Commentaire de citation sur Les Nombres 5:28

וה' פקד את שרה, “and after Hashem had taken due note of Sarah, etc;” whenever in the Torah the name of Hashem is introduced with the prefix ו, meaning “and,” it is a hint that G-d did not act singlehandedly but in consonance with His heavenly Tribunal. (Compare Bereshit Rabbah 51,2) In Bereshit Rabbah 53,6 this function of the Heavenly Tribunal is dealt with at greater length, especially in connection with Numbers 5,28 where the subject is the woman whose husband accused her of violating a specific command not to be alone with a certain man. This woman denied that she had committed an indiscretion, and the Torah promises that if she told the truth, and drank from the “bitter” waters, she will be rewarded with bearing a child she had been unable to conceive prior to this scandal. It is foolish to raise the question that since we know that G-d had known the truth all along, just as He does all the time, why was a miracle needed to demonstrate this truth? Her husband had not known, nor had her peers.

The Midrash (Tanchuma Vayera 15) uses this verse to remind us of Ezekiel 17,24: “Then shall all the trees of the field know that it is I the Lord who have abased the lofty tree and exalted the lowly tree, who have dried up the green tree and made the withered tree bud. I the Lord have spoken, and I will act.” According to this Midrash the prophet referred to Sancheriv when he spoke about G’d “abasing the lofty tree,” seeing that in Ezekiel 31,3 Ashur (Sancheriv’s country) is described as “a cedar in Lebanon with beautiful branches of lofty stature.” On the other hand, the words: “I have exalted the lowly tree,” are a reference to the Jewish people who debased themselves as we know from Maleachi 2,9: “I too have made you despicable and vile in the eyes of all the people...said the Lord of Hosts.” The words: “I have dried out the green tree,” are a reference to Avimelech of whom the Torah said that G’d had closed up all his orifices, whereas the words “and I have made the withered tree bud,” refer to Sarah. The words: “I the Lord have spoken and I have acted,” refer to our verse in which G’d is reported as having remembered Sarah.
As to the choice of the word והשם, “and the Lord,” Rabbi Yitzchak said: we find that the Torah writes in connection with the Sotah, the wife suspected of infidelity who had secreted herself with another man (Numbers 5,28), “but if the woman had not defiled herself and remained pure, etc.” Such a description fits Sarah who had been alone with Pharaoh in Egypt and Avimelech in the land of the Philistines and had retained her purity on both occasions. Such a woman had certainly established a claim that G’d should remember her. This is why the paragraph starts with the prefix ו, i.e. “and” in front of the word השם, “The Lord.”

Rabbi says: merit suspends the effect of the bitter waters, but she never bears a child or thrives, rather she gradually becomes disfigured and finally dies through that death. Rabbi seems to reach a compromise position, between that of Rabbi Shimon and that of the previous mishnah. Merit does suspend the effects of the water, but not absolutely. It only slows down the slow process of disfigurement, the curse mentioned in the Torah. If the woman were innocent, she would become pregnant and give birth, as is promised in Numbers 5:28. However, if she is guilty but has some merit, she will not give birth, her condition will not improve, but rather she will slowly deteriorate until she dies from the type of death promised to her by the Torah. In this way, even though merit does suspend the effect, this does not discredit the effect of the bitter waters, nor does it cause people to be suspicious of pure women.

and to justify the righteous - (ibid. verse 28): “and she will be blessed with offspring.”

And to justify the righteous one. “Then she will be cleared, and shall bear seed.”²³Bamidbar 5:28. Thus it is expounded in the Tosefta of Maseches Sotah.²⁴ 1:3.