The Literal Commandment

This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, goes astray and defiles herself, or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. (Numbers 5:29-30)

 

The literal commandment is that a priest must apply the process of testing a woman accused of adultery (described in Numbers 5:12-28)

 

Messiah Says

Messiah implicitly affirmed this commandment when He spoke about the Law:

"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)

 

 

Pictures of Messiah

This commandment is a reflection of G-d's grace and legal protection for those who might not otherwise be able to defend themselves against false accusations of adultery. In other cultures, it was enough for a man to accuse his wife of adultery to be able to divorce her or have her put to death.

This was not acceptable in G-d's economy so He provided protection against such abuses that involved His supernatural involvement.

In a similar way, we see G-d's supernatural involvement in the work of Messiah sparing us from the charges of the accuser, the enemy of our soul.

 

How Messiah Fulfilled

No evidence is given in Scripture that Messiah literally fulfilled this command: He never was married and never accused a wife of adultery.

He was also not a Levitical priest and would have never applied the process to a woman accused of adultery.

 

Traditional Observance

The traditional observance of this commandment is highly involved and complicated... so much so that it has an entire tractate (section) of the Talmud dedicated to this topic. The woman accused of adultery in Hebrew is called a sotah and Tractate Sotah of the Talmud goes into great detail about the supernatural process described in the Bible.

 

Other Notes

We are not able to fulfill this commandment today because we lack a standing Temple and a functioning Levitical priesthood which are required by this commandment.

 

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