'למעול מעל בה, our traditional sources already told us that the subject is robbery from a proselyte who dies intestate before the robber confessed and made restitution. The robber had committed an act of desecrating the name of G’d in the eyes of the proselyte who must be appalled that a natural born Jew could be guilty of such a deed. This is why the sin of the robber in this verse is described as a “transgression against something sacred.”

'המושב לה, when the original owner of the stolen property no longer exists, it is proper to make restitution to the “boss” of the person from whom it has been taken, his “boss” being none other than G’d. [The author considers any property owned by any one on earth as only “on loan” from the real owner, from G’d. Ed.] Our sages phrase this as “when the servant dies he has to return it to the master.” (Baba Batra 51)

וכל תרומה, according to Sifrey 5 the t’rumah of which the Torah speaks here are the first fruit which have to be offered to G’d, as it is customary for the owner of fields or orchards to present these first fruit of each year’s produce (seven species) and to recite the appropriate benediction when presenting same in the Temple. (compare Deuteronomy 26,3). Here the Torah tells us that just as property stolen from a proselyte who died intestate, which was described as “being returned to G’d,” winds up in the hands of the priest, i.e. G’d’s agent, so the bikkurim, the farmer’s gift to G’d has also been assigned by G’d to the priest of the respective roster on His behalf.

ואיש את קדשיו לו יהיו, however other kinds of “holy” gifts, namely ordinary tithes and trumot, may be given by the owner to whichever Levite or priest he chooses, not necessarily the priest officiating in the Temple at the time the gift is presented.

איש אשר יתן לכהן, once the owner has given “his” holy portion to the priest it becomes secular, mundane, not encumbered with any restrictions. Rather, לו יהיה, it is exclusively “his,” neither the previous owners nor other priests can legally deprive him of it.

כי תשטה אשתו, she deviates from the path of chastity.

ומעלה בו מעל, she has profaned what is holy to G’d, that which He loves, marital union, by embracing and kissing someone other than her husband. (compare Maleachi 2,11)

ושכב איש אותה, and another man has lain with her It is characteristic of the evil urge to cause the sinner to proceed from a relatively mild sin to ever more serious sins.

ונעלם מעיני אישה, even though there had been indications of mistrust, jealousy, etc., her latest indiscretion remained hidden from the eyes of her husband. It is as if his eyes had been too weak to see what was going on. Had her husband been aware of her infidelity, the waters would not even have the power to bring this to light. Our sages have made this quite clear (Sifrey 7).

ונסתרה, she had subsequently hidden, and this fact had become known to her husband.

ועבר עליו רוח קנאה, a pure spirit, his wanting to reprimand her after he was aware that she had behaved unchastely.

וקנא את אשתו, he warned her and told her not to seclude herself with the man who was suspected as her lover. Or,

עבר עליו רוח קנאה, a foolish fit of jealousy, not based on any cause for suspecting her,

והיא לא נטמאה, and she had not become defiled at all; nonetheless she disregarded her husband’s warning and secluded herself with another man. In spite of this, והביא האיש את אשתו, we do not say that seeing that her husband had sat by silently while his wife had behaved unchastely, accusing her in his heart without saying a word, that this is proof of the husband’s bad attitude and we should therefore ignore his jealousy seeing he had allowed matters to get to the point where she had slept with another man; neither do we ignore his jealousy if she had not given him cause as something not worth paying attention to. We still subject her to the destruction (erasing) of the name of G’d (in the procedure the Torah will presently describe) in order to reveal the truth.

והביא האיש את אשתו, we do not say that seeing that her husband had sat by silently while his wife had behaved unchastely, accusing her in his heart without saying a word, that this is proof of the husband’s bad attitude and we should therefore ignore his jealousy seeing he had allowed matters to get to the point where she had slept with another man; neither do we ignore his jealousy if she had not given him cause as something not worth paying attention to. We still subject her to the destruction (erasing) of the name of G’d (in the procedure the Torah will presently describe) in order to reveal the truth.

והשביע, the priest will tell her to accept the oath on condition that it (the procedure) will be the judge of her guilt or innocence.

אם לא שכב, now,

ואם לא שטית טומאה, and if you have not been guilty of defiling yourselves on other occasions of which your husband was totally unaware, and did not suspect you;

הנקי, the reason why the Torah has to state something so obvious is that the Torah had already stated in Exodus 20,6 that no one causing the name of G’d to be mentioned needlessly will be completely innocent of that sin, and we might have thought that this woman, seeing she had sown doubt in the hearts of those who have to judge her had already become guilty of causing a needless oath, i.e. a needless mention of the holy name of G’d; the priest, i.e. the Torah, assures her that she has nothing to fear on that account.

ואת, accept it also.

כי שטית תחת אישך וכי נטמאת, that the curse will apply on account of your having defiled yourself and for no other reason at all. However, if the reason you have to drink this proves to be a false accusation you have nothing to fear from this curse.

אמן אמן. The reason she has to repeat the word אמן is that she thereby acknowledges that she accepts the verdict both if it is in her favour and if it would incriminate her.

ונקתה, from the penalty that would apply for causing a needless oath. In this instance, G’d, Who knows the true circumstances, will certainly not consider this oath as having been a frivolous one.

זאת תורת הקנאות; jealousy which is legally approved on the one hand, and jealousy which is legally not approved. This becomes clear from the words אשר תשטה אשה תחת אישה ונטמאה, this is the example of the legally justified jealousy. The Torah goes on to write או איש אשר תעבור עליו רוח קנאה, as an example of legally unjustified jealousy.

וקנא את אשתו, warning her not to seclude herself with any man anywhere.

ועשה לה הכהן את כל התורה הזאת, and he is not concerned with erasing the holy name of G’d on the scroll placed in the water.

ונקה האיש מעון, even though he had suspected his wife’s fidelity. The reason is that by her conduct she had given him just cause for such suspicions. Had she not ignored his warnings things would not have come to such a pass. We have our sages in Shabbat 56 on record that David did not accept badmouthing which was designed to make Mephiboshet appear as having been disloyal to him. He rather based himself on visual evidence. [This was Sh’muel’s interpretation of what had occurred. Rav disagrees with his assessment. Ed.]

והאשה ההיא תשא את עונה, that if she had been guilty of adultery she would die, and if not, her public embarrassment at undergoing the procedure as a punishment for having had the effrontery to ignore her husband’s warning would be her punishment.