Bamidbar 5: Sotah Pop

YINR 929: Tanach Yomi · Feb 16, 2026 · 3m

Sotah is a unique ceremony. No other law includes outright divine intervention. When a man suspects his wife and warns her not to be alone with a certain man and she defies him, the man brings her to the priest. The priest then performs a special ritual that involves making the woman swear innocence, read a paragraph that is written on a tablet and then dissolved in water. A mincha offering is brought and the woman drinks from the water. If she was truthful, then the Gemara says that she becomes pregnant. If she was lying, her stomach and thighs become distended and sag. Normally, any sort of…