From: chrisl@stpaul.gov (Chris A Lyman)
Subject: Numbers 5:12-31 [longish]
Organization: City of Saint Paul Public Works
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 1992 21:16:04 GMT

I've been saying for months now that the Bible has nothing to say about abortion
and how this is an issue we have to work out for ourselves.  Imagine my
surprise when Tim Kane made reference to Numbers 5:12-31 and said that it
showed that God specifically mandated abortion in cases of marital infidelity.

Here's the scripture (with verse 11 to place it context):

From Numbers 5, New Revised Standard Edition,

11 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
12 Speak to the Israelites and say to them:
   If any man's wife goes astray and is unfaithful to him,
13 if an man has had intercourse with her but it is hidden
   from her husband, so that she is undetected though she
   has defiled herself, and there is no witness against
   her since she was not caught in the act;
14 if a spirit of jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous
   of his wife who has defiled herself; or if a spirit of
   jealousy comes on him, and he is jealous of his wife,
   though she has not defiled herself;
15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest. And he
   shall bring the offering required for her, one-tenth of
   an ephah of barley flour.  He shall pour no oil on it
   and put no frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering
   of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance, bringing
   iniquity to remembrance.
16 Then 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 in the water.
18 The priest shall set the woman before the Lord, dishevel
   the woman's hair and place in her hands the grain offering
   of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy.
   In his own hand the priest shall have the water of
   bitterness which brings the curse.
19 Then the priest shall make her take an oath, saying, "If
   no man has lain with you, if you have not turned aside to
   uncleanness while under your husband's authority, be immune
   to this water of bitterness that brings the curse.
20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband's
   authority, if you have defiled yourself and some man other
   than your husband has had intercourse with you,"
21 --let the priest make the woman take the oath of the curse
   and say to the woman-- " the Lord make you an execration and
   an oath among your people, when the Lord makes your uterus
   drop, your womb discharge;
22 now may this water that brings the curse enter your bowels
   and make your womb discharge, your uterus drop!"  And the
   woman shall say, "Amen. Amen."
23 Then the priest shall put these curses into writing, and wash
   them off into the water of bitterness.
24 He shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness which
   brings the curse, and the water which brings the curse shall
   enter her and cause bitter pain.
25 The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy out of
   the woman's hand, and shall elevate the grain offering before
   the Lord and bring it to the altar;
26 and the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering, as
   its memorial portion, and turn it into smoke on the altar, and
   afterward shall make the woman drink the water, then, if she
   has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, the
   water which brings the curse shall enter into her and cause
   bitter pain, and her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop, and
   the woman shall become an execration among her people.
28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, then she
   shall be immune and be able to conceive children.
29 This is the law in cases of jealousy, when a wife, while under
   a husband's authority, goes astray and defiles herself,
30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes on a man and he is jealous
   of his wife; then he shall set the woman before the Lord, and
   the priest shall apply this entire law to her.
31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but the woman shall bear
   her iniquity.
   
The issue of fairness wrt this law I leave as an exercise
for the reader, but a couple of notes:

"Water which brings the curse" - the 'curse' is menstration;
a standard meaning throughout the Old Testament.  Of course
if the woman had conceived, the result is a miscarriage or
rather abortion.

"her womb shall discharge, her uterus drop" is translated
in the New King James Version as "her belly shall swell,
her thigh rot" and in the Revised Standard Version as
(approximately) "she shall have a miscarriage and be barren."

I wonder what our religious fundamentalists have to say about this...

-- 
Chris Lyman -  a personal        /   "I belong to no organized
opinion for every occasion       /   political party.  I am a
email: chrisl@pwcs.stpaul.gov    /   Democrat." -- Will Rogers
Newsgroups: soc.women