One underlying quest of this chapter is a search for the alternative that replaced the pre-70 procedures of detecting adulteresses, assuming that husbands did continue to suspect their wives of adultery and that sexual loyalty | |
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I grieve for you, Jonathan, my brother | Your love to me was more wonderful Than the love of women |
Ordeals involving the risk of harm, including potential injury resulting from the drinking of certain potions, were common in antiquity; in parts of Europe, their judicial use even lasted until the late Middle Ages.
8The regulations require that the ordeal take place when the woman is brought to , or when she is brought before | The offering specified is one tenth of an of meal, unaccompanied by oil or frankincense; this is the cheaper type of , unlike the flour specified for all other biblical sacrifices |
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I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the editors of TheTorah for their many helpful suggestions for improving the piece | Others argue that the curse is a euphemism for a or infertility |
The specification is now thought to be a rare survival of an earlier period, in which there was no restriction on the types of flour which could be used for sacrifices, although the Mishnah argues that it was a reference to the bestial nature of adultery, coarse flour being the food of beasts.
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