Amazing Story

This story is mazing and becomes much richer when viewed from both First and Second Testaments

This story is mazing

Numbers 5:11-3 deals with a rather strange test of fidelity for a married woman.

Numbers 5:11-3 deals with a rather strange test of fidelity for a married woman. It sounds very pagan and reminds one of water and fire torture tests used against believers. Apparently, adultery was a major problem among God’s People after they left Egypt so he issued these special instructions.

The instructions given to Moses from YHWH were:

The husband is to bringing his wife suspected of adultery to the Tabernacle
Dust from the floor of the Tabernacle is to be mixed with living water
The woman is to be placed under a written covenant attesting her innocence
The writings from the covenant are to be added to the water
The accused woman is to drink this “bitter Water”

If guilty of adultery, the woman will suffer, waste away and become barren. If innocent, she will prosper and give her husband many children

This all sounds strange and magical but then fast forward to John 8: 1-11

This passage from John has always been a problem. Some Bible translations even exclude these verses. One can almost believe Yeshua trashes the Ten Commandments. This would be true, if one does not understand the passages from Numbers that relate directly to this scene.

Biblically, only a husband could accuse a woman of adultery and then only if supported by a witness. In this instance the accusers were Pharisees and scribes, not a husband. They state she was caught in the very act, but offer no evidence, witnesses or supporting information. They arrogantly assume their word is enough and should be taken at face value. They ask Yeshua to condemn her to stoning according to the requirements of the Torah.

Yeshua then does something that seems odd, he bends down and begins writing in the dust. This has confused gentile believers ever since. What was he writing? Look for a moment what is occurring here:

The accused woman has been brought to the temple
Dust from the temple floor is being used
Water is present, the Living Water of Christ
A covenant is being written
The woman is cleansed by the water

Every element of Numbers 5 is present in John 8; Yeshua does not changing the Torah, he actually fulfills the law. Then he goes further.

He tells the Pharisees that one without sin may cast the first stone. This is more here than a statement about purity. The Pharisees realize that if they bear false witness and commit murder in the process, they are committing intentional sins before God. They would be committing acts leading to their irrevocable separation from God. There could be no atonement for them. They would condemn themselves forever. Needless to say, the Pharisees quickly turned fled.

Oh, how effortlessly Yeshua sees the truth.

This story is mazing and becomes much richer when viewed from both First and Second Testaments.

An aside here. The commentary by Keil & Delitzsch on the record where God asks Job about Behemoth or Leviathan is an eye opener. Not sure in reference to which K&D mention Mishnah as stating the possible idea would be of an 'ordered system' being referred to. Makes me think of 'one world order' in today's vernacular.

Very insightful. A bit unrelated but I find it intriguing how the Numbers passage reconciles to purity in genealogy of God's people/Israel in the Old Testament. There is a heavy focus on genealogy, descendants of God's people vs outsiders, etc. in the Old Testament. If the adulterous woman doesn't give birth, the genealogy/blood lines would obviously remain pure and would not be marred by unknowns/outsiders. Perhaps the test in Numbers worked for a certain time period. My views are that genealogies are inaccurate because of adultery, premarital sex, sex outside marriage, etc. No one really knows who among our ancestors had an affair. It was very easy to hide back then due to no DNA tests.

Sotah (Hebrew: סוֹטָה or Hebrew: שׂוֹטָה[1]) is a tractate of the Talmud in Rabbinic Judaism. The tractate explains the ordeal of the bitter water, a trial by ordeal of a woman suspected of adultery, which is prescribed by the Book of Numbers in the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh). In most editions, this tractate is the fifth in the order of Nashim, and it is divided into nine chapters. The tractate exists in the Mishnah, Tosefta, and both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud.

Sotah is also the term used for the woman tried in this manner

The link here is to the portion of a book on google of Rabbinic interpretations of Sotah
https://books.google.com/books?id=RXTlobTJZ1UC&pg=PA1

Thank you (I think) for the link. I found it fascinating and enlightening. I have spent very little time studying Rabbinic Judaism but find it fascinating and a little confusing. It adds much nuance to biblical study.

Numbers 5:11-3 deals with a rather strange test of fidelity for a married woman. It sounds very pagan and reminds one of water and fire torture tests used against believers. Apparently, adultery was a major problem among God’s People after they left Egypt so he issued these special instructions.

The instructions given to Moses from YHWH were:

The husband is to bringing his wife suspected of adultery to the Tabernacle
Dust from the floor of the Tabernacle is to be mixed with living water
The woman is to be placed under a written covenant attesting her innocence
The writings from the covenant are to be added to the water
The accused woman is to drink this “bitter Water”

If guilty of adultery, the woman will suffer, waste away and become barren. If innocent, she will prosper and give her husband many children

This all sounds strange and magical but then fast forward to John 8: 1-11

This passage from John has always been a problem. Some Bible translations even exclude these verses. One can almost believe Yeshua trashes the Ten Commandments. This would be true, if one does not understand the passages from Numbers that relate directly to this scene.

Biblically, only a husband could accuse a woman of adultery and then only if supported by a witness. In this instance the accusers were Pharisees and scribes, not a husband. They state she was caught in the very act, but offer no evidence, witnesses or supporting information. They arrogantly assume their word is enough and should be taken at face value. They ask Yeshua to condemn her to stoning according to the requirements of the Torah.

Yeshua then does something that seems odd, he bends down and begins writing in the dust. This has confused gentile believers ever since. What was he writing? Look for a moment what is occurring here:

The accused woman has been brought to the temple
Dust from the temple floor is being used
Water is present, the Living Water of Christ
A covenant is being written
The woman is cleansed by the water

Every element of Numbers 5 is present in John 8; Yeshua does not changing the Torah, he actually fulfills the law. Then he goes further.

He tells the Pharisees that one without sin may cast the first stone. This is more here than a statement about purity. The Pharisees realize that if they bear false witness and commit murder in the process, they are committing intentional sins before God. They would be committing acts leading to their irrevocable separation from God. There could be no atonement for them. They would condemn themselves forever. Needless to say, the Pharisees quickly turned fled.

Oh, how effortlessly Yeshua sees the truth.

This story is mazing and becomes much richer when viewed from both First and Second Testaments.

Numbers 5:11-3 deals with a rather strange test of fidelity for a married woman. It sounds very pagan and reminds one of water and fire torture tests used against believers. Apparently, adultery was a major problem among God’s People after they left Egypt so he issued these special instructions.

The instructions given to Moses from YHWH were:

The husband is to bringing his wife suspected of adultery to the Tabernacle
Dust from the floor of the Tabernacle is to be mixed with living water
The woman is to be placed under a written covenant attesting her innocence
The writings from the covenant are to be added to the water
The accused woman is to drink this “bitter Water”

If guilty of adultery, the woman will suffer, waste away and become barren. If innocent, she will prosper and give her husband many children

This all sounds strange and magical but then fast forward to John 8: 1-11

This passage from John has always been a problem. Some Bible translations even exclude these verses. One can almost believe Yeshua trashes the Ten Commandments. This would be true, if one does not understand the passages from Numbers that relate directly to this scene.

Biblically, only a husband could accuse a woman of adultery and then only if supported by a witness. In this instance the accusers were Pharisees and scribes, not a husband. They state she was caught in the very act, but offer no evidence, witnesses or supporting information. They arrogantly assume their word is enough and should be taken at face value. They ask Yeshua to condemn her to stoning according to the requirements of the Torah.

Yeshua then does something that seems odd, he bends down and begins writing in the dust. This has confused gentile believers ever since. What was he writing? Look for a moment what is occurring here:

The accused woman has been brought to the temple
Dust from the temple floor is being used
Water is present, the Living Water of Christ
A covenant is being written
The woman is cleansed by the water

Every element of Numbers 5 is present in John 8; Yeshua does not changing the Torah, he actually fulfills the law. Then he goes further.

He tells the Pharisees that one without sin may cast the first stone. This is more here than a statement about purity. The Pharisees realize that if they bear false witness and commit murder in the process, they are committing intentional sins before God. They would be committing acts leading to their irrevocable separation from God. There could be no atonement for them. They would condemn themselves forever. Needless to say, the Pharisees quickly turned fled.

Oh, how effortlessly Yeshua sees the truth.

This story is mazing and becomes much richer when viewed from both First and Second Testaments.

Its really interesting. When you look at the genealogy of the 12 tribes it is pretty much impossible to trace DNA. Historically there was much mixing between the tribes. I have thought that God did this to prevent us from being prideful, thus ensuring we understand faith alone for salvation.

Yes. Even genealogies of famous people you would expect to be "pure" may not be so, just as royal lines. For example, there has been some hush hush around Prince Harry's genealogy because of his red hair, and King Charles has apparently never accepted him fully.