Sotah: Numbers 5:11-31

[bu11fr0g]

I was reading the Jewish commandments and ran into this. Basically an unwitnessed but suspected adultress had to drink a fluid that would cause an illness depending on if she had committed adultery.

This was apparently used for a while, but it is inconceivable to me that this would work with the effect described.

Is this a false commandment?

[blackstrap]

the power of suggestion

[Calm]

I was reading the Jewish commandments and ran into this. Basically an unwitnessed but suspected adultress had to drink a fluid that would cause an illness depending on if she had committed adultery.

This was apparently used for a while, but it is inconceivable to me that this would work with the effect described.

Is this a false commandment?

link please

[DavidB]

I was reading the Jewish commandments and ran into this. Basically an unwitnessed but suspected adultress had to drink a fluid that would cause an illness depending on if she had committed adultery.

This was apparently used for a while, but it is inconceivable to me that this would work with the effect described.

Is this a false commandment?

Guess it would all depend on whether "Nothing is impossible with God." Is a true statement.

[DavidB]

link please

Numbers Chapter 5 verses 11 - 31 is widely available on the internet or in your own hard copy of the scriptures.

But having just looked up and read those verses - which took about 60 seconds to read - bullfrog has represented the verses correctly insofar as a married woman accused of adultery by her husband is concerned.

Edited December 25, 2012 by DavidB

[Calm]

Numbers Chapter 5 verses 11 - 31 is widely available on the internet or in your own hard copy of the scriptures.

But having just looked up and read those verses - which took about 60 seconds to read - bullfrog has represented the verses correctly insofar as a married woman accused of adultery by her husband is concerned.

Yes, it tends to be easy to look them up, but also yes, it is polite to be responsible to provide quotes of what you are talking.

[bu11fr0g]

http://mobile.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers+5%3A11-31&version=KJV

[volgadon]

I was reading the Jewish commandments and ran into this. Basically an unwitnessed but suspected adultress had to drink a fluid that would cause an illness depending on if she had committed adultery.

This was apparently used for a while, but it is inconceivable to me that this would work with the effect described.

Is this a false commandment?

Do you want a key to understanding this pericope?

Ask yourself why the sotah was no put to death even though adultery was punishable by death, it also being one of the stipulations for the covenant at Sinai.

Seems a little odd, doesn't it.

The point is that the sotah was suspected of adultery. Neither the husband nor the community could legally prove by two or more witnesses that she had committed adultery. As verse 21 (an early redaction) shows, this trial would have worked only by the power of God who reveals that which is hidden. The trial by drink would not have worked by any natural means. Hittite priests were subjected to a similar trial by drink if suspected of embezzling food and drink from th gods, that is, betraying their trust. That the sotah was not put to death even though her guilt was proved by divine means shows that her guilt would also be punished solely by divine means.