Numbers 5 Footnotes

5:11-31 The third matter of community purity relates to the family and to potential marital fidelity in the case of a wife suspected of unfaithfulness (sotah). If a woman were apprehended in the act of adultery, both she and her adulterous male partner were subject to the death penalty (Lv 20:10). The ritual outlined here put the matter of a suspected, but not apprehended, adulterer in the hands of God, the only reliable witness. These provisions ensured that a woman found to be innocent would be preserved from stoning by a mob. Throughout the book of Numbers special attention is given to matters related to women, including women’s property rights (27:1-11; 36:1-12) and women’s vows (31:1-16; see note on 6:1-2).