Numbers 5:28

28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

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 offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water.

27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people.

28 But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.

29 'This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,

30 or when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man, and he becomes jealous of his wife; then he shall stand the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute all this law upon her.