Numbers 5:28

28 But if the woman is not defiled, but is 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 present, in memory of her, and incense it upon the altar and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

27 He shall give her, therefore, the water to drink, and it shall come to pass, that if she is defiled and has betrayed her husband, that the water that works the curse shall enter into her in bitterness, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall fail; and that woman shall be a curse among her people.

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

29 This is the law of jealousies when a woman goes astray, being under the power of her husband, and is defiled;

30 or of the husband upon whom a spirit of jealousy comes, and he is jealous over his wife; he shall then present the woman before the LORD, and the priest shall execute in her all this law.