Controllin g Passions- Mixed Results 101
water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter. And the priest shall take the mealoffering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand and shall wave the meal-offering before the Lord, and bring it unto the altar. And the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering as the memorial-part thereof, and make it smoke upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water. And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled,and have acted unfaithfully against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her and become bitter, and her belly shall swell and her thigh shall fall away; and the woman shall be a curse among her people. And if the woman be not defiled, but be cleared; then she shall be cleared, and shall conceive seed. This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband goeth aside, and is defiled; or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, and he be jealous over his wife; then shall he set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. And the man shall be clear from iniquity, and that woman shall bear her iniquity(Nu. 5.11-31).
Ancient Judaism knew of no other ritual akin to this. The closest were statements that difficult issues of judgment would be brought to the urim and tumim for adjudication.(Ex. 28:13- 30; 1 Sam. 14:41 or the ephod(Josh. 9:14; Ju. 1:1, 20:18; 1 Sam. 10:22, etc.). The detailed biblical account indicated that this trial by ordeal Was carried out. More detail was added by an entire tractate of the Mishnah and in both the Bavli and Jerushalmi. The ritual seems to have been practiced as long as the Temple stood. We should note that the biblical account showed some concern for the woman.