An Abortion in Numbers? The Ordeal of Bitter Water

In the Book of Numbers, when a husband suspects his wife of adultery, without proof, he takes her to the Temple, where the priest performs a ritual known as the "Ordeal of Bitter Water." Abortion advocates have recently come to call this a biblically guided abortion, but is this really the case?

In this video we explore what exactly the Ordeal of Bitter Water is and the various translations surrounding this passage.

[jjloogersmon]

possible video recommendation: refuting the “biblically accurate angel” meme and explaining the Celestial Hierarchy of the Angels (might be a tough video). Also this was a great video

[MegaJacko]

Numbers 5: 21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The LORD make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the LORD doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;
27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.
28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

This is the king James version.

It doesn't say ANYTHING about the woman being pregnant at the time she drinks the bitter water. Only that god will make her infertile if she is guilty and if she isnt, she will continue to concieve.

Her belly will swell (infertility) and her thigh (her reproductive organs) will rot. If not guilty, god said she would produce seed. Why would she be able to concieve a child again if she was already pregnant!?

The Bible is so misinterpreted! The scripture is numbers 5: 5-31 go look it up and tell me exactly where you see the words that she was "found to be with child" at the time of the drinking. Its not there. Therefore the concept of a forced miscarriage is impossible.

[TheMountAndBladerX]

Honestly that always confused me, that the mixture described should cause really anything by itself.
I mean, at most one could make the case that dirt from the ground isnt the most sanitary to consume, but otherwise the implied effects would be a of supernatural origin.

For all intents and purposes, wouldnt seculars be glad that the implied mechanism should never naturally work as implied in the text?

[bigjohn]

We need some bitter water in this day and age.

[bgood]

I was at a Christian vs Jewish debate and the Rabbi said that the Jewish people have always allowed for abortions. He seemed legitimately confused on how/why Christians are anti abortion.

[veemaxine]

So taking something to cause a miscarriage and kill the fetus was translated to be ok if it's a result of infidelity?

[HemlockHedge]

Wonderful vid Grav, keep up the good work

[jojorussell]

Ridiculous that this video is tagged to explain what an abortion is almost as if they're encouraging it.

[jordanquinlisk]

If the.woman is pregnsnt, how would anyone on. Earth know the father before birth.

[accs]

ohhh I was wrong gotta talk to my parents about religion again

[wendyrock]

Abortion or not, a woman is forced to drink bitter water with no proof of wrong doing. Like judging a woman to be a witch if she doesn't drown when thrown in the lake.

[ynthesizerpatel]

The common thread here isn't that God is anti-abortion per-se, but he is against the bodily autonomy and choices of Women specifically.
Note that it is a man who makes the decision on the ordeal of bitter water, and a man who performs the ceremony - no choice is offered to the woman
Likewise the Council of Ancyra only adresses women - as does Josephus.

What God objects to is not necessarily having abortions - decreed and performed by a man this is seemingly fine - it is women having agency that is the issue.

A truly biblical abortion policy therefore would be one where they can only be approved by either the woman's father, or husband/sire of the child - and abortionists can only be male