How Jews dealt with adultery in biblical times

LA JOLLA, California — This week’s portion (Naso) offers up two topics of some mischief and humor.

The first is the “Judicial Water Ordeal,” (Numbers Ch. 5) ostensibly to deal with suspected unwitnessed adultery by wives.  The two situations covered are respectively: a rumored affair that reaches the attention of a ‘cuckolded’ husband, and alternatively an angry husband who directly accuses his wife.  This latter situation likely suggests a husband who is simply trying to escape his marriage.The Judicial Ordeal consists of the accusation which comes before a priest.  He them prepares a concoction consisting of pristine sacral water, dirt from the Tabernacle floor, and ink dissolved off a prepared ‘curse document.’  The accused woman then drinks it, and if she shows no significant effects, e.g. ‘sagging thigh and distended belly,’ she is declared innocent.  Though the concoction may be displeasing, it is not likely to cause a serious medical infirmity, and accordingly the accused wife is “not guilty.” 

There were analogous ceremonies in ancient pagan cultures. The Hittites did something similar, having the accused drink from a decorative conical container called a rhyton.  An Assyrian text  essentially stated ‘The dirt and the jamb of the gate of Mari are dissolved water, which the accused is made to drink.’  Alternatively, Hammurabi, of the 18th Century BCE, wrote that the accused is thrown into the river,  If guilty, she drowned.  If innocent, she either floated or successfully swam a specified distance.

 

There are other incidents in the Torah that appear to be similar.  In the story of the Golden Calf, Moses ground up that idol, mixed the dust with water, and had the Israelites drink of it.  Somehow the reactions distinguished the guilty from the non-guilty,  The result was 3000 guilty were slain by the Levites.

 

The ‘ordeal” process was abandoned with the destruction of the 2nd Temple.  Johanan be Zakkai explained that there was rampant male adultery then, so who to choose from for trial?

 

The other topic is that of the elective Nazarite, who chooses a holy life, e.g. for a year. The rule applied to such a person is three-fold. He must (i) not cut his hair, (ii) drink no wine, and (iii) have no contact with a corpse for the duration.  Of these three, the only visible sign is long hair.  The ancients believed that the ‘seat of a man’s vitality  and life-force is his hair,’ which they noted grows throughout life (we wish).  Note the story of Samson’s strength in his hair.  Pagan temples in Cyprus, Syria, Greece, and Arabia received gifts of hair offerings, which were kept in labeled containers.

 

Hasidim today retain an element of this practice, when they make pilgrimages on Lag B’ Omer to the tomb of the sage, Rabbi Simeon Bar Yohair (c. 150 CE), a student of Akiba who survived the Bar Kochba revolt and sustained Akiba’s teachings. There they give a first haircut to a toddler son on or after a third birthday.

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Dr. Jacobs regularly delivers commentaries on the weekly portion at his synagogue and at a Torah discussion group.   He has kindly agreed to share his thoughts with San Diego Jewish World.