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3.4.3 “The oath of God” is prescribed “between” the owner and
guardian of an animal that dies or is broken or wanders offin the
guardian’s custody (Exod. 22:9–10). The language indicates that both
take an oath—the owner that the animals were his, and the guardian
that he was not culpable in the disappearance.3.4.4 Standing before God
Deuteronomy provides that when a witness is accused of being 'ed
̇amas, the two parties to the dispute (the witness and the one against
whom he is testifying and who accuses him of being a false witness)
are to stand before YHWH, the priests or judges at that time. The
judges are to investigate (dara“) carefully. Dara“is also the term for
oracular inquiry, and “standing before YHWH” may involve sub-
mitting parts of the question to God in an ordeal-like or oracular
procedure, in which one party is immediately designated the per-
jurer (Deut. 19:16–20).3.4.5 Exculpatory Oath
The elders of the town nearest a corpse decapitate a heifer over a
wadi and take an oath that they neither did nor saw the murder
(Deut. 21:1–9).3.4.6 The Wife’s Potion Trial
A man who accused his wife of committing adultery would bring her
to the temple for a special trial (Num. 5:11–21). The priest would
prepare a potion by taking pure water from a laver, mixing it with
dust from the floor of the sanctuary, and dissolving into it words
from a scroll; these words may be this passage from Numbers or
perhaps just the curse that the priest pronounced. As the wife stood,
hair unbound, holding a grain offering in her hand, the priest would
pronounce a conditional curse, declaring that if she was innocent of
wrongdoing she would be unharmed and able to bear a child, but
if she was guilty, the waters would cause her “thigh to drop and
her belly to swell.” The woman would say “Amen, amen” and drink,
after which she would go home with her husband and resume normal
marital life under the presumption that no guilty woman would risk
her fertility and her life. Drinking ended the trial, with final sentencing
left to God. There was no provision for pursuit of her paramour.^29(^29) See Frymer-Kensky, “Suspected Sotah.. .,” who suggests that the curse referred
to a prolapsed uterus.
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