Naso (parsha) - in Classical Rabbinic Interpretation - Numbers Chapter 5

Numbers Chapter 5

Rabi Levi taught that the discussion of how to purify the camp in Numbers 5:1–4 was one of eight passages given to Moses on the day that the Tabernacle was erected (because the people needed to study them immediately).

Chapter 9 of Tractate Bava Kamma in the Mishnah and Babylonian Talmud and chapters 9 and 10 in the Tosefta interpreted Numbers 5:6–8 together with Leviticus 5:21–26.

The Mishnah taught that if one robbed another of something worth a perutah and the robber nonetheless swore that the robber did not do so, the robber was obliged to take restitution to the victim even if the robber needed to go as far as Persia. The robber could not give the restitution to the victim’s son nor to the victim’s agent, but the robber could give it to an agent of the court. If the victim died, the robber had to restore it to the victim’s heirs.

The Mishnah interpreted the requirements of Numbers 5:8 regarding restitution where the victim died without kin to apply as well to where a proselyte victim died. The wrongdoer would have to pay the priests the principal plus 20 percent and bring a trespass offering to the altar. If the wrongdoer died bringing the money and the offering to Jerusalem, the money was to go to the wrongdoer's heirs, and the offering was to be kept on the pasture until it became blemished, when it was to be sold and the proceeds were to go to the fund for freewill offerings. But if the wrongdoer had already given the money to the priest and then died, the heirs could not retrieve the funds, for Numbers 5:10 provides that "whatever any man gives to the priest shall be his."

Tractate Sotah in the Mishnah, Tosefta, Jerusalem Talmud, and Babylonian Talmud interpreted the laws of the woman accused of being unfaithful (sotah) in Numbers 5:11–31.

Hezekiah the son of Rabbi Parnak said in the name of Rabbi Johanan that the laws of the woman accused of being unfaithful in Numbers 5:11–31 follow immediately on laws dealing with the heave offering (תְּרוּמָה, terumah) and tithes to teach that if one has a heave offering or a tithe and does not give them to the priest, in the end he will require the priest's services to deal with his wife. For Numbers 5:10 says, “Every man's hallowed things shall be his,” and immediately afterwards Numbers 5:12 says, “If any man's wife go aside,” and thereafter Numbers 5:15 says, “the man shall bring his wife to the priest.” Even more, in the end, such a person would need the tithe for the poor, as Numbers 5:10 says, “Every man's hallowed things shall be his” (in the form of a tithe for the poor). In contrast, Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak taught that if he does give, he will eventually become rich. For Numbers 5:10 says, “Whatever a man gives the priest, he shall have,” and that means that he shall have much wealth.

The Mishnah taught that before a husband could accuse his wife pursuant to the procedure of Numbers 5:11–31, he had to warn her not to associate with a certain man. Rabbi Eliezer said that he warned her on the testimony of two witnesses, and made her drink the bitter water on the testimony of one witness or his own testimony. Rabbi Joshua said that he warned her on the testimony of two witnesses and made her drink on the testimony of two witnesses.

The Mishnah taught that it was not sufficient for the husband simply to say to his wife (in the presence of two witnesses) not to converse with a man. And if she nonetheless conversed with him, she was still permitted to her husband and (if a daughter of a Kohen) still permitted to eat from sacrifices. If, however, she entered a private place with the man and stayed with him long enough to have committed misconduct, she was forbidden to her husband and forbidden to eat from sacrifices, and if her husband died, she was required to perform the ceremony of halizah and could not contract a levirate marriage.

The Mishnah deduced from the two uses of the words "they shall enter" in Numbers 5:22 and 27 that just as the bitter water tested the suspected wife, so it tested the suspected paramour, punishing him as well as her if they were guilty.

Reading the report of Exodus 32:20 that Moses "took the calf . . . ground it to powder, and sprinkled it on the water, and made the children of Israel drink it," the Sages interpreted that Moses meant to test the Israelites much as the procedure of Numbers 5:11–31 tested a wife accused of adultery (sotah).

A Midrash taught that there is nothing greater before God than the "amen" that Israel answers. Rabbi Judah ben Sima taught that the word "amen" contains three kinds of solemn declarations: oath, consent, and confirmation. Numbers 5:21–22 demonstrates oath when it says, "Then the priest shall cause the woman to swear . . . and the woman shall say: ‘Amen, Amen.’" Deuteronomy 27:26 demonstrates consent when it says "And all the people shall say: ‘Amen.’" And 1 Kings 1:36 demonstrates confirmation when it says, "And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, and said: ‘Amen; so say the Lord.’"

The Mishnah taught that when adulterers multiplied, Rabban Johanan ben Zakkai discontinued the sotah ceremony of Numbers 5:11–31, as Hosea 4:14 says, "I will not punish your daughters when they commit harlotry, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery; for they themselves consort with lewd women, and they sacrifice with harlots; and the people that is without understanding is distraught."