Numbers 5:25

25 The priest will take the grain offering of jealousy from the hand of the woman, and he will wave the grain offering {before Yahweh}, and he will present it to the altar;

Numbers 5:25 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 5:25

Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the
woman's hand
Which she was obliged to hold in her hand while the above rites and ceremonies were performed; which was very heavy, being an omer of barley flour, a measure about three quarts, which was put into an Egyptian basket made of small palm tree twigs: and this was put into her hands to weary her, as before observed, that, having her mind distressed, she might the sooner confess her crime: and shall wave the offering before the Lord:
backwards and forwards, upwards and downwards, as Jarchi; who also observes, that the woman waved with him, for her hand was above the hand of the priest so the tradition is,

``he (her husband) took her offering out of the Egyptian basket, and put it into a ministering vessel, and gave it into her hand, and the priest put his hand under hers, and waved it ^F1:''

and offer it upon the altar:
this was the bringing of it to the southwest corner of the altar, as Jarchi says, before he took a handful out of it, as in other meat offerings.

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah) c. 3. sect. 1.

Numbers 5:25 In-Context

23 " 'And the priests will write these curses on the scroll, and he will wipe [them] off into the waters of the bitterness.

24 He will make the woman drink the waters of the bitterness that brings a curse, and the waters of bitterness that bring a curse will go into her.

25 The priest will take the grain offering of jealousy from the hand of the woman, and he will wave the grain offering {before Yahweh}, and he will present it to the altar;

26 the priest will grasp her memorial offering from the grain offering, and he will turn [it] into smoke [on] the altar, and afterward he will make the woman drink the waters.

27 When he has made her drink the waters, it will come about, if she has defiled herself and acted unfaithfully to her husband and the waters of bitterness that bring a curse go into her and her stomach swells and her hip falls away, the woman will be as a curse in the midst of her people.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "before the face of Yahweh"