Matthew Henry on Numbers 5:11–end
We have here the law concerning the solemn trial of a wife whose husband was jealous of her. Observe,
I. What was the case supposed: That a man had some reason to suspect his wife to have committed adultery, Num 5:12-14. 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, Pro 2:17. 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…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Numbers 5:22
the woman shall say, Amen, Amen--The Israelites were accustomed, instead of formally repeating the words of an oath merely to say, "Amen," a "so be it" to the imprecations it contained. The reduplication of the word was designed as an evidence of the woman's innocence, and a willingness that God would do to her according to her desert.
John Gill on Numbers 5:22
And this water that causeth the curse,.... Upon the drinking of which the curse follows, if guilty:
shall go into thy bowels; and there operate and produce the above effects, which are repeated again to inject terror:
to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot; here ends the form of the oath, which begins Numbers 5:19,
and the woman shall say, amen, amen; so be it; let it be as pronounced, if I am guilty; which, as Aben Ezra observes, is repeated for the sake of confirmation; though the Jewish writers commonly understand it as respecting various things, the oath and the curse, the thing charged with, and the persons suspected of (x).
(x) Misn. ib. sect. 5. Targum Jon. & Jerus. & Ja…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Numbers 5:11–end
Numbers 5:11-31
11. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
11. Loquutus est Jehova ad Mosen, dicendo:
12. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,
12. Alloquere filios Israel, et dicas illis, Quum diverterit uxor cujuspiam, et praevaricata fuerit praevaricatione:
13. And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and he kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;
13. Et coierit aliquis cum ea coitu seminis, absconditum autem fuerit ab oculis viri sui et delituerit, ipsaque polluta fuerit: testis vero non fuerit contra…
