Numbers 5:11–31 is one of the oddest and most confusing passages in the entire Bible. It surrounds a suspected adulteress having to drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse to determine if she committed adultery or not. Numbers 5:11–31 has gained prominence in recent years with some using the curse of the water (“her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away”) to defend abortion. This article will analyse Numbers 5:11–31 to determine its meaning and whether or not it can be used in the abortion debate.
Numbers 5:11–31 is about maintaining the purity and holiness of God’s people when a husband suspects his wife has committed adultery. The context is clear that the “womb” swelling and the “thigh” falling is not about abortion or unborn children.
Because Numbers 5:11–31 is a lengthy passage, this article will focus on the key section (or pericope) that is the most difficult and controversial: Numbers 5:23–28. First, the context and literary composition of the passage will be presented. Second, I will analyse the passage’s grammar and syntax. Third, I will analyse the meaning of difficult and key terms (semantic analysis). Finally, I will conclude with some theological reflections on the passage.
Context and Literary Composition of Numbers 5:23–28
Numbers 5:23–28 comes toward the end of the larger narrative regarding instructions in the case of suspected adultery by a woman’s husband (Num 5:11–31). The instructions given in Numbers 5:11–31 is in the midst of a larger body of law given by Yahweh to Moses who communicates it to the appropriate group (3:5–6:27). The laws given prior to 5:1 were intended for the priestly tribe of Levi. The laws beginning in 5:1 were given for the people of Israel (5:2, 6, 12; 6:2), yet still included the priests in some way.
The theme that runs through the four laws given to the people in Numbers 5:1–6:21, which is important for the passage under investigation, is cultic/religious cleanliness. The verb טמא (“to be unclean” or “to defile oneself”) is used twelve times throughout Numbers 5–6 with seven of those occurring within Numbers 5:11–31. The purpose of the laws is so that the camp of Yahweh, the place he has decided to dwell, was not defiled. The adherence to the laws given in Numbers 5–6 assures the sanctity of the community.
The overarching purpose of Numbers 5:11–31 is not to quell the husband’s suspicion of his wife, but to maintain purity within God’s people. Numbers 5:31 states that if the husband follows the prescribed law when he suspects his wife has defiled herself by adultery then “the man shall be free from iniquity.” If the husband enacts the law of Leviticus 20:10 and kills his wife when she has not committed adultery, then her blood shall be on him and he will defile the camp of Yahweh by committing murder. Further, if the wife has committed adultery and defiled herself then she must be punished and the sanctity of the community restored. The punishment is left to Yahweh and the bitter water that brings the curse, thereby absolving anyone from an incorrect verdict.
Numbers 5:11–31 is of extreme importance for the sanctity of God’s community because it details how Yahweh will maintain holiness amongst his people and in his camp when the people are unsure if defilement has happened. Yahweh uses the water the woman drinks to detect whether she is clean (טהור) or has defiled (טמא) herself and He uses the water to mete out her punishment instead of the community (Num 5:27–28). Establishing guilt or innocence is important, but it is for the purpose of establishing purity or uncleanliness. Rolf Knierim and George Coats conclude,
“the critical importance of the case for the priests is reflected in the text’s reference to purity or impurity more than to guilt or innocence.”
Rolf Knierim and George Coats, Numbers (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 83
If the woman is found to be unclean, she is punished by infertility (see below) and is made a curse amongst her people, which doubles as a punishment and a warning to the rest of the community (5:27–28).
Grammatical and Syntactical Analysis of Numbers 5:23–28
The word of Yahweh comes to Moses in Numbers 5:11–12 commanding him to speak the words of God to Israel concerning what a man should do if he suspects his wife has committed adultery or if he becomes jealous of his wife regarding her purity. In verse 12b, the procedure for dealing with suspicion and jealousy begins with the imperfect verb תִשְׂטֶה. The rest of the procedure is carried along by perfect verbs with waw consecutives, also known as WeQatals, with which Numbers 5:23–28 begins.
Numbers 5:23 is introduced with the familiar WeQatal that has marked the larger passage from Numbers 5:12c until the present verse. The WeQatal is frequent within the pericope under investigation (5:23–28) as it continues to carry on the procedure Yahweh outlined, until verse 29, marking the pericope under investigation as the concluding portion of God’s command.
Difficulties arise within Numbers 5:23–28 when one comes to the number of times the woman is to drink the water of bitterness. Should she drink the water once or three times? Three statements of the woman drinking occur within the pericope (5:24, 26, 27). The first and third drinking begin with the familiar WeQatal of the Hiphil שׁקה, while the second drinking is prefaced by the temporal adverb אַחַר (v 26). The adverb placed in front of the second drinking is the only time indicator related to the drinkings. It gives the precise time within the procedure the woman should drink, which is after all other rituals and sacrifices have been offered. The drinking of the water is to be the very last act of the procedure outlined by Yahweh.
The first and third drinking of the water are not to be seen as separate times of drinking but as explanatory. Tikva Frymer-Kensky (“The Strange Case of the Suspected Sotah”) suggests the first and third drinking act as an inlcusio, marking out Numbers 5:23–28 to be primarily about the woman drinking the potion. Frymer-Kensky comes to this conclusion by recognizing two other inclusios within the larger pericope: the priest standing the woman before Yahweh (v 15, 18) and the priest adjuring the woman (v 19, 21). Thus, the first drinking is anticipatory (v 23–24, Milgrom, “On the Suspected Adulteress”). The priest finishes preparing the water in verse 23 to make the woman drink the water. The second drinking states when the woman actually drinks the water, which is directly after the offering is given (v 26). The third drinking, then, is a summary explaining the effects of the water (v 27). Again, the frequent mentioning of the woman drinking the water is signalling the main action of Numbers 5:23–28—the woman drinking the bitter water that brings the curse.
Not only does the drinking of water play a primary role within Numbers 5:23–28, it is also the only act with a purpose clause following it. Both verses 24 and 27 state that the water enters the woman לְמָרֽים. The lamed preposition is frequently used to indicate purpose, rendering the phrase לְמָרֽים as “for the purpose of bitterness” or “for the purpose of causing bitterness/bitter pain.” The purpose clause following the drinking of the water shows the significance and centrality of the act. Drinking the water is not simply a ritual to no effect; it will bring real results to the woman who has fornicated.
Adding clarity to the purpose of the drinking are the two nominals with which מַּיִם (“water”) is in construct: הַמָּרִים(“bitterness”) and הַמְאָרֲרִים (“that which brings a curse”). Although most nouns in the construct state only have one genitive, genitives that are closely related may form a genitive phrase that modifies the construct term. The two nominals here are related in sound and somewhat in meaning; the water is bitter and brings a curse with it.
The final syntactical element worthy of mention is the first conditional clause in Numbers 5:27. Due to the many WeQatals within the verse, it is difficult to determine when the conditional clause ceases. The first WeQatal following אִם־נִטְמְאָה (“if she has defiled herself”), which is וַתִּמְעֹל (“she has broken”), is clearly still part of the protasis (the “if” clause). This first WeQatal (וַתִּמְעֹל) gives license to the following WeQatals to be part of the protasis as well. The conditional clause is sandwiched between the two verbs to be, וְהָיְתָה of verse 27, suggesting that everything between the first and second וְהָיְתָה of verse 27 should be taken as the protasis of a conditional clause and that none of the information given is new (the curses that come about from adultery were mentioned in verse 22). Therefore, the woman shall only become a curse in the midst of her people if she has been unclean and disloyal to her husband. Then, the potion will cause bitterness, her belly will swell, and her thigh will fall.
The second conditional clause in verse 28 is straightforward; if the woman is clean and pure, then she will not be cursed and will be able to conceive.
Semantic Analysis of Key Terms within Numbers 5:23–28
מָרִים (“bitter”) in “Water of Bitterness”
The drinking of the water by the woman is the central act in Numbers 5:23–28. Thus, it is without doubt that the terms מָרִים (“bitter”) and מְאָרֲרִים (“that which brings the curse”) are significant throughout Numbers 5:23–28 because they are in construct with “water” (מֵי).
The Hebrew term מָרִים (“bitter”) is not only important because it describes the water, but because it also gives added purpose for the water, at times being attached to the lamed preposition (לְמָרֽים). Most English Bibles translate מָרִים as “bitter” from the root מַר. However, as can be seen in the varied array of textual variants in the BHS (Hebrew Bible), many have struggled with the meaning of this word. Frymer-Kensky states מָרִים cannot come from מַר and mean “bitter waters” because “dust and ink cannot turn water bitter or alkaline” (“The Strange Case of the Suspected Sotah,” 25). He instead proposes that the term מָרִים is derived from yrh, meaning “to teach.” Further, the Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (TDOT) states that מָרִים is derived from the Ugaritic mrr, meaning “to strengthen or bless” (TDOT, s.v. “מַר”). Although these attempt to resolve the difficulty of מָרִים, they fall short due to the textual evidence that מָרִים is properly derived from the Hebrew מַר.
Throughout the Old Testament, מַר is a common word used in a variety of ways. Two of the more prominent usages, and most likely for Numbers 5:23–28, is its use to express a bitter taste (Ex 15:23; Is 5:20; Prov 27:7), commonly used with the word מָתוֹק (“sweet”) to express its antonym (Ex 15:23–25; Is 5:20; Prov 27:7), and secondly to express emotions (Gen 27:34; Eze 27:31). Although either use is possible within Numbers 5:23–28, “bitter” (referring to something other than emotions) seems to be the best understanding due to Exodus 15:23.
Exodus 15:23 is of special interest for it is the only other place throughout the Old Testament that מַר is used as a plural absolute. Exodus 15:23–25 states that Israel, after entering the wilderness of Shur, came to a place called Marah where the water was undrinkable because it was bitter (מָרִים). Although most lexicons and dictionaries relegate this account to the semantic range of taste (such as HALOT), it is possible that it has a closer association with poison or death. John Durham (Exodus, 213) notes that the matter of water in Exodus 15:22–27 is between life and death as the people had gone without it for three days. The מָרִים water that was found meant death. Cornelis Houtman (Exodus, 306) also notices death as a significant aspect of the Exodus account stating, “Likely the revulsion the people felt for the water is tied to the idea . . . that ‘bad’ water causes illness and death (cf. 2 Kgs 2:19ff.).” Finally, Dennis Pardee (“Marim in Numbers 5,” 112) recognizes that mr in some Ugaritic texts clearly denotes illness. Pardee (112–13) concludes that the sense “illness” fits the context of Numbers 5 well, especially when מָרִים is the object of the lamed preposition, “for illness.”
The definition “illness” best suits the context of Numbers 5. The Hebrew term מָרִים acts as a clarification for מְאָרֲרִים(“which brings the curse”) and helps explain the results of the drinking described in Numbers 5:27–28. The idea of death should be present with מָרִים because the result of not being able to conceive is death of the womb. Due to the understanding of מָרִים in Exodus 15 and the surrounding context of Numbers 5, מֵי הַמָּרִים should be understood as “water of illness” and לְמָרִים as “for the purpose of illness” or “for the purpose of death of the womb.”
בֶּטֶן (“womb” or “belly”) in “her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away”
The second phrase that deserves attention is the confusing results of the water upon the woman who has broken faith with her husband. Many different translations exist regarding the phrase וְצָבְתָה בִטְנָהּ וְנָפְלָה יְרֵכָהּ such as: “and her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away” (ESV), “and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away” (NASB), “causing the belly to distend and the thigh to sag” (JPS), and “your abdomen enlarges and you suffer miscarriage” (Dennis Cole, Numbers, 117).
The two key terms within this phrase are בֶּטֶן and יָרֵךְ. The term בֶּטֶן is the easiest to identify. As can be seen from the translations above, בֶּטֶן commonly refers to the “womb” or “belly” (Gen 25:23; Judge 3:22). Further, בֶּטֶן may refer more generically to the place where offspring comes from (“body”), the reproductive organs (Deut 28:4, 11, 18, 53), or on rare occasions it may refer to a deep place (Jonah 2:2). Since the bitter water that brings the curse enters the stomach and since the faithful and clean woman is rewarded by being allowed to conceive, בֶּטֶן must refer to either the “womb,” “belly,” or “body.” The Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (s.v., “בֶּטֶן”) understands בֶּטֶן in Numbers 5 as referring to a reproductive organ of the woman, though not specifying which one.
יָרֵךְ (“thigh”) in “her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away”
More difficult to discern is the term יָרֵךְ. The Hebrew יָרֵךְ commonly refers to the thigh of a person (Gen 32:25), which may be struck to inflict damage (Judg 15:8) or struck to signify distress (Jer 31:19). Many translations opt for this term. However, יָרֵךְ is also used a number of times with יצא as a euphemism referring to the male genitalia (Gen 46:26; Ex 1:5; Judg 8:30). The phrase יֹצְאֵי יְרֵכוֹ is used to indicate lineage, generally descendants of someone. Because (a) יָרֵךְ has the feminine suffix attached to the end of it, (b) the faithful woman is rewarded by being allowed to conceive, and (c) יָרֵךְseems to be parallel with בֶּטֶן, it would be best to take יָרֵךְ as a euphemism for the female genitalia or a reproductive organ.
וְצָבְתָה בִטְנָהּ וְנָפְלָה יְרֵכָהּ (“her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away”)
An understanding of the two terms בֶּטֶן (“womb”) and יָרֵךְ (“reproductive organ”) alleviates some of the difficulty from the phrase וְצָבְתָה בִטְנָהּ וְנָפְלָה יְרֵכָהּ (“her womb shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away,” ESV). However, full understanding must be seen in light of the blessing of the clean woman in Numbers 5:28. If the clean woman is rewarded by being allowed to conceive, then the unclean woman must be hindered from having children.
Understanding וְצָבְתָה בִטְנָהּ וְנָפְלָה יְרֵכָהּ in light of both Numbers 5:28 and the two terms בֶּטֶן and יָרֵךְ as given above leads to two possible conclusions regarding the meaning of וְצָבְתָה בִטְנָהּ וְנָפְלָה יְרֵכָהּ: it is either (1) a physical condition that permanently leaves the woman barren and infertile or (2) it is the termination of the woman’s baby and pregnancy. The latter understanding (i.e., the abortion understanding) must be disregarded because the passage does not suggest the woman be pregnant for her husband to become suspicious and take her to the priest (for my opinions on abortion, see my article “Should Christians Abort Babies?“). As such, a medical condition that prevents conception must be the result of the water for the faithless wife. The medical condition that takes into account both the swelling of the בֶּטֶן and the falling of the יָרֵךְ is a pelvic prolapse, also known as a prolapsed uterus, a condition that would have been known among the ancient Israelites (Baruch Levine, Numbers 1–20, 201). Frymer-Kensky summarizes this condition well:
“In this condition . . . the pelvic floor . . . collapses, and the uterus literally falls down. It may lodge in the vagina, or it may actually fall out of the body through the vagina. If it does so, it becomes edematous and swells up like a balloon. Conception becomes impossible, and the woman’s procreative life has effectively ended.”
Tikva Simone Frymer-Kensky, “The Strange Case of the Suspected Sotah,” 21
It can then be concluded that וְצָבְתָה בִטְנָהּ וְנָפְלָה יְרֵכָהּ most likely refers to a prolapsed uterus and leaves the unclean woman infertile. A crude translation would then follow, “and her uterus will swell and fall” (Numbers 5:27).
Theology of Numbers 5:11–31
Thirteen times throughout the giving of the law in Exodus-Deuteronomy, the command to “be holy” is issued. Exodus 19:6 states that Israel is to be a holy nation while Deuteronomy 23:14 states the reason Israel is to keep their camp holy is because Yahweh walks in its midst. Numbers 5:11–31 continues the theme of holiness within Israel as it looks upon the marriage relationship. The emphasis of Numbers 5:11–31 is the cultic/religious cleanness and holiness of God’s people, specifically within the marriage relationship. Adultery is seen as something that will cause those involved to become unclean and bring uncleanness into the camp of Israel. Even the suspicion of uncleanness must be taken seriously. For this, Yahweh has prescribed rules and laws to go about the unveiling of uncleanness and how to deal with uncleanness. Numbers 5:11–31 is one set of instructions about the legal obligations in the case of a husband’s suspicion of his wife’s impurity, which shows the seriousness of the matter.
While Numbers 5:11–31 chiefly emphasizes the holiness that is to abound in and among Yahweh’s people, the passage also outlines the procedure on how to deal with suspected adultery. Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 are clear that the man and the woman who are caught in adultery are to be put to death for the purpose of cleansing the land from evil. Numbers 5:11–31 addresses the issue of when a husband suspects his wife has committed adultery, even if she has not been caught in the act. The passage notably does not require the death of the woman who has committed adultery as in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. Numbers 5:11–31 is clear that in cases of suspicion, where the wife has not been caught in the act of adultery, it is the responsibility of Yahweh to mete out punishment and not the community. The bitter water that brings the curse of Yahweh will bring harm to the woman if she has been found by Yahweh to be unclean, but no harm will come to her if she is clean and innocent.
Summary and Concluding Thoughts
Within Numbers 5:11–31, Yahweh continues to give laws that will maintain the purity and holiness among the people of Israel. In the case of a suspected adulteress, Yahweh uses the water of illness which brings the curse to discern whether or not the woman is clean or unclean. If the woman is unclean because she committed adultery, then Yahweh himself is the one who metes out punishment, not her husband, not the priest, and not the community. This punishment comes through the water of illness which brings the curse. The punishment is infertility, but specifically could be a prolapsed uterus. The punishment is not the death of an unborn child (abortion) because the context allows for non-pregnant wives to be brought before the priest on suspicion of adultery. Finally, if the woman is determined clean, she shall be fertile and allowed to conceive. Thus, it is Yahweh who maintains the purity and holiness among the people of Israel in the case of suspected adultery.
As can be seen, Numbers 5:11–31 is not about unborn children or abortion (click here for my opinion about abortion). It is about maintaining the purity and holiness of God’s people when a husband suspects his wife has committed adultery. The text clearly mentions conception (5:28), suggesting the issue surrounding punishment is getting pregnant, not allowing an already pregnant woman to give birth or aborting the child of an already pregnant woman. As such, Numbers 5:11–31 should never be used in the abortion discussion.