Numbers 5:28

28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

Numbers 5:28 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:28

And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean
If she is not guilty of adultery, but pure from that sin:

then she shall be free;
from the effects of the bitter water; they shall have no such influence upon her, but she shall be as soured and healthful as ever; nay, the Jewish writers say more so, that if she had any sickness or disease upon her she would now be freed from it ^F14; the Targum of Jonathan has it, her splendour shall shine, the brightness and beauty of her countenance:

and shall conceive seed;
a man child, as the same Targum; and the Jewish writers say, if she was barren before, now she would be fruitful; but no more is meant by it than that her husband should receive her gladly, and she should live comfortably with him hereafter, and the blessing of God would be upon her, which would still be a confirmation of her chastity.

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FOOTNOTES:

F14 Maimon. Hilchot Sotah, c. 3. sect. 22.

Numbers 5:28 In-Context

26 and the priest shall take a handful of the meal-offering, as the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall make the woman drink the water.

27 And when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, if she be defiled, and have committed a trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her [and become] bitter, and her body shall swell, and her thigh shall fall away: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

29 This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, being under her husband, goeth aside, and is defiled;

30 or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon a man, and he is jealous of his wife; then shall he set the woman before Jehovah, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.