Fr. Mike explains how God elevates the dignity of women by providing new laws around husbands accusing their wives of unfaithfulness. Today we read from Numbers 5, Deuteronomy 5, and Psalm 90. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of the Bible in a Year podcast?
Hi, my name's Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today.
Chapter 2: What are the readings for Day 56?
Today is day 56, and I'll be reading from Numbers chapter 5, Deuteronomy chapter 5, and we'll be praying Psalm 90. As always, the Bible translation that I'm using is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year.
And also, I invite you to subscribe in the podcast app to receive daily episodes that drop every single day. As you probably know, since it is day 56, did I say 56? I meant to say 56. If I didn't, it's day 56, you guys. And so we're reading from Numbers 5, Deuteronomy 5, and praying Psalm 90. The book of Numbers, chapter 5, unclean persons.
Chapter 3: How does Numbers 5 address unclean persons and confession?
The Lord said to Moses, command the sons of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper and everyone having a discharge and everyone that is unclean through contact with the dead. You shall put up both male and female, putting them outside the camp that they may not defile their camp in the midst of which I dwell. And the sons of Israel did so and drove them outside the camp.
As the Lord said to Moses, so did the sons of Israel.
Confession and Restitution And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, When a man or woman commits any of the sins that men commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person is guilty, he shall confess his sin which he has committed, and he shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it, and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong.
But if the man has no kinsman to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, The restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement, with which atonement is made for him. And every offering, all the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. And every man's holy things shall be his.
Whatever any man gives to the priest shall be his. an unfaithful wife, or jealous husband. And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, If any man's wife goes astray and acts unfaithfully against him, if a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and she is undetected though she has defiled herself,
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Chapter 4: What is the ritual for a jealous husband in Numbers 5?
And there is no witness against her, since she was not taken in the act.
And if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself, or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself, then the man shall bring his wife to the priest, and bring the offering required of her, a tenth of an ephah of barley meal.
He shall pour no oil upon it, and put no frankincense on it, for it is a serial offering of jealousy. a serial offering of remembrance bringing iniquity to remembrance and the priest shall bring her near and set her before the lord and the priest shall take holy water from an earthen vessel and shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water
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 serial offering of remembrance which is the serial offering of jealousy and in his hand the priest shall have 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 are under your husband's authority, be free from this water of bitterness that brings the curse.
But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself, and some man other than your husband has lain with you, then let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse, and say to the woman, The Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people.
When the Lord makes your thigh fall away and your body swell, may this water that brings the curse pass into your bowels and make your body swell and your thigh fall away. And the woman shall say, Amen, Amen. Then the priest shall write these curses in a book and wash them off into the water of bitterness.
and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse and the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain and the priest shall take the cereal offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand and shall wave the cereal offering before the lord and bring it to the altar and the priest shall take a handful of the cereal offering
as its memorial portion, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.
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Chapter 5: What are the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5?
When a wife, though under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man and he is jealous of his wife, then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law. The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity. The Book of Deuteronomy Chapter 5 The Ten Commandments
And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your hearing this day, and you shall learn them and be careful to do them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive this day.
The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, while I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare to you the word of the Lord. for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up into the mountain. He said, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me.
You shall not make for yourselves a graven image, nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth."
You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing merciful love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your manservant or your maidservant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle. Or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you.
You shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you in the land which the Lord your God gives you. You shall not kill. Neither shall you commit adultery. Neither shall you steal. Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
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Chapter 6: What lessons do the Ten Commandments offer?
And he added no more. And he wrote them upon two tables of stone and gave them to me. And when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders, and you said, Behold, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire.
We have this day seen God speak with man, and man still live. Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have and still lived? Go near.
And hear all that the Lord our God will say, and speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it. And the Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. And the Lord said to me, I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They have rightly said all that they have spoken.
Oh, that they had such a mind as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their children forever. Go, and say to them, Return to your tents, but you stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments and the statutes and the ordinances which you shall teach them, that they may do them in the land which I give them to possess.
You shall be careful to do, therefore, as the Lord your God has commanded you, you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live. and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land which you shall possess. Psalm 90, God's Eternity and Human Frailty.
A prayer of Moses, the man of God. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. You turn men back to the dust and say, Turn back, O children of men. For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past, or as a watch in the night.
You sweep men away. They are like a dream, like grass which is renewed in the morning. In the morning it flourishes and is renewed. In the evening it fades and withers. For we are consumed by your anger. By your wrath we are overwhelmed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your countenance. For all our days pass away under your wrath.
Our years come to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are threescore and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore. But their span is but toil and trouble. They are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger and your wrath according to the fear of you? So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Return, O Lord. How long?
Have pity on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your mercy that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Make us glad as many days as you have afflicted us and as many years as we have seen evil. Let your work be manifest to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us.
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Chapter 7: How does Psalm 90 reflect on God's eternity?
Remember the plus one theory of education is that sense of God is starting from a certain place with this culture and he's moving them along. And so consider this. In the ancient world, a woman was considered to be under full authority of her husband. So if he even accused her, he could do whatever he wanted to do with his wife.
and here comes the law here comes the law of moses here in numbers chapter 5 and the law of moses says you don't actually get to do that yes remember back in genesis chapter 3 where one of the consequences of the fall is this tension and this i mean the horrible tension between men and women between wives and husbands where men will are tempted to so often to dominate to use women
And this is part of the remedy of this. What do you mean remedy? Well, remember, the ancient world, a woman was considered the full property of her husband. And in all of the Middle Eastern cultures, if a man was jealous, then he could do literally whatever he wanted to her.
But here's the plus one theory of education, where the Lord God says through Moses that he doesn't get to do whatever he wants. He has to bring in a mediator. He brings her to the priest. Now, what happens after he brings her to the priest can be distressing to us again, because it's what's referred to as a trial by ordeal. You know, you think about the Salem witch trials.
We think about those other times where, I mean, think of Monty Python, where if she floats, she's a witch. And if she sinks, then she's not a witch. But if she sinks, then she means she's dead. And so that's right, that kind of that silliness that we see. And yet trial by ordeal was actually relatively common. It's not the best, obviously, as we know.
But the interesting thing here is what happens in the trial by ordeal? What happens is that the woman will drink this water mixed with some dust, essentially, or with the cereal offering. And if she's guilty, a miracle has to happen to prove that she's guilty. Normally, she would just drink it and be completely fine. And so, and this is the thing, this is why there's some balance here.
And this is part of the genius, even if it's problematic for us. But part of the genius of the scripture is, A, the man does not have total authority over the woman. He has to bring her to a mediator because he has to submit to another higher law because both of them find themselves under the law, right? Your numbers in Deuteronomy, Leviticus, the whole thing.
The second thing is this trial by ordeal, which again to us seems very unfair, is the opposite of the Monty Python sketch where it's what happens if she's guilty, a miracle has to prove that she's guilty. She's naturally protected by this process rather than threatened by it. I hope that makes sense. I hope that makes sense.
Because normally she would, like any person, would just drink water mixed with whatever this was, the cereal offering or the dust, and nothing would happen. Exactly. That is part of this point. It was a defensive mechanism against the jealousy of others.
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