We are in Numbers chapter five with our word for today which is a phrase. מֵ֥י הַמָּרִ֖יםwater of bitterness. It is used 4 times in the Old Testament all of which are in our chapter today. Let’s look at them. We have the same context of a man being jealous and suspecting his wife of adultery that we did yesterday with our phrase for today. Numbers 5:18-19, 23-24 And the priest shall set the woman before the LORD and unbind the hair of the woman’s head and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And in his hand the priest shall have מֵ֥י הַמָּרִ֖ים the water of bitterness that brings the curse. Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, and if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while you were under your husband’s authority, be free מִמֵּ֛י הַמָּרִ֥ים from this water of bitterness that brings the curse … Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into מֵ֥י הַמָּרִֽים the water of bitterness. And he shall make the woman drink מֵ֥י הַמָּרִ֖ים the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain. Let’s consider some of the issues involved in this ceremony. There’s no record in Scripture that any husband ever used it or that any accused wife asked for it. Perhaps the very existence of this law proved a barrier to adultery and a warning that sin would be found out. There are clearly some built-in “roadblocks” that would make a husband hesitate to rush to the priest and ask for his wife to be tried. To begin with, it was a public event, performed at the door of the tabernacle, and the whole camp could know about it. Would a husband want to expose his marital problems that openly, especially when he couldn’t know the results of the trial? Furthermore, what transpired there told something about the husband as well as about the wife. If the husband loved his wife and was deeply hurt by her possible infidelity, why would he want to expose her publicly? But if he didn’t love her and only wanted to hurt her, he might be embarrassed and proved wrong. A wise man would think twice before having his wife judged this way. The husband would have to live with the consequences. If his suspicions were proved wrong, he owed his wife an apology and had to work at rebuilding the relationship. He would also have to suffer the penalty for false accusations. If she was found guilty, he had to live with her, wonder who her lover was, and suffer with the physical consequences of the curse and her bad reputation. She could never bear him children, but he still had to provide for her and for any children she gave him before committing her sin. There are many perplexing questions associated with this ritual, but let’s not miss the major message: God wants purity in marriage, and husbands and wives can’t escape the bitter consequences of marital unfaithfulness. God can forgive adultery and husbands and wives can make new beginnings in the Lord. However, adultery hurts everybody, and it’s sometimes difficult to live with the consequences of forgiven sin. I’ll close with these amazing words of forgiveness and a challenge to leave her life of sin. John 8:3-4, 7, 10-11 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery … And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” … Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
