Numbers 5:12 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Numbers 5:12, &c.— This, says Calmet, is one of the most singular of the laws of Moses; and one which strongly marks out the grossness and obduracy of the Israelites. A husband, who had just suspicions of the fidelity of his wife, though he could bring no sufficient proof of it before the judges, might recur to the means which this law allowed to cure himself of his suspicion; and God, by a continual miracle, was engaged, as it were, to discover the innocence, or the crime, of her suspected. The rabbis speak of various ceremonies attached to this law, which are not spoken of by Moses. We refer, therefore, those who are curious upon the subject, to Calmet. The spirit of jealousy is, according to the Hebrew idiom, the affection or passion of jealousy. Adultery, if proved, was punished with death. Leviticus 20:10 and this trial of jealousy was allowed by God, to diminish the number of divorces, which God tolerated among the Jews, to controul the fierce and violent temper of the Israelites; who, otherwise, might be carried by their suspicions to the most fatal extremities against their wives.