the Hebrews required other systems of atonement for their sins and guidance in avoiding them, I have little doubt that Ehyeh, HaElohim of Isra'El allowed this test to work during the time that it was necessary for man to identify and punish sins by the 613 laws, and that as it is unnecessary today, that it may not work, but try it, you may be surprised, I would be interested in hearing the results.

    This question may troll the non-messianic "Jews" or you may receive some serious answers, and I am jot sure whether this was intended to be a troll or not, I suspect so, but I hope this answer has interested you at the very least, and hopefully inspired you to learn more about our amazing God.

    Take care :)

  • 8 years ago

    No its the truth because very intelligent men wrote the bible

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