May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells or your womb miscarries." "'Then the woman is to say, "Amen. So be it." – Numbers 5:20

Today's Scripture Reading (November 29, 2021): Numbers 5

Platonic Philosopher Plutarch (c. 46 – c. 119 C.E.), argued that "The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled." I love the imagery. A fire burns, it can keep us warm on a cold night, but it can also burn out of control, threatening to destroy all we have built. And that is the power of a fire. Under control, it can be a positive force, but fire is too powerful to ever believe that it is totally under control.

And the same goes for our minds. Our minds are more powerful than we often give them credit. They have the power to make us believe anything. The mind has the ability to heal, but it can also make you very sick. And don't think that it is just the weak or the unstable that cannot control their minds. It is a danger for all of us. Our minds can make us believe anything, even when all of the evidence points the other way.

The Mosaic Law prescribes a unique penalty for marital infidelity. The idea is that if a woman is accused of adultery, she would drink the bitter water. If she were innocent of the charge, then nothing would happen. Interestingly, rabbis believed that if she was guilty and her husband was also guilty of an affair, the water would also have no effect. But if she were guilty, the abdomen would swell, and if she were pregnant, her womb would miscarry. Rabbis also believed that when the woman drank the water, if she were guilty, the man with whom she had committed adultery would get sick as well. Scholars have been at a loss to explain this bitter water, other than to say that it is part of a supernatural act of God. But it might not have been all that supernatural.

All of this could have been a powerful trick of the mind. If the person believed their guilt, the mind could have been the instrument that projected the person's guilt into the body. They knew that they were guilty, and therefore, they displayed the expected guilt to anyone who might have been watching. Of course, if the person knew that they were guilty, they may have admitted the fault rather than going through the ordeal of drinking the bitter water.

But the admission of guilt was the point of the process. The idea was that jealousy should not be present in a marriage, and the bitter water gave a way of proving guilt or innocence. If the woman were innocent, then there would be no reason for the jealousy. If the woman was guilty, then it brought that guilt out into the knowledge of both partners so that the couple could deal with it.

One note, the law only mentions the woman. But the Mosaic Law was intended to be case law, which means that it set out the model in general, which then those in positions of leadership would extend that law to the particular. Although a woman is used in this example in Numbers, there is no reason to believe that if a man were accused of unfaithfulness, the same procedure would not be followed to ascertain his guilt or innocence.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Numbers 6