Numbers 5:25

25 And the priest shall take the meal-offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal-offering before Jehovah, and bring it unto 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 priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out into the water of bitterness:

24 and he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that causeth the curse; and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her [and become] bitter.

25 And the priest shall take the meal-offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the meal-offering before Jehovah, and bring it unto the altar:

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.