![]() The falsely suspected party could call the jealous party to ‘put up or shut up’, receiving divine vindication through the rite and being delivered from any stain on their character. The ritual of jealousy, by preventing the unhalted rise of jealousy, protected vulnerable parties from violence, took judgment out of human hands, and served to vindicate the innocent. The jealous party had to surrender judgment into God’s hands, thus preventing the escalation of jealousy into violence or the utter and final annihilation of all marital trust. As Proverbs 6:34 declares: ‘For jealousy is a husband’s fury therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance.’ The ritual of jealousy served to arrest the cycle of jealousy before it could be expressed in a husband’s abuse or the violence of the lynch mob. One doesn’t have to envisage the extremes illustrated by such a character as Othello to recognize that a husband’s jealousy can be a profoundly destructive and vengeful force. However, a little caution is in order here. Since this jealousy is the husband’s it can easily be assumed that the rite existed principally for the sake of the accusing party. However, I hope to place the passage within a broader frame within which many of these problems are considerably relieved and those which remain are rendered more manageable.Īt the very outset, there are a number of points that must be made.įirst, the primary cause for the performance of the rite is jealousy. Within this post I don’t expect to provide a completely satisfactory resolution of all of these questions. The woman, if found guilty, also faces serious consequences, though nothing is said of any consequences faced by the man with whom she committed adultery. Purely on the basis of a husband’s jealousy, a wife can be submitted to such an ordeal, an ordeal for which no corresponding rite seems to exist for husbands. Others are troubled by the seemingly blatant misogyny of the passage. ![]() Many regard it as if it were some bizarre and ridiculous process lying somewhere between a superstitious magical ceremony, a Jeremy Kyle paternity test, and a Monty Python trial by ordeal. The ritual of jealousy in Numbers 5:11-31 is a law that disturbs and perplexes many people.
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