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Numbers 5:17

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put [it] into the water:

Numbers 5:17 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Numbers 5:17

Theological / Devotional

Holy water. This would be water in the laver that was reserved for the priests’ ablutions Ex. 30:18, 19. Some maintain, however, that it refers to running water (see Num. 19:17; Lev. 14:5). This expression is used nowhere else in the Bible. There is no similarity whatever between this and the so-called holy water provided by certain churches today.

An earthen vessel. The cheapest kind of vessel, to conform to the coarseness of the flour—and the heinousness of the sin. The vessel would probably be smashed after the ceremony, as in the case of the sin offering (Lev. 6:28; cf. 14:5, 50). Some commentators suggest that this implied the broken life of the woman, should she be found guilty.

Dust. The reason for this provision is not clear. Perhaps, being in a sense sacred, it would harm only a guilty person.

By SdaBc