Scripture: Numbers 5: 11-31 and Matthew 26: 27, 38-39
Sermon: Cup of Curses, Cup of Blessing
Topics: infidelity, cup, wrath, bitterness
Preached: February 19, 2006
Rev. Mike Abma
Preamble to the Reading of Numbers 5
The book of Numbers is not an easy book.
This text is not an easy text.
Here is a chapter that has as its theme how to remain clean,
and if one were to became unclean, how to be restored again.
The first part of the chapter deals with how to deal with different forms of bodily uncleanness: either having leprosy, or having some sort of bodily discharge, or coming into contact with a corpse. This kind of uncleanness had to be quarantined until the unclean person could be restored to the camp. If this wasn’t done, the uncleanness could infect the whole community.
The second kind of uncleanness mentioned is basically crimes or wrongs that people commit against each other. In this case, there had to be some sort of restitution given to the wronged party in order for restoration to occur. If this wasn’t done, the feud could infect the whole community.
But the third scenario, and the text for this sermon, involves that most intimate of relationships –the relationship of a husband and wife. What happens when a husband suspects his wife of infidelity but there is no clear proof? A hidden sin could infect the marriage and spread to the whole community. One goal of this process was to identify sin if it was in fact present, and to deal with it. The ultimate goal of this procedure, however, was actually reconciliation – a restoration of marital intimacy between husband and wife.
Old Testament: NUMBERS 5:11-31
11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 12Speak to the Israelites and say to them: If any man’s wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13if a man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden from her husband, so that she is undetected though she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her since she was not caught in the act; 14if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife, though she has not defiled herself; 15then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain-offering of jealousy, a grain-offering of remembrance, bringing iniquity to remembrance.
16 Then the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord;17the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel, and take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.18The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel the woman’s hair, and place in her hands the grain-offering of remembrance, which is the grain-offering of jealousy. In his own hand the priest shall have the water of bitterness that brings the curse. 19Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, ‘If no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to uncleanness while under your husband’s authority, be immune to this water of bitterness that brings the curse. 20But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has had intercourse with you’—21let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse and say to the woman—‘the Lord make you an execration and an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus drop, your womb discharge;22now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!’ And the woman shall say, ‘Amen. Amen.’
23 Then the priest shall put these curses in writing, and wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings the curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her and cause bitter pain. 25The priest shall take the grain-offering of jealousy out of the woman’s hand, and shall elevate the grain-offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; 26and the priest shall take a handful of the grain-offering, as its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and afterwards shall make the woman drink the water. 27When he has made her drink the water, then, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings the curse shall enter into her and cause bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop, and the woman shall become an execration among her people. 28But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she shall be immune and be able to conceive children.
29 This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband’s authority, goes astray and defiles herself, 30or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall apply this entire law to her. 31The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear her iniquity.
MATTHEW 26: 27, 38-39
27Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you; ….
38Then he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and stay awake with me.’ 39And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.’
INTRODUCTION
In the Jewish tradition, the ritual recorded in Numbers 5 is called Sotah.
Unlike many Old Testament rituals, this one was supposed to be private – just between the husband, the wife, and the priest.
A jealous husband could bring his wife to a priest.
The priest was to place the grain offering of barley flour in the woman’s hands.
Then the priest raised a cup of bitterness to the woman’s mouth to drink.
This cup of bitterness was filled with 3 things:
1. It was filled with holy water.
2. It had added some holy dust – dust from the floor of the tabernacle itself.
3. Lastly, this cup had within it ink – ink from an oath the priest wrote down that said if the woman was innocent, the cup of bitterness would bring no curse.
But if the woman was guilty, the cup of bitterness would cause the woman to be barren.
It was because the name of the Lord was invoked that this was a holy and binding oath.
TROUBLING PARTS OF THIS PASSAGE
There are lots of troubling things about this text.
1) First of all, it seems a husband could make his wife go through this ordeal on the flimsiest of evidence. That is problem number one.
2) Second, this whole procedure seems one-sided and not reciprocal. In other words, why is the husband allowed to put his wife through this, but there seems to be no provision for a wife to put her husband through this?
3) A third troubling aspect about this passage is that it seems that a husband had to bear no consequences for a false accusation. Even if the wife were proven innocent, the husband would be free from iniquity.
TWO APPROACHES TO THIS PASSAGE
So what do we do with this troubling passage?
A. Cultural Context:
One approach has been to soften its rough edges by placing it within the context of its culture. The truth is, in most of the surrounding cultures, women were at the mercy of their husbands. If a husband accused his wife of infidelity, the wife had very little recourse. She also had very little protection should the husband form a lynch-mob of people sympathetic to his accusations. And so, a number of scholars will say that at least here there was a procedure in place to protect a woman, particularly if she was innocent.
B. Biblical Context:
Presenting the cultural context is one possible way of approaching this text.
However, I think that there is still a different and preferable way of reading this passage.
That is approaching it within its larger Biblical context. That means seeing this passage as being less about a technical law to resolve disputes between a husband and wife, and more as a commentary on the covenantal relationship between Israel as the mystic bride and God as the husband.[1]
Now why do I say that?
1. First of all, there is the Hebrew word used for unfaithfulness. The word is ma’al. It is not the common word used to describe adultery. That word is na’aph. In fact, this is the only time in the Old Testament that ma’al is used to describe the unfaithfulness of one spouse to another. In the rest of the Old Testament, this word ma’al is used to describe Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. And this unfaithfulness is usually described in terms of idolatry – Israel rejecting God’s love and chasing after other gods.
2. Second, Israel had already had to drink a cup of bitterness for their unfaithfulness. Remember what happened at Mount Sinai when Moses was on the mountain receiving the Law, and the people were bored waiting down below? Remember what Israel did? They made a calf – a golden calf – and they started worshipping it. When Moses came down he was livid. What did Israel have to do with that golden calf? They had to grind it up, reduce it to dust, and drink this bitter drink. They had to drink it – and many who drank it were struck by a plague that killed them. Here we already have an example of Israel, the bride that God chose to lead out of Egypt, being unfaithful to him and having to drink from the cup of bitterness.
3. A third reason why we can, and perhaps even should, see this passage in Numbers 5 as wider and broader than simply a narrow law about husbands and wives, is that all three of the major prophets use the language of Israel as a wanton woman, and Israel having to drink the cup of bitterness, the cup of judgment, the cup of horror.
In Isaiah, God’s people are portrayed as an unfaithful wife, and in chapter 51: 17-23 Isaiah tells Jerusalem to stand up for she is to drink from the hand of the Lord the cup of wrath.
In Jeremiah 25, God’s people are again portrayed as harlots and prostitutes, and then Jeremiah speaks of a similar thing: Jeremiah pictures Jerusalem taking from the hand of the Lord the cup of wrath, of desolation, of destruction.
And in Ezekiel 23 this language is perhaps the clearest. Ezekiel speaks of Northern Israel and Southern Judah, of Samaria and Jerusalem, as two sisters – Oholah and Oholibah. Ezekiel accuses both these sisters of wanton behavior, of falling into idolatry. Then Ezekiel says that Oholibah (Jerusalem) must drink the cup of horror and desolation her other sister has already drunk.
So what is the cup of bitterness, the cup of desolation, the cup of horror that all these prophets were talking about?
The cup of desolation these prophets were talking about was the exile.
They were talking about the curse that would come if God’s people refused to obey the Lord, if they strayed after other gods, and if they rejected God as their one and only love.
For Samaria this cup came in the form of their defeat by Assyria.
For Judah, this cup came in the form of their defeat and exile to Babylon.
In both cases, this cup of bitterness represented a curse of God — the curse of being
abandoned by God.
God, the passionate God,
the jealous God,
the one who loves with a burning love,
God turned his back on his people for a season during the exile.
CUP OF BITTERNESS in the GARDEN
I don’t know about you, but I have always been very curious as to what cup Jesus was referring to in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Did you know that the language of drinking the cup makes it into all 4 gospels?
In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see Jesus kneeling in the Garden of Gethsemane, praying with blood dripping from him like sweat;
praying “Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me, let this cup pass,
remove this cup.”
Then in John 18:4, after Peter cuts off the ear of Malchus, Jesus reprimands him and says, “Peter, put your sword away. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
“Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?”
The clear implication is that it is the Father who is holding the cup.
And what is that cup?
In ways the cup of bitterness held in the hand of the priest in Numbers 5,
is the same cup of exile and desolation held in the hand of God for his
wayward Old Testament people;
is the same cup that the Father is holding for his own Son to drink.
But why should Jesus be so overwhelmed, and overwrought, we may wonder?
Jesus is innocent and sinless.
Yes, but Jesus came into the world to be sin for us.
He came into the world to carry our iniquities.
He came and was willing to take our sins as if they were his own.
The cup before him was the cup of God’s anger against our sin,
the sin and rebellion of the whole world.
What was in that cup was destruction and death.
But more than that, what was in that cup was abandonment –
the abandonment of his Father in heaven,
causing Jesus to cry,
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
CHRIST SWITCHES THE CUP
What happens when we come to the Table?
What happens is that we bring with us all that we are:
we bring our own worn-out and tattered existence;
we bring all the ways we have been deaf and disloyal to God;
we bring all the ways we have been dishonest and even cruel to each other.
That is what we bring.
And we deserve to be given the cup of curses.
But we are given the cup of blessing.
We deserve to be given death, but we are given life.
Calvin calls this the “wonderful exchange.”
Why? Why are we the benefactors of this wonderful exchange?
Because God has always been our lover.
His one burning desire has always been to deal with the sin that stands between us.
His one burning desire has always been reconciliation –
to restore that original intimacy,
that love, that fire between him and us.
So what shall we do?
We shall come to the Table, this place of intimacy.
We shall lift up the cup of blessing, the cup of salvation.
And we shall thank and praise the name of the Lord.
AMEN
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This perspective is presented by Mary Douglas in In the Wilderness: the Doctrine of Defilement in the Book of Numbers. ↑
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