Is Number 5:11-31 About Aborting a Pregnancy?
Is Numbers 5:11-31 about aborting a pregnancy?
No. This passage of scripture instructs priests about what to do when a man suspects his wife of cheating on her, and she says that she is innocent. The basic gist of what is happening is that a man suspects his wife of cheating on him. He takes her to the priest. She offers a sacrifice of barley meal. The priest takes some holy water and mixes it with dust from the floor of the tabernacle. This is a harmless concoction that does nothing to human physiology. The mixing of the dust with the holy water represents impurity. It was not some kind of “morning after pill.” She must then take an oath that she has not cheated on her husband and drink the water. They key verses to understanding what is happening here are verses 21-22. “then the priest shall put the woman under the oath of the curse, and he shall say to the woman—“the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your thigh rot and your belly swell; and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot.” The LORD was the one responsible for the curse, not the water that she drank. Nothing is said about her having a baby or being with child. The time in which this would occur, evidently, would be relatively brief. The result of the curse seems to be that she would not be able to bear children because in verse 28 the text says, “But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children.” So, if she was guilty, evidently, this curse and the condition that followed would prevent her from conceiving, but nothing is said about it ending a pregnancy. Women knew when a they were pregnant. So, the purpose of this was simply to confirm that a woman had been unfaithful to her husband, or it would show that she had not been unfaithful to her husband. It was to deal with the jealous husband and assure him one way or another.