Numbers 5:16,17

The Woman Is To Be Brought Near Before Yahweh and the Priest Then Makes the Water of Testing (Numbers 5:16)

Numbers 5:16

‘And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before Yahweh.'

The priest was then to arrange for the woman to be brought to the courtyard of the Sanctuary, and he would bring her before the door of the Tent of Meeting, ‘before Yahweh'.

This would be a huge moment for the woman. It would fill her with great awe. She would probably never have been so close to Yahweh's ‘physical' presence as she was then. Yet if she was innocent she would probably not be afraid. Like all who were standing round she would be convinced that Yahweh would know the truth and would do the right thing. And in her view that would be to clear her name. So while awed she would not be terrified. Only the guilty would be terrified. She may well even have been pleased to have this opportunity to be able to do this, for if she was cleared her husband would have to treat her rightly. But if she was guilty she would be very much afraid. She would know that the all seeing eye of Yahweh would be looking into her. Nothing could be hidden from Him.

Numbers 5:17

‘And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water.'

We are nowhere else told about ‘holy water', unless it is water from the laver in the courtyard of the Dwellingplace with which the priests washed their hands and feet (Exodus 30:19) prior to entering the Holy Place. But it is more probable that this was ‘the water (for the removal of) of uncleanness' (Numbers 19:9; Numbers 19:17; Numbers 31:23) which was prepared from the ashes ever kept at the ready in case it was needed (Numbers 19:9). In Numbers 31:23 also it was seen as removing defilement. Ezekiel calls this ‘clean water' (Ezekiel 36:25) which makes men clean.

Mixed with the holy water was ‘holy' dust from the floor of the Dwellingplace, which the priest must take and put within the water, and later on there would be added to it whatever ‘ink' was used in the writing of ‘the book' containing the words of cursing (Numbers 5:23). Suggestions have been made that such a mixture may well have had ingredients in it which reacted on chemical secretions produced in the body by a sense of guilt. As we do not know for sure what those constituents would be it is something that cannot be tested. But in the end what came on the woman would be determined by Yahweh.

The whole was put in an earthenware vessel, the cheapest and lowest level of vessels. Everything to do with this ceremony was at the lowest level. The offering was the equivalent of a poor man's sin offering; barley was offered instead of wheat; the holy water was put in an earthenware vessel. It was an indication of how God looks at sexual unfaithfulness. This was no glad act of worship. It was a deeply sad state of affairs.

The whole stress is on the holiness of the mixture. The water was ‘holy', set apart to the unique service of God. Dust from the floor of the Holy Place would certainly be seen as holy. It was the place where in an earthly sense God dwelt. It would be seen as bringing the holiness of the Sanctuary to confront the woman. Thus the mixture would be seen as a God-mixture. Such a mixture could be expected to react violently against defilement within.

The dust is probably not therefore to be connected with the Garden of Eden, unless as the dust of man in his innocence, the dust from which man was formed (Genesis 2:7), the dust that took man back to the dawn of creation when woman was first given her responsibility, the dust of innocence. Others have connected it with the dust that the serpent would ‘eat'. But dust from the Holy Place could hardly be seen as suitable for the serpent. Still others have seen it as a deliberate reminder of the dust to which she would return if guilty, as if God were saying, ‘dust you are and to dust you will return' (Genesis 3:19). But the main stress is almost certainly on the fact that it was from the Sanctuary. It was from holy ground.