mh_parser/vol_split/4 - Numbers/Chapter 5.xml

<div2 id="Num.vi" n="vi" next="Num.vii" prev="Num.v" progress="65.55%" title="Chapter V">
<h2 id="Num.vi-p0.1">N U M B E R S</h2>
<h3 id="Num.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Num.vi-p1">In this chapter we have, I. An order, pursuant to
the laws already made, for the removing of the unclean out of the
camp, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.1-Num.5.4" parsed="|Num|5|1|5|4" passage="Nu 5:1-4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. A
repetition of the laws concerning restitution, in case of wrong
done to a neighbour (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.5-Num.5.8" parsed="|Num|5|5|5|8" passage="Nu 5:5-8">ver.
5-8</scripRef>), and concerning the appropriating of the hallowed
things to the priests, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.9-Num.5.10" parsed="|Num|5|9|5|10" passage="Nu 5:9,10">ver. 9,
10</scripRef>. III. A new law made concerning the trial of a wife
suspected of adultery, by the waters of jealousy, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.11-Num.5.31" parsed="|Num|5|11|5|31" passage="Nu 5:11-31">ver. 11</scripRef>, &amp;c.</p>
<scripCom id="Num.vi-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Num.5" parsed="|Num|5|0|0|0" passage="Nu 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Num.vi-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.1-Num.5.10" parsed="|Num|5|1|5|10" passage="Nu 5:1-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.5.1-Num.5.10">
<h4 id="Num.vi-p1.7">The Unclean to Be Removed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p1.8">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Num.vi-p2">1 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.1">Lord</span>
spake unto Moses, saying,   2 Command the children of Israel,
that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath
an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead:   3 Both male
and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them;
that they defile not their camps, in the midst whereof I dwell.
  4 And the children of Israel did so, and put them out
without the camp: as the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.2">Lord</span> spake
unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.   5 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.3">Lord</span> spake unto Moses, saying,   6
Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit
any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.4">Lord</span>, and that person be guilty;   7 Then
they shall confess their sin which they have done: and he shall
recompense his trespass with the principal thereof, and add unto it
the fifth <i>part</i> thereof, and give <i>it</i> unto <i>him</i>
against whom he hath trespassed.   8 But if the man have no
kinsman to recompense the trespass unto, let the trespass be
recompensed unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p2.5">Lord</span>,
<i>even</i> to the priest; beside the ram of the atonement, whereby
an atonement shall be made for him.   9 And every offering of
all the holy things of the children of Israel, which they bring
unto the priest, shall be his.   10 And every man's hallowed
things shall be his: whatsoever any man giveth the priest, it shall
be his.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p3">Here is, I. A command for the purifying of
the camp, by turning out from within its lines all those that were
ceremonially unclean, by issues, leprosies, or the touch of dead
bodies, until they were cleansed according to the law, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.2-Num.5.3" parsed="|Num|5|2|5|3" passage="Nu 5:2-3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p4">1. These orders are executed immediately,
<scripRef id="Num.vi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.4" parsed="|Num|5|4|0|0" passage="Num 5:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. (1.) The camp
was now newly-modelled and put in order, and therefore, to complete
the reformation of it, it is next to be cleansed. Note, The purity
of the church must be as carefully consulted and preserved as the
peace and order of it. It is requisite, not only that every
Israelite be confined to his own standard, but that every polluted
Israelite be separated from it. <i>The wisdom from above is first
pure, then peaceable.</i> (2.) God's tabernacle was now fixed in
the midst of their camp, and therefore they must be careful to keep
it clean. Note, The greater profession of religion any house or
family make the more they are obliged to <i>put away iniquity far
from their tabernacle,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.22.23" parsed="|Job|22|23|0|0" passage="Job 22:23">Job xxii.
23</scripRef>. The person, the place, <i>in the midst of which God
dwells,</i> must not be defiled; for, if it be, he will be
affronted, offended, and provoked to withdraw, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.16-1Cor.3.17" parsed="|1Cor|3|16|3|17" passage="1Co 3:16,17">1 Cor. iii. 16, 17</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p5">2. This expulsion of the unclean out of the
camp was to signify, (1.) What the governors of the church ought to
do: they must <i>separate between the precious and the vile,</i>
and purge out scandalous persons, as old leaven (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.5.8 Bible:1Cor.5.13" parsed="|1Cor|5|8|0|0;|1Cor|5|13|0|0" passage="1Co 5:8,13">1 Cor. v. 8, 13</scripRef>), lest others should be
infected and defiled, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.15" parsed="|Heb|12|15|0|0" passage="Heb 12:15">Heb. xii.
15</scripRef>. It is for the glory of Christ and the edification of
his church that those who are openly and incorrigibly profane and
vicious should be put out and kept from Christian communion till
they repent. (2.) What God himself will do in the great day: he
will <i>thoroughly purge his floor,</i> and <i>gather out of his
kingdom all things that offend.</i> As here the unclean were shut
out of the camp, so into the new Jerusalem <i>no unclean thing
shall enter,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.21.27" parsed="|Rev|21|27|0|0" passage="Re 21:27">Rev. xxi.
27</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p6">II. A law concerning restitution, in case
of wrong done to a neighbour. It is called <i>a sin that men
commit</i> (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.6" parsed="|Num|5|6|0|0" passage="Nu 5:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>),
because it is common among men; <i>a sin of man,</i> that is, <i>a
sin against man,</i> so it is thought it should be translated and
understood. If a man overreach or defraud his brother in any
matter, it is to be looked upon as a trespass against the Lord, who
is the protector of right, the punisher of wrong, and who strictly
charges and commands us to do justly. Now what is to be done when a
man's awakened conscience charges him with guilt of this kind, and
brings it to his remembrance though done long ago? 1. He must
<i>confess his sin,</i> confess it to God, confess it to his
neighbour, and so take shame to himself. If he have denied it
before, though it go against the grain to own himself in a lie, yet
he must do it; because his heart was hardened he denied it,
therefore he has no other way of making it appear that his heart is
now softened but by confessing it. 2. He must bring a sacrifice, a
<i>ram of atonement,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.8" parsed="|Num|5|8|0|0" passage="Num 5:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. Satisfaction must be made for the offence done to
God, whose law is broken, as well as for the loss sustained by our
neighbour; restitution in this case is not sufficient without faith
and repentance. 3. Yet the sacrifices would not be accepted till
full amends were made to the party wronged, not only the principal,
but a fifth part added to it, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.7" parsed="|Num|5|7|0|0" passage="Num 5:7"><i>v.</i>
7</scripRef>. It is certain that while that which is got by
injustice is knowingly retained in the hands the guilt of the
injustice remains upon the conscience, and is not purged by
sacrifice nor offering, prayers not tears, for it is one and the
same continued act of sin persisted in. This law we had before
(<scripRef id="Num.vi-p6.4" osisRef="Bible:Lev.6.4" parsed="|Lev|6|4|0|0" passage="Le 6:4">Lev. vi. 4</scripRef>), and it is here
added that if the party wronged was dead, and he had no near
kinsman who was entitled to the debt, or if it was any way
uncertain to whom the restitution should be made, this should not
serve for an excuse to detain what was unjustly gotten; to
whomsoever it pertained, it was certainly none of his that got it
by sin, and therefore it must be given to the priest, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p6.5" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.8" parsed="|Num|5|8|0|0" passage="Num 5:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. If there were any that
could make out a title to it, it must not be given to the priest
(God hates robbery for burnt-offerings); but, if there were not,
then it lapsed to the great Lord (<i>ob defectum sanguinis—for
want of issue</i>), and the priests were his receivers. Note, Some
work of piety or charity is a piece of necessary justice to be done
by those who are conscience to themselves that they have done
wrong, but know not how otherwise to make restitution; what is not
our property will never be our profit.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p7">III. A general rule concerning hallowed
things given upon this occasion, that, whatever was given to the
priest, <i>his it shall be,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.9-Num.5.10" parsed="|Num|5|9|5|10" passage="Num 5:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9, 10</scripRef>. 1. He that gave it was not
to receive his gift again upon any pretence whatsoever. This law
ratifies and confirms all grants for pious uses, that people might
not give things to the priests in a fit of zeal, and then recall
them in a fit of vexation. 2. The other priests should not come in
sharers with that priest who then officiated, and to whom the
hallowed thing, whatever it was, was given. Let him that was most
ready and diligent in attending fare the better for it: if he do
the work, let him have the pay, and much good may it do him.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Num.vi-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.5" parsed="|Num|5|0|0|0" passage="Nu 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Num.vi-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.11-Num.5.31" parsed="|Num|5|11|5|31" passage="Nu 5:11-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Num.5.11-Num.5.31">
<h4 id="Num.vi-p7.4">The Bitter Water of
Jealousy. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p7.5">b. c.</span> 1490.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Num.vi-p8">11 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.1">Lord</span>
spake unto Moses, saying,   12 Speak unto the children of
Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a
trespass against him,   13 And a man lie with her carnally,
and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and
she be defiled, and <i>there be</i> no witness against her, neither
she be taken <i>with the manner;</i>   14 And the spirit of
jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be
defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be
jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:   15 Then shall
the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her
offering for her, the tenth <i>part</i> of an ephah of barley meal;
he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it
<i>is</i> an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial,
bringing iniquity to remembrance.   16 And the priest shall
bring her near, and set her before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.2">Lord</span>:   17 And the priest shall take holy
water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of
the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put <i>it</i> into the
water:   18 And the priest shall set the woman before the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.3">Lord</span>, and uncover the woman's head,
and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which <i>is</i> the
jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter
water that causeth the curse:   19 And the priest shall charge
her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with
thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness <i>with
another</i> instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter
water that causeth the curse:   20 But if thou hast gone aside
<i>to another</i> instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled,
and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:   21
Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and
the priest shall say unto the woman, The <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.4">Lord</span> make thee a curse and an oath among thy
people, when the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.5">Lord</span> doth make thy
thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;   22 And this water that
causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make <i>thy</i>
belly to swell, and <i>thy</i> thigh to rot: And the woman shall
say, Amen, amen.   23 And the priest shall write these curses
in a book, and he shall blot <i>them</i> out with the bitter water:
  24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water
that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall
enter into her, <i>and become</i> bitter.   25 Then the priest
shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall
wave the offering before the <span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.6">Lord</span>,
and offer it upon the altar:   26 And the priest shall take an
handful of the offering, <i>even</i> the memorial thereof, and burn
<i>it</i> upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to
drink the water.   27 And when he hath made her to drink the
water, then it shall come to pass, <i>that,</i> if she be defiled,
and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that
causeth the curse shall enter into her, <i>and become</i> bitter,
and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman
shall be a curse among her people.   28 And if the woman be
not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall
conceive seed.   29 This <i>is</i> the law of jealousies, when
a wife goeth aside <i>to another</i> instead of her husband, and is
defiled;   30 Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him,
and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Num.vi-p8.7">Lord</span>, and the priest shall execute
upon her all this law.   31 Then shall the man be guiltless
from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p9">We have here the law concerning the solemn
trial of a wife whose husband was jealous of her. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p10">I. What was the case supposed: That a man
had some reason to suspect his wife to have committed adultery,
<scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.12-Num.5.14" parsed="|Num|5|12|5|14" passage="Num 5:12-14"><i>v.</i> 12-14</scripRef>. Here, 1.
The sin of adultery is justly represented as an exceedingly sinful
sin; it is going aside from God and virtue, and the good way,
<scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.2.17" parsed="|Prov|2|17|0|0" passage="Pr 2:17">Prov. ii. 17</scripRef>. It is
committing a trespass against the husband, robbing him of his
honour, alienating his right, introducing a spurious breed into his
family to share with his children in his estate, and violating her
covenant with him. It is being defiled; for nothing pollutes the
mind and conscience more than this sin does. 2. It is supposed to
be a sin which great care is taken by the sinners to conceal, which
there is no witness of. <i>The eye of the adulterer waits for the
twilight,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.24.15" parsed="|Job|24|15|0|0" passage="Job 24:15">Job xxiv.
15</scripRef>. And the adulteress takes her opportunity when <i>the
good man is not at home,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.4" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.19" parsed="|Prov|7|19|0|0" passage="Pr 7:19">Prov. vii.
19</scripRef>. It would not covet to be secret if it were not
shameful; and the devil who draws sinners to this sin teaches them
how to cover it. 3. The <i>spirit of jealousy</i> is supposed to
come upon the husband, of which Solomon says, It is the <i>rage of
a man</i> (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.5" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.34" parsed="|Prov|6|34|0|0" passage="Pr 6:34">Prov. vi. 34</scripRef>),
and that it is <i>cruel as the grave,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.6" osisRef="Bible:Song.8.6" parsed="|Song|8|6|0|0" passage="So 8:6">Cant. viii. 6</scripRef>. 4. "Yet" (say the Jewish
writers) "he must make it appear that he has some just cause for
the suspicion." The rule they give is, "If the husband have said
unto his wife before witnesses, 'Be not thou in secret with such a
man;' and, notwithstanding that admonition, it is afterwards proved
that she was in secret with that man, though her father or her
brother, then he may compel her to drink the bitter water." But the
law here does not tie him to that particular method of proving the
just cause of his suspicion; it might be otherwise proved. In case
it could be proved that she had committed adultery, she was to be
put to death (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.7" osisRef="Bible:Lev.20.10" parsed="|Lev|20|10|0|0" passage="Le 20:10">Lev. xx. 10</scripRef>);
but, if it was uncertain, then this law took place. Hence, (1.) Let
all wives be admonished not to give any the least occasion for the
suspicion of their chastity; it is not enough that they abstain
from the evil of uncleanness, but they must abstain from all
appearance of it, from every thing that looks like it, or leads to
it, or may give the least umbrage to jealousy; for <i>how great a
matter</i> may a <i>little fire kindle!</i> (2.) Let all husbands
be admonished not to entertain any causeless or unjust suspicions
of their wives. If charity in general, much more conjugal
affection, teaches to <i>think no evil,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.8" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.13.5" parsed="|1Cor|13|5|0|0" passage="1Co 13:5">1 Cor. xiii. 5</scripRef>. It is the happiness of the
virtuous woman that <i>the heart of her husband does safely trust
in her,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p10.9" osisRef="Bible:Prov.31.11" parsed="|Prov|31|11|0|0" passage="Pr 31:11">Prov. xxxi.
11</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p11">II. What was the course prescribed in this
case, that, if the suspected wife was innocent, she might not
continue under the reproach and uneasiness of her husband's
jealousy, and, if guilty, her sin might find her out, and others
might hear, and fear, and take warning.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p12">1. The process of the trial must be thus:—
(1.) Her husband must <i>bring her to the priest,</i> with the
witnesses that could prove the ground of his suspicion, and desire
that she might be put upon her trial. The Jews say that the priest
was first to endeavour to persuade her to confess the truth, saying
to this purport, "Dear daughter, perhaps thou wast overtaken by
drinking wine, or wast carried away by the heat of youth or the
examples of bad neighbours; come, confess the truth, for the sake
of his great name which is described in the most sacred ceremony,
and do not let it be blotted out with the bitter water." If she
confessed, saying, "I am defiled," she was not put to death, but
was divorced and lost her dowry; if she said, "I am pure," then
they proceeded. (2.) He must bring a coarse offering of
barley-meal, without oil or frankincense, agreeably to the present
afflicted state of his family; for a great affliction it was either
to have cause to be jealous or to be jealous without cause. It is
an <i>offering of memorial,</i> to signify that what was to be done
was intended as a religious appeal to the omniscience and justice
of God. (3.) The priest was to prepare the water of jealousy, the
holy water out of the laver at which the priests were to wash when
they ministered; this must be brought in an <i>earthen vessel,</i>
containing (they say) about a pint; and it must be an
<i>earthen</i> vessel, because the coarser and plainer every thing
was the more agreeable it was to the occasion. <i>Dust</i> must be
put into the water, to signify the reproach she lay under, and the
shame she ought to take to herself, putting her mouth in the dust;
but dust from <i>the floor of the tabernacle,</i> to put an honour
upon every thing that pertained to the place God had chosen to put
his name there, and to keep up in the people a reverence for it;
see <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:John.8.6" parsed="|John|8|6|0|0" passage="Joh 8:6">John viii. 6</scripRef>. (4.) The
woman was to be <i>set before the Lord,</i> at the east gate of the
temple-court (say the Jews), and her head was to be uncovered, in
token of her sorrowful condition; and there she stood for a
spectacle to the world, that other women might learn not to do
<i>after her lewdness,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.23.48" parsed="|Ezek|23|48|0|0" passage="Eze 23:48">Ezek.
xxiii. 48</scripRef>. Only the Jews say, "Her own servants were not
to be present, that she might not seem vile in their sight, who
were to give honour to her; her husband also must be dismissed."
(5.) The priest was to adjure her to tell the truth, and to
denounce the curse of God against her if she were guilty, and to
declare what would be the effect of her drinking the water of
jealousy, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.19-Num.5.22" parsed="|Num|5|19|5|22" passage="Num 5:19-22"><i>v.</i>
19-22</scripRef>. He must assure her that, if she were innocent,
the water would do her no harm, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.19" parsed="|Num|5|19|0|0" passage="Num 5:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>. None need fear the curse of the
law if they have not broken the commands of the law. But, if she
were guilty, this water would be poison to her, it would make her
<i>belly to swell and her thigh to rot,</i> and she should be a
curse or abomination among her people, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.5" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.21-Num.5.22" parsed="|Num|5|21|5|22" passage="Num 5:21,22"><i>v.</i> 21, 22</scripRef>. To this she must say,
<i>Amen,</i> as Israel must do to the curses pronounced on mount
Ebal, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.6" osisRef="Bible:Deut.27.15-Deut.27.26" parsed="|Deut|27|15|27|26" passage="De 27:15-26">Deut. xxvii.
15-26</scripRef>. Some think the <i>Amen,</i> being doubled,
respects both parts of the adjuration, both that which freed her if
innocent and that which condemned her if guilty. No woman, if she
were guilty, could say <i>Amen</i> to this adjuration, and drink
the water upon it, unless she disbelieved the truth of God or
defied his justice, and had come to such a pitch of impudence and
hard-heartedness in sin as to challenge God Almighty to do his
worst, and choose rather to venture upon his curse than to give him
glory by making confession; thus has whoredom <i>taken away the
heart.</i> (6.) The priest was to write this curse in a scrip or
scroll of parchment, <i>verbatim—word for word,</i> as he had
expressed it, and then to wipe or scrape out what he had written
into the water (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.7" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.23" parsed="|Num|5|23|0|0" passage="Num 5:23"><i>v.</i>
23</scripRef>), to signify that it was that curse which impregnated
the water, and gave it its strength to effect what was intended. It
signified that, if she were innocent, the curse should be blotted
out and never appear against her, as it is written, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.25" parsed="|Isa|43|25|0|0" passage="Isa 43:25">Isa. xliii. 25</scripRef>, <i>I am he that
blotteth out thy transgression,</i> and <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.9" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.9" parsed="|Ps|51|9|0|0" passage="Ps 51:9">Ps. li. 9</scripRef>, <i>Blot out my iniquities;</i> but
that, if she were guilty, the curse, as it was written, being
infused into the water, would enter into her bowels with the water,
even <i>like oil into her bones</i> (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.10" osisRef="Bible:Ps.109.18" parsed="|Ps|109|18|0|0" passage="Ps 109:18">Ps. cix. 18</scripRef>), as we read of a curse entering
into a house, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.11" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.4" parsed="|Zech|5|4|0|0" passage="Zec 5:4">Zech. v. 4</scripRef>.
(7.) The woman must then drink the water (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.12" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.24" parsed="|Num|5|24|0|0" passage="Num 5:24"><i>v.</i> 24</scripRef>); it is called <i>the bitter
water,</i> some think because they put wormwood in it to make it
bitter, or rather because it caused the curse. Thus sin is called
<i>an evil thing and a bitter</i> for the same reason, because it
<i>causeth the curse,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.13" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.19" parsed="|Jer|2|19|0|0" passage="Jer 2:19">Jer. ii.
19</scripRef>. If she had been guilty (and otherwise it did not
cause the curse), she was made to know that though her stolen
waters had been sweet, and her <i>bread eaten in secret
pleasant,</i> yet the end was <i>bitter as wormwood,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.14" osisRef="Bible:Prov.9.17" parsed="|Prov|9|17|0|0" passage="Pr 9:17">Prov. ix. 17</scripRef>, and <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.15" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.4" parsed="|Num|5|4|0|0" passage="Nu 5:4"><i>ch.</i> v. 4</scripRef>. Let all that meddle with
forbidden pleasures know that they will be bitterness in the latter
end. The Jews say that if, upon denouncing the curse, the woman was
so terrified that she durst not drink the water, but confessed she
was defiled, the priest flung down the water, and cast her offering
among the ashes, and she was divorced without dowry: if she
confessed not, and yet would not drink, they forced her to it; and,
if she was ready to throw it up again, they hastened her away, that
she might not pollute the holy place. (8.) Before she drank the
water, the jealousy-offering was waved and offered upon the altar
(<scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.16" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.25-Num.5.26" parsed="|Num|5|25|5|26" passage="Num 5:25,26"><i>v.</i> 25, 26</scripRef>); a
handful of it was burnt for a memorial, and the remainder of it
eaten by the priest, unless the husband was a priest, and then it
was scattered among the ashes. This offering in the midst of the
transaction signified that the whole was an appeal to God, as a God
that knows all things, and <i>from whom no secret is hid.</i> (9.)
All things being thus performed according to the law, they were to
wait the issue. The water, with a little dust put into it, and the
scrapings of a written parchment, had no natural tendency at all to
do either good or hurt; but if God was thus appealed to in the way
of an instituted ordinance, though otherwise the innocent might
have continued under suspicion and the guilty undiscovered, yet God
would so far own his own institution as that in a little time, by
the miraculous operation of Providence, the innocency of the
innocent should be cleared, and the sin of the guilty should find
them out. [1.] If the suspected woman was really guilty, the water
she drank would be poison to her (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.17" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.27" parsed="|Num|5|27|0|0" passage="Num 5:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>), her belly would swell and her
thigh rot by a vile disease for vile deserts, and she would
<i>mourn at the last when her flesh and body were consumed,</i>
<scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.18" osisRef="Bible:Prov.5.11" parsed="|Prov|5|11|0|0" passage="Pr 5:11">Prov. v. 11</scripRef>. Bishop Patrick
says, from some of the Jewish writers, that the effect of these
waters appeared immediately, she grew pale, and her eyes ready to
start out of her head. Dr. Lightfoot says that sometimes it
appeared not for two or three years, but she bore no children, was
sickly, languished, and rotted at last; it is probable that some
indications appeared immediately. The rabbin say that the adulterer
also died in the same day and hour that the adulteress did, and in
the same manner too, that he belly swelled, and his secret parts
rotted: a disease perhaps not much unlike that which in these
latter ages the avenging hand of a righteous God has made the
scourge of uncleanness, and with which whores and whoremongers
infect, and plague, and ruin one another, since they escape
punishment from men. The Jewish doctors add that the waters had
this effect upon the adulteress only in case the husband had never
offended in the same kind; but that, if he had at any time defiled
the marriage-bed, God did not thus right him against his injurious
wife; and that therefore in the latter and degenerate ages of the
Jewish church, when uncleanness did abound, this way of trial was
generally disused and laid aside; men, knowing their own crimes,
were content not to know their wives' crimes. And to this perhaps
may refer the threatening (<scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.19" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.14" parsed="|Hos|4|14|0|0" passage="Ho 4:14">Hos. iv.
14</scripRef>), <i>I will not punish your spouses when they commit
adultery, for you yourselves are separated with whores.</i> [2.] If
she were innocent, the water she drank would be physic to her:
<i>She shall be free, and shall conceive seed,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p12.20" osisRef="Bible:Num.5.28" parsed="|Num|5|28|0|0" passage="Num 5:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. The Jewish writers
magnify the good effects of this water to the innocent woman, that,
to recompense her for the wrong done to her by the suspicion, she
should, after the drinking of these waters, be stronger and look
better than ever; if she was sickly, she should become healthful,
should bear a man-child, and have easy labour.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Num.vi-p13">2. From the whole we may learn, (1.) That
secret sins are known to God, and sometimes are strangely brought
to light in this life; however, there is a day coming when God
will, by Jesus Christ, as here by the priest, judge the <i>secrets
of men according to the gospel,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.2.16" parsed="|Rom|2|16|0|0" passage="Ro 2:16">Rom. ii. 16</scripRef>. (2.) That, in particular,
<i>Whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.</i> The violation of
conjugal faith and chastity is highly provoking to the God of
heaven, and sooner or later it will be reckoned for. Though we have
not now the waters of jealousy to be a sensible terror to the
unclean, yet we have a word from God which ought to be as great a
terror, that if <i>any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
destroy,</i> <scripRef id="Num.vi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.3.17" parsed="|1Cor|3|17|0|0" passage="1Co 3:17">1 Cor. iii.
17</scripRef>. (3.) That God will find out some way or other to
clear the innocency of the innocent, and to bring forth their
righteousness as the light. (4.) That to <i>the pure all things are
pure,</i> but <i>to the defiled nothing</i> is so, <scripRef id="Num.vi-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Titus.1.15" parsed="|Titus|1|15|0|0" passage="Tit 1:15">Tit. i. 15</scripRef>. The same word is to some
a <i>savour of life unto life, to others a savour of death unto
death,</i> like those waters of jealousy, according as they receive
it; the same providence is for good to some and for hurt to others,
<scripRef id="Num.vi-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.24.5 Bible:Jer.24.8 Bible:Jer.24.9" parsed="|Jer|24|5|0|0;|Jer|24|8|0|0;|Jer|24|9|0|0" passage="Jer 24:5,8,9">Jer. xxiv. 5, 8, 9</scripRef>.
And, whatsoever it is intended for, it <i>shall not return
void.</i></p>
</div></div2>