Numbers 5
11
And the LORD 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 there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;
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 part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is 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 LORD:
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 it into the water:
18
And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is 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 with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:
20
But if thou hast gone aside to another 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 LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD 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 thy belly to swell, and thy 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 them 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, and become bitter.
25
Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the LORD, and offer it upon the altar:
26
And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it 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, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become 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 is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;
Bible forced abortion on women?
by Naeblis 5 Replies latest jw friends
-
Naeblis
-
sawthelight
this doesn't sound like abortion to me. it sounds like if the woman was innocent she became fertile and bare children to her lawful mate. if she was guilty of fornication then she would rot or something on the inside. no seed(offspring) is mentioned until the last verses and this after the woman is proven innocent. so how can a woman have an abortion if she isn't pregnant?
to play devil's advocate, if she had been pregnant(it isn't stated just why the husband was jelous?(was her belly growing but then again that could be his fault))by another man her husband cannot provide for this child especially can he not provide an inheritance (every 50 years land had to be returned to the family that owned it within the mosaic law.also such offspring wouldn't be entitled to inheritance from his biological father because of illegitamate birth.
now, knowing that Israel agrred to the mosaic law and agreed to be bound to it and recieve both blessings and cursings according to their behavior i don't see what the problem is.
-
Naeblis
It's a ritual. Like drowning witches. If she lives..shes a witch! If she dies..oh well..everyone makes mistakes. From what I read of the scriptures they obviously gave her some type of potion to induce abortion.
-
Naeblis
Exactly.. if she is NOT pregnant then she is clean and nothing happens, if she IS pregnant, then she aborts. It's the "PROOF"
-
sawthelight
i don't read it as referring to prenancy only to infidelity. if she was innocent everything's ok. if she's guilt of playing the harlot then SHE rots from the inside and dies a painful death. death was the penalty for this type of offence under mosaic law so why just abort the unborn, why would't the scripture refer to the woman's demise. answer, because that is exactly what is refered to her rotting. no unborn is mentioned.
-
sweetone2377
Not having done research on this topic as of yet, I only can go by the understanding of what is posted. But to me this is how it sounds: If she has committed the sin, her belly would swell (meaning being pregnant) if she hasn't committed the sin she would not be pregnant and her belly would not swell. Now as I said I have done no research as I have only read this a moment ago so I have not seen what the rotting can mean, possibly death. But going on what I just wrote, if that is what it means, how would they know that she was not pregnant previously by her husband? Although this is more of a literal interpretaion.
I do have to agree here though, that I see no abortion in this passage.