Bar’chu
et YHVH ha-m’vorach, Baruch YHVH ha-m’vorach l’O’lam va-ed!
Baruch
ata YHVH Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher bachar banu m’kol ha-amim, v’na-tan lanu
eht Torah-to. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Bless YHVH the blessed One; Blessed is YHVH, the
blessed One for all eternity. Blessed are you, YHVH, our Elohim, King of the
Universe, you have selected us from among all the peoples, and have given us
your Torah.
This Torah portion contains the instruction regarding
“sotah”.
Sotah comes from a word
which means to go astray.
Isa 53:6 We all, like sheep, went astray, each one of
us has turned to his own way. And יהוה has laid on
Him the crookedness of us all.
“Set”
-BDB Definition: 1) swerver, revolter, rebel, deeds that swerve –
idolator.
“ The ceremony for the sotah, a suspected
adulteress who was witnessed going into seclusion with another man--despite
being warned not to associate with that individual. The woman is brought to the
Temple. This section of the Torah is written on parchment and then soaked in
water until the ink dissolves. The woman drinks the water. If she indeed
willingly committed adultery, her belly miraculously swells and she dies a
gruesome death. If she is unharmed by the waters, she is cleared of any
suspicion.”
The rabbis marvel that
YHVH would allow His Most Set Apart Name to be washed away on a piece of
parchment. Such an action is unimaginable to a devout Jew. We then consider
that seriousness of departing from a complete devotion to YHVH and His Torah is
comparable to destroying His Name.
The Mishnah has an entire tractate called the “sotah” and
contains many additional “halachic” directives for this Torah instruction.
However we find that our
Torah portion addresses this law as the “Torah of jealousy” and we must assume
that because it is only directed to the unfaithfulness of the woman that this
law is referring to the greater issue of Israel’s unfaithfulness towards YHVH
and His Messiah.
Num 5:29 ‘This is
the Torah of jealousy, when a wife turns aside under her husband’s authority
(or towards another)and defiles herself,
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יד כִּי לֹא
תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה, לְאֵל אַחֵר:
כִּי יְהוָה קַנָּא שְׁמוֹ, אֵל קַנָּא הוּא.
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For thou shalt bow down to no other el; for
YHVH, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous El; - Ex 34:14
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YHVH WILL NOT SHARE
HIS BELOVED AND BOUGHT-FOR PEOPLE WITH ANY OF THE IMMORAL DOCTRINES AND
TEACHINGS OF CHRISTIANITY OR JUDAISM. WE WILL ALL BE TESTED IN SOMEWAY IN THESE
DAYS AS TO WHETHER OR NOT WE HAVE BEEN FAITHFULL TO YHVH ACCORDING TO HIS
STANDARD – HIS MESSIAH OF FAITHFULNESS.
Pro 20:6 Most men will proclaim each his own goodness,
but a faithful man who can find?
During the coming
great tribulation we may be all called upon to drink this water of testing by
Elohim who is extremely jealous. WILL WE PASS THE TEST????
2Ch 16:9 “For the eyes of יהוה diligently
search throughout all the earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those
whose heart is perfect(“shalem” – of keeping covenant..) to Him. You have acted
foolishly in this, so from now on you shall have battles.”
The rabbis could not
fully understand this instruction so they encouraged a woman charged of going
astray to repent and confess. However the Torah doesn’t seem to suggest this
possibility. Why?
As a possible end-time
generation we may all have to face the reality of the consequences of our ongoing
unfaithfulness and disobedience to YHVH’s Torah and Covenant.
Our
Torah portion begins:
Num 5:11 And יהוה spoke to Mosheh, saying,
Num 5:12 “Speak to
the children of Yisra’ĕl, and say to them, ‘When any man’s wife turns aside and
has committed a trespass against him,
Num 5:13 and a man
has intercourse with her, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it
is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against
her, nor was she caught,
Num 5:14 and a
spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife who has
defiled herself, or a spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous
of his wife although she has not defiled herself,
Num 5:15 then the
man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering for
her, one-tenth of an ĕphah of barley flour. He is not to pour oil on it or put
frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for
remembering, for bringing crookedness to remembrance.
Num 5:16 ‘And the
priest shall bring her near, and shall make her stand before יהוה.
Num 5:17 ‘And the
priest shall take set-apart water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the
dust that is on the floor of the Dwelling Place and put it into the water.
Num 5:18 ‘And the
priest shall make the woman stand before יהוה, and shall
uncover the woman’s head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands,
which is the grain offering of jealousy, while the priest holds in his hand the
bitter water that brings a curse.
Num 5:19 ‘And the
priest shall make her swear, and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with
you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness under your husband’s authority,
be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.
Num 5:20 “But if
you have turned aside under your husband’s authority, and if you have
defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you” –
Num 5:21 then the
priest shall make the woman swear with the oath of the curse, and he shall say
to the woman – “יהוה make you a curse and an oath among your people, when יהוה makes your
thigh waste away and your belly swell,
Num 5:22 and this
water that causes the curse shall go into your inward parts, and make your
belly swell and your thigh waste away.” And the woman shall say, “Amĕn, amĕn.”
Num 5:23 ‘And the
priest shall write these curses in a book, and shall wipe them off(Heb
–“machah” to obliterate or exterminate – see also Dev 29:20) into the bitter
water,
Num 5:24 and shall
make the woman drink the bitter water that brings the curse, and the water that
brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter.
Num 5:25 ‘And the
priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and
shall wave the offering before יהוה, and bring it to the altar.
Num 5:26 ‘And the
priest shall take a hand filled with the offering, as its remembrance offering,
and burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.
Num 5:27 ‘And when
he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself
and has committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that brings
the curse shall enter her and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her
thigh shall waste away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people.
Num 5:28 ‘But if
the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be clear and
shall conceive children.
Num 5:29 ‘This is
the Torah of jealousy, when a wife turns aside under her husband’s authority
and defiles herself,
Num 5:30 or when a
spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife. Then
he shall make the woman stand before יהוה, and the
priest shall do to her all this Torah.
Num 5:31 ‘And the
man shall be clear from crookedness, but the woman bear her crookedness.’ ”
Midrash:
We are reminded that in this portion the unfaithful woman
had actually received seed from another man. The question for us today is how
much impure and mixed seed are we receiving? The evidence is found everywhere –
bareness and unrighteous offspring. The tragedy is that many cannot see their
spiritual bareness.
1Pe 1:22 Now that you have cleansed your lives in
obeying the truth through the Spirit to unfeigned brotherly love, love one
another fervently with a clean heart,
1Pe 1:23 having been born again – not of corruptible
seed, but incorruptible – through the living Word of Elohim, which remains
forever,
Psa 119:142 Your righteousness is righteousness forever,
And Your Torah is truth.
When we walk in the
Torah the way Yahshua teaches us, we are cleansed and learn to discern what
“seed” to receive and what “seed” to reject.
YHVH’s Word washes us
– Eph 5:26 & Rev 19:8,9.
1Jn 1:7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of יהושע Messiah His
Son cleanses us from all sin.
1Jn 1:8 If we say
that we have no sin, we are misleading ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1Jn 1:9 If we
confess our sins, He is trustworthy and righteous to forgive us the sins and
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1Jn 1:10 If we say
that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us.
May YHVH prepare us to
be an end time bride that will receive only the “seed” of our Bridegroom –
Yahshua.
May He show us any area of unfaithfulness in our lives
that we may repent and seek His cleansing.
There is a special anointing in these days before Yom Ha
Kippurim to seek YHVH to find what His good, pleasing and perfect will for our
lives.
Additional notes - https://alastairadversaria.com/2013/02/09/the-cup-of-the-adulteress-understanding-the-jealousy-ritual-of-numbers-5/
Baruch atah
YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam
nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.”
(Blessed are
you YHVH, our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of
truth, and have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you,
YHVH giver of the Torah – Ameyn)