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Online Truth
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Bitter Waters There is a tradition contained in one of the apocryphal books of the New Testament period that states Mary and Joseph had to endure this ordeal since it was discovered by the Sadducees that Mary was pregnant during her espousal. And the High Priest said: "Give back the virgin whom you have received from the temple of the Lord." And Joseph wept bitterly. And the High Priest said: "I will give you to drink the water of the conviction of the Lord, and it will make manifest your sins before your eyes." And the High Priest took it and gave it to Joseph to drink and sent him into the wilderness; and he came back whole. And he made Mary also drink and sent her into the wilderness; and she also returned whole. And all the people marveled, because the water had not revealed any sin in them. And the High Priest said: "If the Lord God has not made manifest your sins, neither do I condemn you.: And he released them. And Joseph took Mary and departed to his house, rejoicing and glorifying the God of Israel. While the account above may or may not be factual, it is interesting to note that after the death of Christ in 30 CE the ordeal of bitter waters lost its effect since the Jews themselves stated that they felt their nation was no longer worthy of the Presence of God. The tradition above represents both Mary and Joseph undergoing the ritual, while the Bible prescribes that this procedure was only to be performed on the faithless wife. In the ceremony, the woman would be brought to the priest, the husband would offer sacrifice on her behalf, and she would have to drink of waters containing dirt from the tabernacle floor and ink from a parchment on which the curses for her guilt would be written. Num 5:12-18 12 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'If any man's wife goes astray and behaves unfaithfully toward him, 13 'and a man lies with her carnally, and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and it is concealed that she has defiled herself, and there was no witness against her, nor was she caught- 14 'if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, who has defiled herself; or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he becomes jealous of his wife, although she has not defiled herself-- 15 'then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. He shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of an EPHAH of barley meal; he shall pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, an offering for remembering, for bringing iniquity to remembrance. 16 'And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the LORD. 17 'The 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. 18 'Then the priest shall stand the woman before the LORD, uncover the woman's head, and put the offering for remembering in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy. And the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that brings a curse. The text of Numbers 5:12 literally reads: "If a man’s, a man’s wife has gone astray…" Why is there a repetition? The Rabbis believe that when there is a strange spelling of a word, a word is repeated, or any other unusual occurrence is present in the text, that there is a much deeper meaning than the obvious literal one. The interpretation of a verse that goes deeper than the obvious literal meaning and suggests a profound hidden significance when a word is apparently misspelled or repeated is called a "Sod." The Rabbis sod for this verse is that the repetition indicates the woman has betrayed twice: firstly her husband, and secondly her God who commanded her not to commit adultery. It is important to note for later reference that when the priest puts the dust from the tabernacle floor into the water, it then becomes "bitter water" (verse 18). This takes place before the curses are written down in a book and washed out into the cup. The rest of the ritual is as follows: Num 5:19-29 19 'And the priest shall put her under oath, and say to the woman, "If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray to uncleanness while under your husband's authority, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse. 20 "But if you have gone astray while under your husband's authority, and if you have defiled yourself and some man other than your husband has lain with you"-- 21 '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; 22 "and may this water that causes the curse go into your stomach, and make your belly swell and your thigh rot." Then the woman shall say, "Amen, so be it." 23 'Then the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall scrape them off into the bitter water. 24 'And he shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings the curse shall enter her to become bitter. 25 'Then the priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman's hand, shall wave the offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar; 26 'and the priest shall take a handful of the offering, as its memorial portion, burn it on the altar, and afterward make the woman drink the water. 27 'When he has made her drink the water, then it shall be, if she has defiled herself and behaved unfaithfully toward her husband, that the water that brings a curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, her thigh will rot, and the woman will become a curse among her people. 28 'But if the woman has not defiled herself, and is clean, then she shall be free and may conceive children. 29 'This is the law of jealousy, when a wife, while under her husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself, After depositing the dust from the tabernacle floor into the cup, the priest would then write down all the curses (verses 19-22 with the omission of the two phrases of narrative) on a parchment scroll. The priest would then pour the bitter water (water containing dust from the tabernacle floor) over the parchment, washing the ink of the written curses down into a jar or cup that the adulteress would drink of. After the ink was washed into the cup, the sins of the woman were symbolically contained in the cup. When the woman drank this water, it was symbolic of the woman drinking up her sins. Once this was done, the woman would lose her capacity to bear children in the case of her guilt, or according to tradition miraculously become pregnant in the condition of her innocence. In the wilderness, the floor of the Tabernacle was the sand of the desert, but the Temple in Jerusalem had a floor made of marble. In order to make the fulfillment of this commandment possible, one of the marble floor stones could be lifted to expose the earth underneath. Ezek 23:31-32 31 'You have walked in the way of your sister [Judah]; therefore I will put her cup in your hand.' 32 "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'You shall drink of your sister's cup, the deep and wide one; you shall be laughed to scorn and held in derision; it contains much. The symbolic significance of this ancient ritual is repeated throughout the entire Bible, especially in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 8:10 the third trumpet plague affects the rivers and fresh springs of water in the nations of the earth who have committed spiritual adultery with the world by turning them to wormwood, or simply put, bitter water. The plague of wormwood is portrayed in the Scriptures as the penalty for committing idolatry which is in actuality spiritual adultery (Jer 9:14-15). Like the adulterous woman of Numbers, all nations that do not worship YHVH are guilty of playing the harlot and committing fornication with the god of this world, and are therefore worthy of drinking the water that brings a curse. In Numbers, the water was first turned bitter by depositing dirt from the tabernacle floor into it before washing the sins of the woman into the liquid. In Revelation the same pattern is present, the waters are first turned bitter by a comet from heaven before the sins of the people are washed into the water sources. We must realize that the tabernacle which Moses was instructed to fashion in the wilderness was an earthly type of the Tabernacle that resides in heaven (Rev 15:5). The rituals and rites that the Israelites were instructed to perform in the Tabernacle were not simply meaningless ceremonies, but were all based on spiritual principles and realities. The punishment for the wayward wife of bitter waters in the Torah is a figure for the punishment that the harlot, Babylon the Great, will have to endure at the end of this age. Rev 8:10-11 10 Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter.
Jer 9:14-15 14 "but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, [idols] which their fathers taught them," 15 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: "Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink. Just as in Numbers, the waters in Revelation are first turned bitter before the sins of the people are written in a parchment scroll in heaven and washed off into the rivers and streams. Revelation 16:6 specifically tells us that the sins that the nations of the earth are guilty of, besides idolatry, are the slaying of the saints and prophets. Therefore, the waters that have already been turned bitter are now turned to blood, the adulterous nations of the world must drink up their sins (which is the water that symbolically contains them) to atone for their transgression. The water is turned to blood because this punishment is symbolic of the sins that they have committed, namely the slaying of God’s people. In heaven, Yahushua our High Priest, has written down the sins of the nations in a book and will pour out the bitter water over them, washing the sins into the rivers and springs of water that the people must now drink. Once we realize that the punishment that was ordained for the adulterous woman in Numbers is symbolic of the punishment of all who commit fornication with the world, we can come to a deeper and more profound understanding of this obscure temple ritual. Rev 16:4-6 4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying: "You are righteous, O Lord, the One who is and who was and who is to be, because You have judged these things. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due." Rev 17:3-6 3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. 5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. In Revelation 17, we are told of Babylon the Great, the infamous whore who holds a cup full of the blood of the saints-the sins which she was guilty of committing. Just as when the adulterous woman in Israel would have to drink of the filthiness of her fornication (symbolized by the curses being washed from the paper into the cup), so too will Babylon the Great have to drink of her sins of spiritual adultery. The cup which she holds in the above verse has already had her sins (shedding the blood of the saints and prophets) washed into it from God’s parchment scroll. As we know, the harlot is a symbol of the nations of the world. This representation of Babylon drinking from the cup of blood is an illustration of the idolatrous nations’ water supply (rivers and fountains of water) being turned to blood as a result of their spiritual fornication. Rev 14:9-10 9 Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 "he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. As all of us are aware, wine is symbolic of blood. Therefore, drinking the wine of the wrath of God is the symbolic punishment of all those who are guilty of shedding the blood of the saints. Not only are the people of the end of the age guilty of killing the saints, but they have also committed spiritual adultery with the god of this world, Satan. It then follows that these people must drink of the bitter waters that bring a curse as prescribed by the Torah. This cup that is full of the wine of the wrath of God in the Great Whore’s hand is analogous to the cup that the adulterous woman had to drink of in Numbers. Jer 25:15-17 15 For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: "Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 "And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them." 17 Then I took the cup from the LORD'S hand, and made all the nations drink, to whom the LORD had sent me: Job 21:20 20 Let his eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. The bitter waters that the wayward wife would have to drink of affected her womb since this was the related area to her sin. Those who have slain the prophets and saints, killed them for there strong ideals and faith, concepts that do not exist except in the mind; it then follows that the cup of God’s fury makes the nations go mad. Every single one of us has a choice, we can either drink of the cup of God’s wrath, or we can drink of the cup of God’s covenant, which is shared on Passover. The water that God offers us is the "water of life," His Spirit, as opposed to the bitter water or water that causes a curse that Satan extends. We cannot deny our calling, it is appointed for each of us to drink from one cup or the other. 1 Cor 10:21 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord's table and of the table of demons. As we all know, when Jesus hung from the tree of His execution, He asked for something to drink and was given vinegar. Although we may have never realized it, there is profound significance in the fact that Yahushua’s last act was drinking vinegar before yielding up His Spirit to the Father. Vinegar is literally bitter wine. This vinegar that Yeshua drank of was both symbolic of the bitter waters that the adulteress would have to drink of in the Temple, and the wine of the fury of God found in the hand of Babylon the Great in Revelation. John 19:29-30 29 Now a vessel full of sour [or bitter] wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour [or bitter] wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. What was the purpose for Jesus drinking the water that brings a curse? According to the Torah, any wife that has committed adultery had to drink of the bitter water. The Scriptures tell us that we are the bride of Yahushua. Being the imperfect humans that we are, we continually sin (albeit many times unknowingly). This sin is in reality spiritual adultery. So we, being the bride of the Messiah, are guilty of committing spiritual adultery. If we were to obey the Torah to the letter, every one of God’s children would have to drink of the waters that bring a curse (bitter water) since we have committed spiritual fornication. But YHVH in His infinite mercy has given His only begotten Son to take the punishment for His Bride in our stead. He drank the bitter wine so that we, His Bride, don’t have to. Although we didn’t drink the bitter waters, we died according to the requirements of the Torah by being buried in the watery grave at baptism when our sins were washed off into the water. The washing off of our sins into the water was not unlike the sins of the adulteress being washed off from the parchment scroll into the cup. This vinegar that Jesus drank of was also symbolic of the wine of God’s wrath which is given to Babylon to drink. Every single one of us is guilty of killing Yeshua (Acts 2:23) since we have all sinned and have need of being under His shed blood. Therefore, by rights, our sin is not only spiritual adultery (sin), but we have also shed the blood of the Son of God. We must then drink of the punishment for shedding the blood of the Son of God, which is the wine of God’s wrath. But as stated above, Jesus drank of this punishment symbolically portrayed as bitter wine so that the only atonement we have to make is to drink the cup of His blood every year at Passover. This cup that He drank of at the very end of His life is the same cup which He spoke of throughout His entire three year ministry. Matt 20:22 But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to Him, "We are able" Matt.26:42 42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." John 18:11 11 Then Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?" The cup of the adulterous woman spoken of in the book of Numbers has proven to be a key to great insight. This same cup is the one spoken of in Revelation that Babylon the Great has been given to drink from. Yahushua Himself drank of this cup so that we, His Ekklesia, can be found righteous, and are as a result, capable of standing in the day of His return. Let us hold this knowledge in remembrance as a testimony to God’s endearing love for all of His people. No article on the marriage covenant of the ancient Israelites would be complete without including a commentary on the ordeal of the wayward wife. From this insight we can see the great love that our Bridegroom has for His Bride. We must remember our future bridegroom’s selfless act of sacrifice the next time we are tempted to disobey our loving Husband and commit spiritual fornication. |
