Biblical Cruelty and Marital Madness?

C Mc — Fri, 02 Mar 2018 06:36:02 +0000

"One of the strangest of all biblical ordeals was that of a woman suspected of adultery (called a sotah in Hebrew). The procedure is described in graphic detail in the Book of Numbers 5:11‑31. Here the suspicions of a jealous husband may be proved or disproved by giving his wife a mixture of sacred water, earth from the floor of the Tabernacle, and the script of curses, and by observing the results of this ministration. If the woman had defiled herself by entering into an adulterous relationship with another man, the Bible states that her body would distend and she would become a curse among her people. But if the woman was not guilty, then she would remain unharmed and able to retain seed. Ordeals of jealousy were known in the ancient Near East, although not in the precise form described in the Book of Numbers, and there were parallels in many other cultures..." (https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/adultery/).

What is the underline purpose of such madness? Is it anyway this law is beneficial to the wife whose husband suspects her of adultery? Do you find this scenario too strange for the Bible and inhuman, in practice? Can one make sense out of this "apparent nonsense"? CM

adultery/marriage — Christian Debate

Biblical Cruelty and Marital Madness?