Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
God commands the unclean to be cast out of the camp. Second, at verse 12, He gives the law of jealousy, by which husbands may test wives suspected of adultery through the waters of cursing.
Vulgate Text: Numbers 5:1-31
1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 2. Command the children of Israel to cast out of the camp every leper, and everyone who has a discharge, and whoever is defiled by a dead body. 3. Both male and female you shall cast out of the camp, lest they defile it when I shall dwell among you. 4. And the children of Israel did so, and cast them out beyond the camp, as the Lord had spoken to Moses. 5. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 6. Say to the children of Israel: When a man or woman shall have committed any of the sins that commonly befall people, and through negligence shall have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and offended, 7. they shall confess their sin, and restore the principal amount, and a fifth part besides, to the person against whom they have sinned. 8. But if there is no one to receive it, they shall give it to the Lord, and it shall be the priest's, besides the ram that is offered for expiation, that it may be an appeasing victim. 9. All the first fruits also, which the children of Israel offer, belong to the priest; 10. and whatever is offered into the Sanctuary by each one, and is delivered into the hands of the priest, shall be his. 11. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12. Speak to the children of Israel, and you shall say to them: If a man's wife shall have gone astray, and despising her husband, 13. shall have slept with another man, and her husband cannot discover it, but the adultery is hidden and cannot be proved by witnesses, because she was not found in the act: 14. if the spirit of jealousy shall stir up the husband against his wife, who either is defiled, or is charged with false suspicion, 15. he shall bring her to the priest, and shall offer an oblation for her, the tenth part of a seah of barley meal: he shall not pour oil upon it, nor put incense upon it, because it is a sacrifice of jealousy, and an oblation investigating adultery. 16. The priest therefore shall offer her, and set her before the Lord: 17. and he shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and he shall cast a little earth from the pavement of the tabernacle into it. 18. And when the woman shall stand in the sight of the Lord, he shall uncover her head, and shall put upon her hands the sacrifice of remembrance, and the oblation of jealousy: he himself however shall hold the most bitter waters, into which he has heaped curses with execration, 19. and he shall adjure her and say: If no strange man has slept with you, and if you are not defiled having abandoned your husband's bed, these most bitter waters into which I have heaped curses shall not harm you. 20. But if you have turned aside from your husband and are defiled, and have lain with another man, 21. you shall be subject to these curses: May the Lord make you a curse and an example to all among His people; may He cause your thigh to rot and your swollen womb to burst. 22. Let the cursed waters enter your belly, and with your womb swelling let your thigh rot. And the woman shall answer: Amen, amen. 23. And the priest shall write these curses in a book and shall wash them away with the most bitter waters into which he has heaped the curses, 24. and shall give her to drink. When she shall have drained them, 25. the priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice of jealousy and shall elevate it before the Lord and shall place it upon the altar; provided only that first 26. he takes a handful of the sacrifice from what is offered and burns it upon the altar; and so shall give the woman the most bitter waters to drink. 27. When she has drunk them, if she is defiled and guilty of adultery, having despised her husband, the waters of malediction shall pass through her, and with her belly swollen her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse and an example to all the people. 28. But if she has not been defiled, she shall be unharmed and shall bear children. 29. This is the law of jealousy. If a woman has turned aside from her husband and has been defiled, 30. and the husband, stirred by the spirit of jealousy, has brought her before the Lord, and the priest has done to her according to all that is written; 31. the husband shall be without fault, and she shall bear her iniquity.
Verse 2: Command the Children of Israel to Expel from the Camp Every Leper
In the Hebrew the reason is added: because I, namely God, who am most pure, dwell in your midst. I therefore will that My camp be clean, and that lepers and other unclean persons be expelled from it. There are expelled here from the camp: first, lepers; second, those who suffered from a flow of seed; third, those polluted by a dead body, that is, those who had contracted legal pollution, that is, uncleanness, by contact with a corpse or human cadaver. Of these, the first two were banished from the camp until they were healed: for once healed, after the prescribed purification of Leviticus 14 and 15 (except however for the sacrifices prescribed therein: for these were not performed in the desert), they were received back into the camp; the third group, however, purified themselves on certain days, and after the seventh day returned to the camp without any other ceremony, as is clear from Numbers 19:11 and 12.
Note: The Camp and the Three Classes of Unclean
By "the camp" here is understood the assembly of the whole people, not just of the Levites, as is evident. Therefore Lyra is wrong, following Rabbi Solomon: Lepers, he says, were expelled outside the camp of the people; those with a seminal flow outside the camp of the Levites; those polluted by a dead body outside the camp of the deity, that is, outside the tabernacle, which was like the house of God. For all of these were excluded not only from the tabernacle but also from the entire camp of the people.
Note: Ceremonial Law in the Desert
Moral and judicial precepts were observed by the Hebrews in the desert just as in the land of Canaan; but most ceremonial precepts were not observed in the desert, as is clear regarding circumcision (Joshua 5:6), regarding sacrifices (Amos 5:25 and Acts 7:42), and regarding feasts, at least as to the sacrifices prescribed for each feast: for as to cessation from work, feasts that required it were observed in the desert, unless the camp had to be moved, as is clear regarding the sabbath: for the one who violated it and gathered wood on the sabbath was stoned (Numbers 15:35). Similarly, in the desert the payment of priestly dues was not observed, namely firstfruits and tithes; nor the redemption of the firstborn, after the first one performed at Sinai (Numbers 3:46). And rightly so. For in the desert the priests did not exercise their priestly office, which was to sacrifice; and therefore they did not earn these rights, as though their wages. Moreover, they did not need them, since all lived on manna: so Abulensis. Except here certain ceremonial observances: for the unclean in the desert were expiated after the prescribed purifications, as I said just before. Again, the showbread had to be set out on the table before the Lord in that place, as is clear from chapter 4, verse 7. Moreover, the sacred fire had to be kept burning continually, as is clear from Leviticus chapter 6, verse 13.
Verse 6: When a Man or Woman Shall Have Committed Any Sin
Namely when they have done some injury to their neighbor, into which kind of sin people are wont to fall.
Verse 7: They Shall Confess Their Sin
(Note here the use, indeed the precept, of particular confession in the old law.) And they shall restore the principal itself. — In Hebrew: they shall restore the offense itself upon his head, that is, they shall restore the principal itself, the very thing which they received. For in this case of injury and injustice, restitution is prescribed both by this law and by the law of nature. See Leviticus 6:3, where this same case is explained.
Verse 8: But If There Is No One to Receive It
In Hebrew: if there is no redeemer, that is, a relative or kinsman to receive it: for to the relative of the deceased belonged the redemption, and also the receiving of the property. They shall give it to the Lord, and it shall belong to the priest — for the priest is the vicar and, as it were, the heir of God.
Besides the ram (in addition to the ram) which is offered for expiation — as though in satisfaction for sin. Hence the Hebrews say: When a ram is led to death, the sinner ought to think and consider as if he himself were being led to death for his sins and to confess: "O Lord! I am guilty of death, I have deserved to be stoned, burned, or strangled for this sin. But because You do not will the death of the sinner, accept in my place this ram which I sacrifice to You."
Verse 9: All the Firstfruits Belong to the Priest
"To the priest," that is, to the priests: for the firstfruits were divided among all the priests; it was otherwise with the sacrifices: for these went to the one sacrificing, as was said at Leviticus 6:26 and chapter 7, verse 8.
Verse 10: Whatever Is Offered in the Sanctuary
In Hebrew: each one's holy things, that is, offerings, and whatever a man gives to the priest shall be his. For if someone had cast something into the treasury, or given it to the priest in hand for the uses of the temple or tabernacle, it went to the temple or tabernacle; but if he gave it to the priest for his own use, it went to him.
Tropological Sense: The Firstfruits of Good Will
Tropologically, Rabanus says: The firstfruits of good will, of words and works, and whatever the true Israelites, that is, the children of the Church, offer to the Lord in the sanctuary, that is, in the Church, belongs to the priest, that is, to Christ the Lord; because it pertains to His grace, and must be attributed to His merits, His intercession, and His gift.
Verse 12: If a Man's Wife Shall Have Gone Astray
In Hebrew: shall have turned aside, namely to another man through adultery.
Because she was not found in the act — in adultery.
Verse 14: If the Spirit of Jealousy Stirs Up the Husband
That is, if jealousy shall stir up the husband. — Thus the spirit of prudence, of gentleness, of mercy is called prudence itself, gentleness, mercy.
Note: The Jealousy Ordeal and Its Purpose
A wife who was burdened either by guilt or by suspicion of adultery is here commanded by God to purge and prove herself through the waters of jealousy. Therefore, by a miracle, as though established and continuous in the law, the crime of adultery was formerly investigated among the Jews; and this for the purpose that, if jealous husbands could not prove the deed they suspected, they would not kill their wives. For the same reason, to those same people, being stiff-necked, the bill of divorce was permitted. Similarly, among Christians formerly, women suspected of adultery purged themselves by touching red-hot iron — if they were not burned by it — as happened to St. Cunegunde: which ordeal, since it was not instituted by God and was therefore a tempting of God, was rightly condemned by the Canons.
On the Tribulations of Jealousy
Learn here that, among the tribulations of the flesh which married people feel, jealousy is not the least. Among the Persians, not only whoever had addressed or touched the king's concubine, but also whoever had passed too near her on the road, was punished with death, says Plutarch in his Life of Artaxerxes.
Catullus burns with anger against Gellius his rival, as a thief of his girl. He likewise resents that Gellius is preferred to him for his beauty, where he says: Gellius is handsome — why not? — whom Lesbia prefers / To you with all your family, Catullus.
The sorceress Circe, resenting that the nymph Scylla was loved by Glaucus, poisoned the spring in which she bathed, by whose power Scylla was changed into a sea monster, as the Poets aptly fable.
Gaius Sulpitius divorced his wife because she had gone out of the house with her head uncovered: "The law," he said, "has appointed for you my eyes alone, by which you should approve your beauty: be beautiful for these, not pleasing to the eyes of others."
Antisthenes, when a young man asked him what kind of wife he should take: "If you take a beautiful one," he said, "you will have a common one; if an ugly one, you will have a punishment." In Greek there is a wordplay between koinēn (common) and poinēn (punishment). He was therefore advising that one of middle and moderate beauty should be taken, who would neither cause disgust to her husband nor attract the eyes of adulterers upon herself.
Democritus, being tall himself, was asked why he had married so small a wife: "I," he said, "in choosing an evil, chose the smallest one." Blessed Thomas More gave the same answer.
Pittacus refused to take a wife: "Because if I take a beautiful one," he said, "I will have jealousy — if not my own, certainly that of others seeking her: if an ugly one, I will have disgust."
Socrates used to say that he had gained three evils: Grammar, poverty, and a pernicious wife; of which he had already escaped two, but the third he could not escape.
Plato, when asked "when should a wife be taken?" said: "For a young man, not yet; for an old man, never." In Greek more wittily: oudepote and oudemote, suggesting that marriage should be entirely avoided.
Protagoras, asked why he had given his daughter in marriage to his enemy: "Because," he said, "I could give him nothing worse."
Philoxenus, asked why Sophocles introduced good women in his plays, while he himself introduced bad ones: "Because," he said, "Sophocles tells what women ought to be; I tell what they actually are." Therefore Alfonso, king of Aragon, used to say that "marriage would be free of complaints and peaceful if the husband were deaf and the wife blind."
Verse 15: The Sacrifice of Jealousy
Because, as is added in verse 15 in the Hebrew, it is a sacrifice commemorating sin, which our Translator renders as investigating adultery.
Verse 18: The Priest Shall Hold the Most Bitter Waters
You ask, what were these curses pronounced and heaped by the priest upon the waters? It is likely from verse 21 that they were these, or similar to these: May you, cursed water, in the name of the Lord — and if this woman has sinned by adultery — enter her womb and burst it, and cause her thigh to rot, so that she may be an example to all the people.
Verse 19: He Shall Adjure Her
If you are not defiled, these waters shall not harm you. — The verb noceo (to harm), in ancient syntax, governed the accusative: hence it is said in Psalm 26:2: "Judge, O Lord, those who harm me;" and Luke 4:35: "He went out from him and did not harm him." Likewise Plautus says: "Swear that you will not harm a man."
Verses 20-21: May the Lord Make You a Curse
This is the second curse; for the first was upon the water, this one is upon the woman herself. In Hebrew: may the Lord make you an execration and an oath in the midst of your people. "An oath," that is, an imprecation, as if to say: May you be so miserable and unhappy that the public and common imprecation of men shall be this: May what happened to that adulteress happen to you.
Verse 22: The Woman Shall Respond, Amen
This was the order of this trial, as is clear from the Hebrew: First, the priest pronounced curses over the waters. Second, he pronounced curses over the woman, with her responding, Amen. Third, he wrote these second curses in a book: then he washed the writing away with the waters of cursing to be given to the woman to drink. Fourth, he received from her the mincha, that is, the fine flour, and from it burned and offered a handful to the Lord in the customary manner; but the remainder he kept for himself. Fifth, he gave the woman the cursed water to drink, and if she was guilty of the crime, her belly swelled and her thigh rotted. The Jews add: and she died; which also is sufficiently implied by our Translator, and the Septuagint at verse 21, that it happened by the rupture of the womb: and this happened immediately, as it seems. For what Josephus, Book 3, chapter 10, obscurely says — that this penalty was delayed for ten months — does not sufficiently accord with Sacred Scripture here, nor with the manner of divine providence and vengeance. For God customarily works His miracles and judgments most swiftly, especially through signs He has instituted; particularly since by this punishment the crime of the wife had to be revealed here, so that the jealous husband might be satisfied, who otherwise would have continued to harass her, or indeed would have killed her; to prevent which, this trial was instituted by God.
Note: The Swelling and the Manner of Divine Judgment
This swelling of the womb and rotting of the thigh were produced not by any power inherent in the waters, but only by God applied to this ceremony. Moreover, by this law and penalty God testified, first, that He was the guardian and avenger of conjugal fidelity, and the witness and protector of innocence, so that jealousy should not generate discord, quarrels, brawls, and murders; second, that He sees, notes, and brings to light hidden crimes; third, that adultery is a grave crime, deserving of a public and horrible punishment, so that wives might be kept in their duty and restrained from shamelessness by fear of so severe a penalty. For these adulteries are customarily committed in secret, so that they can scarcely be proved legally: hence God here claims their judgment for Himself. So Vatablus. The Jews add that the same plague was also inflicted on the adulterer himself, even if he was hidden: let them keep their own credibility.
Geradas the Spartan, asked with what penalty the Spartans punished an adulterer: "There is no adulterer," he said, "in Sparta." And when the other pressed further — what if there were one? "He shall give," he said, "a bull large enough that, stretching its neck over Mount Taygetus, it could drink from the Eurotas." The other laughed, saying: It is impossible that so great a bull could be found. "And how," said Geradas, "could there be an adulterer in Sparta, where luxury, wealth, and artificial adornment of the body are considered disgraceful?"
Thales, when an adulterer asked whether he would forswear perjury: "Perjury," he said, "is not worse than adultery," as if to say: Why do you ask about perjury, when you have not hesitated to commit a crime equal to perjury?
Add that adultery is often the cause of murders and parricides. So David, because of his adultery with Bathsheba, committed the murder of Uriah; Clytemnestra conspired with her adulterous lover Aegisthus for the ruin of her husband Agamemnon; and when he was slain, the fury of Orestes was roused against his mother. So Euripides in his Orestes.
Eurydice, queen of the Macedonians, wife of Amyntas and mother of Philip, in order to hand over the kingdom to her adulterous lover, poisoned her sons Alexander and Perdiccas; and she would have done the same to her husband, had not her daughter uncovered the crime. Indeed, even beasts detest and punish adultery. Hear William of Paris, Part 1 of On the Universe, Part III, chapter 8: "In my time," he says, "a stork that had been convicted, as it were, of adultery through the sense of smell of her mate — the male somehow accusing or uncovering her crime — was deplumbed and torn apart by the entire flock, as though she had been judged guilty of adultery by a council or trial of all."
The cuckoo is the disgrace of birds and men alike, because it invades the nests and eggs of other birds, sits upon them, and hatches them, as Pliny testifies, Book 10, chapter 9. See what was said on Genesis 38:24.
Verses 24-25: When She Shall Have Drunk Them
The priest shall take from her hand the sacrifice. — "Shall have drunk" means shall have drawn or will draw. For almost at the same time, the woman was drinking the waters and the priest was burning the mincha, so that morally these two things were considered to happen, as it were, at the same time. For the order was that which I described at verse 22, which our Translator also clearly expresses at verse 26, namely that first the priest burned the mincha, then gave the waters to the woman to drink.
Verse 27: They Shall Pass Through Her
In Hebrew: they shall enter into her.
Verse 28: If She Was Not Defiled, She Shall Bear Children
She shall be innocent (that is, unpunished — she will not be harmed by these waters of cursing: so insons is used for "unpunished," Exodus 20:7), and she shall bear children. — The Chaldean translates: and she shall conceive a conception; the Septuagint: and she shall sow seed, that is, she shall produce a son from the conceived seed. It seems that here God promises the innocent wife fertility and children, on account of the suspicion of adultery and the ignominy of this trial, which she suffered undeservedly as an innocent person.
The Rabbis add and fable that she conceived miraculously without seed in the manner of the Blessed Virgin, as Abulensis, Lyranus, and Denis the Carthusian report and refute.
How Great a Crime Is Adultery
See here how great a crime adultery is, and how hateful to God and men. Hear St. Job, chapter 31:9: "If my heart has been deceived by a woman, and if I have lain in wait at my friend's door, let my wife be a harlot. For this is a heinous crime, and the greatest iniquity. It is a fire devouring unto perdition, and uprooting all offspring." And Sirach chapter 23:25: "Every man who transgresses his bed, despising, says: Who sees me? Darkness surrounds me, and walls cover me. And he does not understand that the eye of the Lord sees all things, for the eyes of the Lord are much brighter than the sun, surveying all the ways of men and the depths of the abyss. Likewise every woman who leaves her husband and establishes an inheritance from an unlawful marriage. For first, she was faithless against the law of the Most High. Second, she offended against her husband. Third, she committed adultery in fornication and acquired children for herself from another man. Her children shall not take root, and her branches shall not bear fruit. She shall leave her memory for a curse, and her disgrace shall not be blotted out."