Numbers 5
09 Sep 2026 - Theology
Purity
If an Israelite becomes impure - by a disease, unusual bleeding, fluid release, or contact with a corpse - that person must be sent outside of the camp. (2-3)
Numbers 5:4 - “And the children of Israel did so, and put them out without the camp: as the Lord spake unto Moses, so did the children of Israel.”
It was dangerous to have an impure person inside of the camp because it was thought that others became inpure simply by touching someone who was impure. If people in the camp become impure, then eventually, the entire camp could become impure, including the Levite priests.
The laws in this chapter are about keeping the camp pure - not just physically pure, but also pure in spirit. We see this in the next law of the chapter:
Numbers 5:6-7 - “Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be guilty; 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 part thereof, and give it unto him against whom he hath trespassed.”
This law looks familiar - in fact it is a repeat of the trespass offering for intentional sin, found in Leviticus 6. There are a few key details added here:
- The Kinsman-Redeemer: specifies what happens if the person who was wronged has died and has no close relative to receive the payment. The restitution goes to the priest instead. (8)
- The Priestly Share: clarifies the logistics of the accompanying ram of atonement and holy gifts as an extra benefit for the officiating priests (8-10)
The “Ordeal”
This chapter also concerns the purity of marriage. The family is the primary building block of Israelite society. Like the covenant with the Lord, the covenant between husband and wife is sacred and must not be broken. If it is broken, it brings impurity to the camp.
If a husband suspects that his wife has broken their marriage vows, he may bring his wife (and a grain offering) to the priest. The priest tests the wife to see if she was unfaithful. A ritual test like this is called an “ordeal”. The specific ordeal used here by the priest is called sotah, meaning “gone astray”.
How can we know what a person has done in secret? If there is no witness, how can we tell if a person is guilty of a crime? The ordeal declares that there is always one witness, even when no one seems to be present, and that witness is God. Through the ordeal, God is “called” to the witness stand to declare a person guilty or not guilty.
We have seen this ordeal used already, back in Exodus 32 after the sin of the golden calf! I won’t repeat all of the ordeal here, but you can read the specific steps in verses 11-31.
Of Men and Women
The ordeal of sotah seems entirely unfair. It is not used if a husband or wife is known to be unfaithful - that would be adultery. Sotah is used only if a husband is jealous or suspects that his wife has been unfaithful. There is no ordeal if the roles are reversed - if the wife is jealous or suspects her husband has been unfaithful. This does not seem like a fair ritual.
The ordeal of sotah comes from early Israelite history. It is unlikely that the bitter water could cause a woman any great pain. Of course, if a wife was guilty, the ordeal might cause her to confess her guilt. But the ordeal was really more a way of setting the husband’s mind at ease, which helped to keep the peace in the family and in the camp of the Israelites.
The Rabbis tell us that the ordeal was no longer used in the days of the Second Temple, for the simple reason that people no longer believed it worked. Like any “spell” of a magician, it only “works” so long as we believe that it works. Most of the Israelites probably knew it was a harmless test.
We can surely say that sotah was not against women. Instead, it was aimed at mitigating jealousy, helping to keep peace and purity in the Israelite camp.
References
- The Hebrew - Greek Key Study Bible (KJV Version)
- The Torah Portion-by-Portion by Rabbi Seymour Rossel (2007)