Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

BITTERNESS OR JEALOUSY*, Water of

OT “trial” procedure employed when a husband suspected his wife of adultery but had no evidence to support his suspicion. The ritual, described in Numbers 5:11-31, is thought by some scholars to belong to a class of procedures known as “trials by ordeal.” Such an ordeal subjected an accused woman to some physical hazard for the purpose of determining her guilt or innocence. The effect of the hazard-producing agent on the accused individual determined the verdict. The premise was that a higher power who knew the guilt or innocence of the accused would act to influence the outcome appropriately.

In Israel, as in many other ancient societies, women had few rights. An Israelite husband could resort to the trial procedure when he had no evidence of his wife’s unfaithfulness but simply had a “spirit of jealousy” concerning her (Nm 5:11-14). Very likely a pregnant wife would be subjected to the ritual if her husband suspected the unborn child was not his own.

The suspicious husband brought his wife to the priest with a special offering of a coarse barley meal (Nm 5:15; cf. Lv 2; 5:11). The priest would take the woman and “set her before the Lord,” mix “holy water” (probably from the tabernacle laver or basin) with dirt from the tabernacle floor, unbind the woman’s hair (perhaps as a sign of shame), and place some of the barley meal offering in her hands (Nm 5:16-18). Then the priest made her swear an oath asserting that, if she had been unfaithful, drinking the “water of bitterness” would bring a curse upon her. She gave assent by saying “Amen, Amen” (vv 19-22). Somehow, after writing out the words of the curse, the priest washed them off into the water. After making a ceremonial offering of a handful of barley meal, the priest made the woman drink the water (vv 23-26). The effect of a guilty verdict was evidenced by bitter suffering, causing the woman to become infertile (v 27).