05/30/2026
This week’s Torah portion covers Numbers 4:21–7:89. In Numbers 5:11–31, we read the law that the Lord gives Moses regarding what is to be done when a husband suspects his wife of being unfaithful to him but has no proof of it. This test may seem odd or even unfair, but in its context, this test protected women—especially if they were innocent—and points toward how Jesus absorbs and washes away our judgment to offer us righteousness.
If a husband suspected his wife of adultery but had no proof, he was to take her to the priest. The priest would take a bowl of holy water and sprinkle dust from the temple floor into it. Then, the woman would stand before the Lord and agree to swear an oath. The oath was this: she would drink the dusty water, and if she was innocent, nothing would happen and she would be vindicated—but if she was guilty, she would be cursed. The priest would write the curse onto a scroll, wash the ink off into the water, and the woman would drink the water.
How was this test fair if there was no proof of adultery? Note that nothing about the dusty and slightly inky water would inherently harm the woman. It probably didn’t taste good, but it would not cause harm to her on its own and required God’s intervention to do so. In an era when men often killed their wives on the mere suspicion of adultery, this test provided a woman with due process, placing the trial and judgment in the hands of God and not humans. Since there was no evidence, the only one who could prove the woman’s guilt would be God Himself. It gave innocent women both sanctuary and vindication in the sight of all.
Verse 27 says if she is guilty, “the woman will become a curse among her people.” If God Himself were to put us to this test for unfaithfulness to Him, we would all be found adulterers. But Galatians 3:13 says that Jesus “redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.” If we were the wife in Numbers 5 and we were guilty, Jesus would be the husband who, before the test, says He will take it for us and bear the curse and shame Himself. Because of His sacrifice, the curse of our sin is washed away with His pure, living water (Hebrews 10:22).
