l6. riicn rlic priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord; 17. the priest shall take holy water in an earthen \essel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18. Lhe priest shall set the woman before the l.ord, dishevel the woman's hair, and place in her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of iealous\’. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of'bitterness that brings the curse. 19. 'Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saving, "If no man has lain with you, if \'ou ha\e not turned aside to uncleanness while under vour husband's authoritx’, be immune to this water of bittemen the curse. 20. but it ton ha\e gone astra\’ while under vour husband's authoritv, if you ha\e defiled yourself and .some man other than vour husband has had intercourse with \'ou," 21.- let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and sa\ to the woman-"the Lord make you an e.xecration and an oath among vour people, when the Lord makes vour uterus drop, vour womb discharge; 22. now ma\ this water that brings the curse enter \'our bowels and make tour womb discharge, \'our uterus drop!" .\nd the woman shall sa\, ".\men. .\men." Lhe ctirso was to ho used onK’ when there was nn legalh' sutf'ieient proof of the adulterw Xiiinhers viy reads: " I'his is the law in cases of jealousy, when a w ife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife." What we do not find in the history of formal curses in Biblical law' is their application to the accused after guilt has been established. The curses in Deuteronomy 27.1 >ff. are not contrart' to this position. What is in issue there is not the ritual cursing of a w rongdoer whose guilt has been pro\ed. The curses are formulated as terms of a treat}’, 'fhiis, the opening \ erse: "( Airscd be anyone who mnke.s an idol or cases an image, anything abhorrent to the Lord, the work of an artisan, and sets it up in secret." .Ml the peo3 This is the translation of The New Revised Standard Version which I regard as inaccurate for vv. 21, 22, but that issue need not detain us here. For the procedure as it came to be established see Mishnah Sotah. For modern scholarship see recently Flagith Sivan, 'Revealing the Concealed: Rabbinic and Roman Legal Perspectives on Detecting Adultery,' 116 Zeitschrift der Savigny Stiftung (romanistischeAbteilung) (1999), pp. ii2ff. 127
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