Numbers 5:14

Num 5:14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:

Ver. 14. And the spirit of jealousy come upon him.] In the baths at Upper Baden in Helvetia, cernunt viri uxores tractari, cernunt cum alienis loqui, et quidem solam cum solo, saith Munster, and yet are not jealous. But the Italians are so jealous, that how many husbands, so many jailers. And the Turks as far exceed the Italians herein, as the Italians do us. Therefore their women go muffled, all but the eyes: nor are they suffered to go to church, or so much as look out at their own windows. {a} In Barbary it is death for any man to see one of the Shereef’s concubines: and for them too, if, when they see a man, though but through a casement, they do not suddenly scream out.

{a} Blunt’s Voyage into Levant.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

5:14-15 The husband presented his case before the priest, and the “ritual law for dealing with suspicion” (5:29) took the husband’s jealousy and suspicion to a higher court.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hebrew, If the spirit of jealousy come upon him.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 14. The spirit of jealousy] רוח קנאה ruach kinah, either a supernatural diabolic influence, exciting him to jealousy, or the passion or affection of jealousy, for so the words may be understood.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the spirit of jealousy come upon him,.... A thought rises up in his mind, a strong suspicion works in him, which he cannot resist and throw off, but it remains with him, and makes him very uneasy, that his wife has defiled his bed, as it follows:

and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled; that his wife is defiled by a man; and which is the real case, as it afterwards appears, though at present he is not certain, only has a suspicion of it:

or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled; it is mere jealousy and suspicion, without any foundation for it; and his wife proved a chaste and virtuous woman; yet be it which it would, he being jealous, the following law was to take place, and the following rules to be observed.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The spirit of jealousy, &c. This ordinance was designed to clear the innocent, and to prevent jealous husbands from doing mischief to their wives: as likewise to give all a horror of adultery, by punishing it in so remarkable a manner. (Challoner) --- The spirit of jealousy, of fear, &c., denotes those passions of the soul. This very remarkable law of Moses suited the genius of his people, (Calmet) and tended greatly to restrain the infidelity of the married couple, and the fury of suspicious husbands. (Theodoret, q. 10.) God was pleased, by a continual miracle, to manifest the truth, on this occasion, provided the husband were not also guilty: for in that case, the Rabbins assert, the waters had no effect. They relate many particularities, which seem contrary to Philo and Josephus, who inform us that the trial was still made in their time, though the former writers pretend that it was disused, on account of the many adulteries which were committed, in the age preceding the destruction of the temple by Titus. They say that the person who had committed the crime with the woman, died at the same time that the bitter waters put an end to her existence. When the suspected person was brought before the Sanhedrim, they tried, by all means, to extort a confession from her. But if she persisted in maintaining her innocence, they made her stand in black, before the eastern gate of the court, denouncing to her what she had to expect. If she answered Amen, the priest wrote the imprecations (ver. 19-22,) on vellum, with ink, which had no mixture of vitriol in it; and taking water from the laver, and dust from the court, with something bitter, like wormwood, effaced the writing in a new earthen vessel; while another priest tore her garments as far as the breast, and tied them up with an Egyptian cord, to remind her of the miracles wrought by God. If she confessed the crime before the writing was effaced, she was to be repudiated, without any dowry; or, if she kept company with a suspected person, contrary to her husband’s admonition, after she had come off victorious from drinking the bitter waters, she was subjected to the same punishment, and could not demand to be admitted any more to make the miraculous experiment. See Selden, Uxor. iii. 13.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The spirit of jealousy, i.e. a strong opinion or suggestion or inward motion of that kind, whether from a good or evil spirit. Thus we read of the spirit of wisdom, Isa 11:2, of perverseness, Isa 19:14, of fornication, Hos 4:12, of fear, 2Ti 1:7, of slumber, Rom 11:8.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And she be not defiled. As far as the mischief here dealt with was concerned, it was almost equally great whether the woman was guilty or not.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

ועבר עליו AND [THE SPIRIT OF JEALOUSY] COME UPON HIM — i.e., had come upon him before her seclusion with the man.

רוח קנאה וקנא [AND] THE SPIRIT OF JEALOUSY [COME UPON HIM] וקנא — Our Rabbis said that it is an expression denoting warning — that he warns her: do not be aside privily with that man (Sotah 3a.)

והוא נטמאה או עבר עליו וגו׳ AND SHE BE DEFILED, OR IF [THE SPIRIT OF JEALOUSY] COME UPON HIM [AND SHE WAS NOT DEFILED] — that is to say, he warned her but she disregarded his warning, and it is uncertain whether she has been defiled or not (Sifrei Bamidbar 8).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

[When] a spirit of jealousy comes upon him. This is a pure spirit that causes him to warn her, since he knows that she strayed from the ways of modesty.

And he is jealous of his wife. He warned her and told her not to go into seclusion with a certain man.

Or, a spirit of jealousy comes upon him. This refers to a spirit of folly, for there was no suitable reason for him to be jealous.

And she was not defiled. However, if she ignored his warning and went into seclusion, then even though she was not defiled, “that man shall bring his wife to the kohein”.

Sforno on the Tanakh — English translation: “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.