Today, I am reading and commenting on  Numbers 5-6.

The procedure laid out in today’s passage to be followed if a man believes that his wife has been unfaithful, but has no evidence supporting that belief, may be problematic.  However, whether or not it is problematic depends on what one believes about God’s power to miraculously intervene in this world.  If you do not believe that God can, or will, intervene to alter natural processes, this procedure will be deeply troubling, because, in that case, some innocent women will surely suffer terribly just because their husband is an insecure jerk.  On the other hand, if you do believe that God can, and will, intervene to alter natural processes when it suits Him, this procedure is of little concern.  If you believe that, you know that the innocent women will suffer no harm, and the husbands who unjustifiably are jealous will be revealed to be the jerks that they truly are.   There is a further thing to be realized about the culture this practice was introduced into.  Without this procedure, a husband could bring harm to his wife and claim he was justified because “she was cheating on him”.  His inability to provide any evidence to that effect would not conclusively prove that she was not.  However, with this procedure established, he would have no excuse for not seeking this remedy for her unfaithfulness, the failure of this procedure to bring any harm to her would be proof that she was innocent of his suspicions.  The mere existence of this procedure would take away a husband’s excuse to bring harm to his wife for unfaithfulness since it provided a way for him to prove his suspicions.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.