Philologos
Bible Prophecy Research
Title: Wormwood
Submitted by: research-bpr@philologos.org
Date: May 30, 1998
Updated: April, 2004
URL: http://philologos.org/bpr/files/w005.htm
Wormwood
'And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.'
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How about the idea of a big one on a collision course with the earth? It's a topic for more and more films and tv shows. Imagine the terrible fear over the whole earth. "In those days, men's hearts will fail them (heart attacks) for fear of what is coming upon the earth."
I think this is a very real possibility. Along that same vein, I was checking things out regarding bride/wedding stuff and came up with this interesting bit that seems to tie in with Revelation 8:10-11:
"And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter."
Interestingly enough, the "test" to uncover adultery (Numbers 5:11-31) is the administration of bitter water -- wormwood. Here are a few points regarding this taken from various sources:
1. Administered only when there is a doubt if the wife has been unfaithful or not (this is for those on earth--they are being "tested"? as opposed to the true bride who is kept from this hour of testing? We should keep in mind that Jews were considered married from the time of betrothal on.)
2. The Mishna says that the woman should have been warned to stay away from someone or to be seen talking with him, etc. in front of two witnesses (the law and the prophets throughout history warning of spiritual adultery, with Moses and Elijah being the two "best" examples of these two witnesses for these end-times?)
3. It was used if the husband had "the spirit of jealousy come upon him" (there are too many examples of where God is said to be jealous to cite)
4. When the woman stood before the court, they would try anything to make her confess. First they would terrify her (the tribulation?) and if that didn't work they'd smooth talk her (just like on Law & Order -- there is nothing new :)).
5. The woman was to be "wearied" by holding her husband's Temple offering of "the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal" (which is an omer [Exo 16:36], the quantity of manna for one man every day [Exo 16:16]--maybe has something to do with Rev 6:5,6 which speaks of the balances and the measure of wheat and barley?). Barley was considered food for the beasts.
6. No oil or frankincense was to be used because oil and frankincense denote joy and gladness and this was a solemn affair (again, maybe Rev 6:5,6 -- hurt not the oil and the wine?)
7. Dust from the Temple floor was put in the water (where did this "star" come from?).
8. The woman was given black clothing if she was wearing white, all her ornaments were taken away, she was unveiled and her hair messed up (this is in direct contrast to the undefiled bride).
9. The curses (of Numbers 5:21,22) written in a book and and then "blotted out" by the bitter water (there is blotting out of the book of life, but I don't see a connection).
10. The woman was forced to drink this water (the waters of Marah were changed from bitter to sweet by having a tree [Jesus, tree of life] **cast** into it [Exo 15:22-27]). If she was guilty her belly swelled and her thigh rotted. When they saw her swelling up they'd shout "Cast her out, cast her out that she might not defile the court" and this made me think of Satan (see further down). The significance of the belly and thigh being mentioned is another study in itself, but basically the belly is where "rivers of living water flow" to those who believe on Jesus (John 7:38--see also Job 15:35; 20:23; Dan 2:32; Jonah; Rom 16:18; Rev 10:9) and the thigh is where the sword is gird and where promises are attested to (Psa 45:3; Gen 24:2; 32:32; Rev 19:16).
11. The day that the draught of a women suspected of adultery was administered was on the 15th of Adar (around February).
Regarding the verses in Revelation that speak of a great mountain being thrown into the ocean and hail, etc. this makes me think of Jewish stoning. Again, the theme of a wife being found guilty of adultery comes into play here because such a woman would be stoned. First, the witnesses (usually 2), would tie the person's hands behind their backs, then throw them off a projection (usually the height of 2 men) and this made me think of Rev 12:9 (the dragon and his angels **cast** to earth). If this didn't kill the person, one witness would throw a huge stone on the offending person's chest (Rev 8:8--a great mountain cast into the sea). If this didn't kill them, then all Israel was to come and throw stones at the person until they died (Rev 16:21--great hail out of heaven). Is the earth being stoned from heaven?
Exodus 15:22-27--The people complain about bitter water: So Moses (drawn) brought Israel (God prevails) from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur (wall); and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and will do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee. And they came to Elim (palms), where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
(The New John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)
Numbers 5.11-31
Ver. 11. And the Lord spake unto Moses, &c.] At the same time, and delivered to
him a new law:
saying; as follows.
Ver. 12. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, &c.] It being an affair which concerned them:
if any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him; the sin of adultery, which is a going aside out of the way of virtue and chastity, and a trespass against an husband, a breach of the marriage covenant with him, a defiling his bed, doing an injury and dishonour to him, bringing confusion into his family, and a spurious offspring to possess his substance: though this is to be understood, not of certain adultery, of which there is plain and full proof, for then there would be no occasion of such a trial, as is afterwards directed to; besides, her husband, in such a case, might put her away, and even, according to the law, she was to be put to death, (Le 20:10); but of her having committed it in the opinion of her husband, he having some ground of suspicion, though he could not be certain of it; and therefore, by this law, was allowed to make trial, that he might find it out, it at present only a suspected case, and a doubtful one; and the Jews {k} say,
``they never gave the waters drink but in a doubtful case:''
and so this may interpreted of her declining and departing from her husband's house, not keeping at home to mind the affairs of her family, but gadding abroad, and keeping company with another man, or other men; and that after she had been warned and charged by her husband to the contrary, and so had disobeyed him, and acted contrary to his will; and in that sense had committed a trespass, and so had given him suspicion of her unchastity, for which he might have some reason; if, as it is said in the Misnah {l}, he gave her an admonition before two witnesses, saying, have no talk with such a man, and yet she talks with him; or, as the commentators add {m}, be not secretly or in private with such an one, and yet goes into a private place with him, and stays so long with him that she may be defiled; this with them rendered her suspected.
{k} Bemidbar Rabba, sect. 9. fol. 195. 2.
{l} Sotah, c. 1. sect. 1, 2.
{m} Maimon. & Bartenora in Misn. Bava Kama, c. 9. sect. 11.
Ver. 13. And a man lie with her carnally, &c.] That is, is suspected that he has so done, not that it is a clear case, for it follows;
and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close; so that it is not known by her husband, nor by any other; "she hath hid herself," so Ainsworth, being in a private place with another man, though warned to the contrary by her husband:
and she be defiled, and [there be] no witness against her; of her being defiled, though there may be of her being in private with such a man:
neither she be taken [with the manner]; or in the act of uncleanness.
Ver. 14. And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, &c.] A thought rises up in his mind, a strong suspicion works in him, which he cannot resist and throw off, but it remains with him, and makes him very uneasy, that his wife has defiled his bed, as it follows:
and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled; that his wife is defiled by a man; and which is the real case, as it afterwards appears, though at present he is not certain, only has a suspicion of it:
or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled; it is mere jealousy and suspicion, without any foundation for it; and his wife proved a chaste and virtuous woman; yet be it which it would, he being jealous, the following law was to take place, and the following rules to be observed.
Ver. 15. Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, &c.] Not to the high priest but to a common priest, anyone then officiating in his course; for there was a jealousy offering to be offered up before the Lord upon the altar, which none but a priest might do; and besides, the whole process in this affair was to be carried, on by him: according to the Misnah {n}, the man brought his wife first to the sanhedrim, or court of judicature in the place where he lived; before whom, as Maimonides {o} says, he proved by witnesses that he had warned his wife of being in private with such a man, and yet she had done it again; and whereas she insisted on her chastity, he desired that the bitter waters might be given her, that the truth might appear; and then they sent him with two disciples of the wise men, to the great sanhedrim at Jerusalem, where the trial was made; who, in order to bring her too confession, endeavoured to terrify her, as they do persons in capital cases, and finding this wilt not do, then they used smooth words, saying, my daughter, perhaps much wine was the occasion of it, or much laughter, &c.
and he shall bring her offering for her: not the priest, but her husband, and that whether he is willing or not, as Aben Ezra; who also observes, that it may be interpreted, with her, or for her sake, not to make any expiation for any fault of his, that when he first observed her immodesty, did not reprove her; for the offering, though brought by him, was not his, but his wife's, and not to expiate her sin, but to bring it to remembrance, as is after expressed:
the tenth [part] of an ephah of barley meal; which was an omer, (Ex 16:36), the quantity of manna for one man every day, (Ex 16:16), and the quantity of flour in the daily meat offering, (Ex 29:40); only that was of fine wheaten flour; this of barley, the food of beasts, as the Targum of Jonathan remarks; and R. Gamaliel in the Misnah {p} says, that as her deed was the deed of a beast, so her offering was the food of a beast; and this is observed by Jarchi and Aben Ezra on the text, as the reason of barley being used in this offering: some say it was a symbol of her impudence, others of her being little at home, as the barley is not long under ground {q}; the true reason, it may be, was for her humiliation, being vile, and mean, hence it follows:
he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; as used to be oft meat offerings, denoting their acceptableness to God, (Le 2:1); the reason seems to be, because these were tokens of joy and gladness, whereas this was a mournful affair to the husband, that he should have any cause of suspicion and jealousy, to the wife that she should be suspected, and to the whole family on that account:
for it [is] an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance; if guilty of it, and therefore oil and frankincense were forbidden in this kind of offering as in a sin offering, (Le 5:11).
{n} Ut supra, (Misn. Bava Kama, c. 9.) sect. 3, 4.
{o} Hilchot Sotah, c. 3. sect. 1.
{p} Sotah, c. 2. sect. 1.
{q} Apud Muis. in loc.
Ver. 16. And the priest shall bring her near, &c.] Or "offer it," as the Vulgate Latin version, that is, the offering of jealousy:
and set her before the Lord; or "it," the offering; for which the Tigurine version is more express,
``let the priest offer that sacrifice, and set that before the Lord,''
for the setting of the woman before the Lord is spoken of in (Nu 5:18).
Ver. 17. And the priest shall take holy water, &c.] Out of the laver, as the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, and so Jarchi and Aben Ezra:
in an earthen vessel; which held half a log, and that was but a quarter of a pint, or three egg shells; for no more was assigned, to a suspected woman, according to the Misnah {r}. Some say only a fourth part: an earthen vessel was made use of, as everything vile and mean was in this affair:
and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put [it] into the water; first the water was put in, and then the dust, as Ben Gersom observes: there was a place a cubit square, where was a marble table, and a ring fixed in it, and when he lifted it up he took dust from under it, and put it so as it might be upon the top of the water {s}; which was used, either, as the Targum of Jonathan suggests, because the end of all flesh is to come to dust, and so to put her in mind of her original and her end; and in like manner the earthen vessel might signify, that she would be broke to pieces as that vessel; as also it might direct her thoughts to the tempter, by the influence of whose temptation she had been drawn into this sin, dust being the serpent's food; and this being taken off the floor of the tabernacle, might add to the veneration of it, and make it more solemn and awful to drink of it.
{r} Sotah, c. 2. sect. 2. Menachot, c. 9. sect. 3.
{s} Sotah, c. 2. sect. 2.
Ver. 18. And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, &c.] In the east of the tabernacle, with her face to the west, where was the holy of holies, so Ben Gersom; but not immediately for they had her from place to place, as Jarchi says, till she was weary, and her mind disturbed, that she might confess; and if she said, I am defiled, she rent the writing of her dowry, and went out; but if she said, I am pure, they brought her to the eastern gate, the gate of Nicanor, for there they made women suspected of adultery to drink the waters {t}:
and uncover the woman's head; as a token of her immodesty and non-subjection to her husband, and that she might be seen by all, to cause shame in her: according to the Misnah {u}, the priest took off her clothes, and loosed her hair--if she was clothed with white garments, he clothed her with black; if she had on her ornaments of gold, chains, earrings, or rings, he took them away from her, that she might be unseemly, and whoever would might come and look at her:
and put the offering of memorial into her hands, which [is] the jealousy offering; to weary her, as Jarchi says, that if perhaps her mind was disturbed she would confess; and so in the Misnah {w} it is said, that her husband put this offering into her hands to weary her; but the true reason here seems to be, that it might appear to be her own offering:
and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse; not that the water was bitter of itself, for it was the water out of the laver, and had nothing in it but the dust of the floor of the tabernacle; though some think some bitter thing was put into it, so Ben Gersom, as wormwood; but it is so called from the effects of it on those that were guilty; it produced sad effects in them, bitter and distressing, and made them appear to be accursed ones, for it was not bitter till it entered, (Nu 5:24); whereas it was not so to the innocent, nor attended with any such consequence to them; so that there was nothing in the water itself, but its efficacy was divine and supernatural.
{t} Sotah, c. 1. sect. 5.
{u} Sotah, c. 1. sect. 5, 6.
{w} Sotah, c. 2. sect. 1.
Ver. 19. And the priest shall charge her by an oath, &c.] Or give her her oath:
and say unto the woman, if no man hath lain with thee: besides her husband:
and thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness [with another] instead of thy husband; which is but another phrase expressive of the same thing, the sin of adultery:
be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse; if this is the case, it shall produce no bitter effects, or bring any curse upon thee.
Ver. 20. But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, &c.] Gone aside from the paths of modesty and chastity, and betook herself to another man's bed instead of her husband's:
and if thou be defiled, by committing adultery:
and some man hath lain with thee beside thy husband; these phrases are all synonymous, and a heap of words are made use of to express the sin, and that there might be no evasion of it, and that it might be clear what was intended, this being said on oath.
Ver. 21. Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, &c.] An oath which has a curse annexed to it, if taken falsely, which was to be pronounced upon the woman if guilty:
and the priest shall say unto the woman; pronouncing the imprecation or curse upon her, she having taken the oath, should she be guilty of the crime suspected of, and she had swore concerning:
the Lord make thee a curse, and an oath among the people; accursed according to the oath taken; or let this be the form of an oath and imprecation used by the people, saying, if I have done so and so, let me be accursed as such a woman, or let not that happen to me, as did to such a woman, so Jarchi:
when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell; upon drinking the bitter waters; but though these things followed upon that, yet not as the natural cause of them, for they are ascribed to the Lord, and to a supernatural and miraculous power of his, which went along with the drinking of them
Ver. 22. And this water that causeth the curse, &c.] Upon the drinking of which the curse follows, if guilty:
shall go into thy bowels; and there operate and produce the above effects, which are repeated again to inject terror:
to make [thy] belly to swell, and [thy] thigh to rot; here ends the form of the oath, which begins (Nu 5:19);
and the woman shall say, amen, amen; so be it; let it be as pronounced, if I am guilty; which, as Aben Ezra observes, is repeated for the sake of confirmation; though the Jewish writers commonly understand it as respecting various things, the oath and the curse, the thing charged with, and the persons suspected of {x}.
{x} Misn. ib. sect. 5. Targum Jon. & Jerus. & Jarchi in loc.
Ver. 23. And the priest shall write these curses in a book, &c.] The above curses imprecated on herself by an oath; the words and the letters of them were written at length, in a scroll of parchment; and, as some say also, her name, but not her double amen to them {y}:
and he shall blot [them] out with the bitter water: wash them out with it, and into it, or scrape them off of the parchment into it.
{y} Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah, c. 2) sect. 3.
Ver. 24. And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse, &c.]. Having the curse imprecated upon herself, if guilty, scraped into it; and this she was obliged to drink, whether she would or not; so it is said, if the roll is blotted out, and she says I am defiled, the water is poured out, and her offering is scattered in the place of ashes; if the roll is blotted out, and she says I will not drink, then force her, and make her drink whether she will or no {z}:
and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter; produce the sad and bitter effects mentioned.
{z} Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah) c. 3. sect. 3.
Ver. 25. Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, &c.] Which she was obliged to hold in her hand while the above rites and ceremonies were performed; which was very heavy, being an omer of barley flour, a measure about three quarts, which was put into an Egyptian basket made of small palm tree twigs: and this was put into her hands to weary her, as before observed, that, having her mind distressed, she might the sooner confess her crime:
and shall wave the offering before the Lord: backwards and forwards, upwards and downwards, as Jarchi; who also observes, that the woman waved with him, for her hand was above the hand of the priest so the tradition is,
``he (her husband) took her offering out of the Egyptian basket, and put it into a ministering vessel, and gave it into her hand, and the priest put his hand under hers, and waved it {a}:''
and offer it upon the altar: this was the bringing of it to the southwest corner of the altar, as Jarchi says, before he took a handful out of it, as in other meat offerings.
{a} Misnah, ut supra, (Sotah) c. 3. sect. 1.
Ver. 26. And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, [even] the memorial thereof, &c.] For good or evil, according as her works were, as Aben Ezra observes; a memorial for good, if innocent, and a memorial for evil, if guilty:
and burn [it] upon the altar; as the handful of other meat offerings used to be, (Le 1:2);
and afterwards shall cause the woman to drink the water; oblige her to it; having proceeded thus far, and no confession made, namely, an oath taken, the curses of it written in a scroll and scraped into the waters, and the jealousy offering waved and offered.
Ver. 27. And when he hath made her to drink the water, &c.] For, as before observed, and here by Jarchi again, if she says I will not drink it, after the roll is blotted out, they oblige her, and make her drink it whether she will or not, unless she says I am defiled:
then it shall come to pass, [that] if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband; or has committed adultery:
that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, [and become] bitter; the water drank by her, and having the curses scraped into it, shall enter into her, and operate and produce bitter and dreadful effects:
and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot; not through any natural virtue in the water, or what is put into it, either the dust of the floor of the tabernacle, or the scrapings of the parchment roll, these could have no physical influence to produce such effects; but they must be ascribed to a supernatural cause, the power and curse of God attending this draught. A certain Jewish writer {b} says, though very falsely, that the priest put poison into the water, which produced such effects; but then, how could an innocent woman escape the effects of it? that must be allowed to be miraculous and supernatural, was it so; but there is no manner of reason to believe that anything of this kind was put into it, The Jews say {c}, as soon, or before she had made an end of drinking: the water, the effects appeared; her face turned pale immediately, her eyes bolted out, and she was filled with veins, her body swelled, and they called out, Cast her out, cast her out, that she may not defile the court. And the text seems to intimate, as if the operation was immediate; yea, moreover, they say {d}, that as the waters searched her, so they searched him (the adulterer), because it is said twice, "shall enter, shall enter"; and that the same effects appeared in him as in her, but in neither, unless the husband was innocent; for if he was not pure from the same sin himself, the waters would not search his wife {e} hence they say {f}, when adulterers increased (under the second temple) the bitter waters ceased, according to (Ho 4:14); see (Mt 12:39). This practice has been imitated by the Heathens; the river Rhine, according to Julian the emperor {g}, tried the legitimacy of children; and so lakes have been used for the trial of perjury and unchastity, as the Stygian lake for perjury, and another of the same name near Ephesus for unchastity; into which, if persons suspected of adultery descended, having the form of an oath hanging about their necks, if they were pure, the waters stood unmoved, but if corrupt, they swelled up to their necks, and covered the tablet on which the oath was written {h}. The priestesses of a certain deity being obliged to live a single life, were tried by drinking bullocks' blood, upon which, if false to their oath and corrupt, they immediately died, as Pausanias {i} relates; and Macrobius {k} speaks of some lakes in Sicily, the inhabitants called the Cups, to which recourse was had when persons were suspected of any ill, and where an oath was taken of them; if the person swore truly, he departed unhurt, but if falsely, he immediately lost his life in the lake. Philostratus {l} relates of a water near Tyana, a city in Cappadocia, sacred to Jupiter, which the inhabitants call Asbamaea, which to those that kept their oaths was placid and sweet, but to perjured persons the reverse; it affected their eyes, hands, and feet, and seized them with dropsies and consumptions; nor could they depart from the water, but remained by it, mourning their sad case, and confessing their perjury: but what comes nearest to this usage of the Jews is a custom at marriages among the savages at Cape Breton {m}: at a marriage feast, two dishes of meat are brought to the bridegroom and bride in two "ouragans" (basins made of the bark of a tree), and the president of the feast addresses himself to the bride thus,
``and thou that art upon the point of entering into a respectable state, know, that the nourishment thou art going to take forebodes the greatest calamities to thee, if thy heart is capable of harbouring any ill design against thy husband, or against thy nation: shouldest thou ever be led astray by the caresses of a stranger; or shouldest thou betray thy husband, and thy country, the victuals contained in this "ouragan" will have the effects of a slow poison, with which thou wilt be tainted from this very instant; but if, on the other hand, thou remainest faithful to thy husband, and to thy country, if thou wilt never insult the one for his defect, nor give a description of the other to the enemy, thou wilt find this nourishment both agreeable and wholesome.''
Now if these relations can be credited, then much more this of the bitter waters, for though there was something wonderful and supernatural in them, yet nothing incredible:
and the woman shall be a curse among her people: the time she lives; but then all this while she was looked upon as an accursed person, and despised and shunned by all.
{b} R. Samuel Tzartzah, Mekor Chayim, fol. 91. 3.
{c} Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 4.
{d} Ibid. c. 5. sect. 1.
{e} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 28. 1. Gersom in loc.
{f} Misn. Sotah, c. 2. sect. 9.
{g} Orat. 2. p. 151. Ep. 16. p. 131.
{h} Vid. Salden. Otia, l. 1. Exercitat. 6. sect. 24.
{i} Achaica, sive, l. 7. p. 450.
{k} Saturnal. l. 5. c. 19.
{l} Vita Apollonii, l. 1. c. 4.
{m} Genuine Letters and Memoirs relating to the Isle of Cape Breton, &c.
Ver. 28. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean, &c.] If she is not guilty of adultery, but pure from that sin:
then she shall be free; from the effects of the bitter water; they shall have no such influence upon her, but she shall be as soured and healthful as ever; nay, the Jewish writers say more so, that if she had any sickness or disease upon her she would now be freed from it {n}; the Targum of Jonathan has it, her splendour shall shine, the brightness and beauty of her countenance:
and shall conceive seed; a man child, as the same Targum; and the Jewish writers say, if she was barren before, now she would be fruitful; but no more is meant by it than that her husband should receive her gladly, and she should live comfortably with him hereafter, and the blessing of God would be upon her, which would still be a confirmation of her chastity.
{n} Maimon. Hilchot Sotah, c. 3. sect. 22.
Ver. 29. This [is] the law of jealousies, &c.] Which was appointed by God to deter wives from adultery, and preserve the people of Israel, the worshippers of him, from having a spurious brood among them; and to keep husbands from being cruel to their wives they might be jealous of, and to protect virtue and innocence, and to detect lewdness committed in the most secret manner; whereby God gave proof of his omniscience, that he had knowledge of the most private acts of uncleanness, and was the avenger of all such. The reasons why such a law was not made equally in favour of women, as of men, are supposed to be these: because of the greater authority of the man over the woman, which would seem to be lessened, if such a power was granted her; because marriage was not so much hurt, or so much damage came to families by the adultery of men, as of women; because women are more apt to be suspicious than men, and in those times more prone to adultery, through their eager desire of children, that they might not lie under reproach {o}:
when a wife goeth aside [to another] instead of her husband, and is defiled; is suspected of going aside to another man, and is supposed to be defiled by him.
{o} Vid. Salden. ut supra, (Otia, l. 1. Exercitat. 6.) sect. 19.
Ver. 30. Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, &c.]
and shall set the woman before the Lord; has carried the matter so far as to bring his wife to the priest or civil magistrate, and declare his suspicion, and the ground of it:
and the priest shall execute upon her all this law; he shall proceed according to the law, and perform every rite and ceremony required; nor could any stop be put to it, unless the woman owned she was defiled.
Ver. 31. Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, &c.] Which otherwise he would not, by conniving at her loose way of living, and not reproving her for it, and bringing her either to repentance or punishment; and retaining and encouraging jealousy in his mind, without declaring it, and his reasons for it: the sense of the passage seems to be, that when a man had any ground for his suspicion and jealousy, and he proceeded according as this law directs, whether his wife was guilty or not guilty, no sin was chargeable on him, or blame to be laid to him, or punishment inflicted on him:
and the woman shall bear her iniquity; the punishment of it, through the effects of the bitter waters upon her, if guilty; nor was her husband chargeable with her death, she justly brought it on herself: or if not guilty, yet as she had by some unbecoming behaviour raised such a suspicion in him, nor would she be reclaimed, though warned to the contrary, she for it justly bore the infamy of such a process; which was such, as Maimonides says {p}, that innocent women would give all that they had to escape it, and reckoned death itself more agreeable than that, as to be served as such a woman was;
Jeremiah 9:13-15
And the LORD saith, Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have
not obeyed my voice, neither walked therein; But have walked after the imagination of
their own heart, and after Baalim, which their fathers taught them: Therefore thus saith
the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed then, even this people,
with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.
Jeremiah 23:14,15
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and
walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his
wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as
Gomorrah. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will
feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of
Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
Lamentations 3:15
He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood.
This is from a transcript entitled:
General Assembly Forty-fifth session Excerpts from the provisional verbatim record of the thirty-second meeting held at Headquarters, New York on Tuesday, 23 October 1990, at 10 a.m.
This document appears on the United Nations website at http://www.un.org/ha/chernobyl/45pv32.htm
The following remarks were made by Mr. Kravchanka (Byelorussian SSR ) (interpretation from Russian):
"In Slavic languages, including the Ukrainian and Byelorussian languages, there is a word 'chernobyl', which means wormwood, bitter grass. This has striking relevance to the Chernobyl tragedy. I am no fatalist. I do not believe in the blind inevitability of fate, but who can fail to be moved by these tragic and elegiac words from Revelation, which must leave their indelible imprint on the heart:
'... and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of water;
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.' (The Holy Bible, Revelation 8:10-11)
"At the end of the twentieth century the human intellect—educated in rationalism, in faith, in the creative power of science and knowledge—refuses to accept that those words may prove prophetic and fateful for the Byelorussian people. To prevent Chernobyl from becoming an irreversible tragedy for the Byelorussian people, we must immediately adopt a more comprehensive set of additional measures, particularly medical and biological measures. The reality is vastly different from the earlier estimates of Soviet and foreign experts. This has been demonstrated by reliable data concerning the deterioration in the health of our Republic's inhabitants.
...
"Today we wish to make one more proposal: to proclaim 26 April, the day when Chernobyl disaster occurred, as an international day for the prevention of nuclear and other industrial disasters. I wish to emphasize that the Parliaments Byelorussia and the Ukraine by special decrees have already proclaimed 26 April, the day of the Chernobyl tragedy, a day of mourning and remembrance."
Also from the UN website:
16 September 1997 Press Release GA/9297
CURRENT GENERAL ASSEMBLY SESSION CAN MARK BEGINNING OF NEW ERA IN UNITED NATIONS HISTORY, PRESIDENT TELLS OPENING MEETING
Says Members Have Chance to Revitalize World Body To Meet Mounting Challenges, 'Reunite the United Nations'
Following is the text of the inaugural address given today by Hennadiy Udovenko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, as President of the fifty-second session of the General Assembly:
...
"The current environmental problems also demand our increased attention. The sustainability of the entire ecosystem is put in question by the irresponsible exploitation of nature and by mismanagement. This poses a serious threat to our common well-being. The sad illustration of this is the Chernobyl catastrophe. It happened on the territory of my country, where -- rephrasing the revelation of St. John the Divine -- 'a great star fell from heaven upon the third part of the rivers'. Although it occurred more than a decade ago, the 'Chernobyl star of Wormwood' still hovers like a Damoclean sword over the world and as a bitter reminder for all of us."
[Note: I do not have the URL for the above press release, but if you go to http://www.un.org/search you should be able to find it quite easily.]
Webster's Dictionary:
wormwood: 1: ARTEMISIA. esp: a European plant (Artemisia absinthium) yielding a
bitter slightly aromatic dark green oil used in absinthe; 2: something bitter or grievous:
BITTERNESS
artemisia: any of a genus (Artemisia) of composite herbs and shrubs with strong-smelling foliage
Encyclopedia of Herbs, Deni Brown:
Artemisia absinthium (wormwood) has been a household remedy since biblical times, its
bitterness becoming a metaphor for the consequences of sin: "For the lips of a
strange woman drop as an honeycomb, And her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is
bitter as wormwood" (Proverbs 5:3-4)...Absinthium, the species name, means
"without sweetness," and refers to the intensely bitter taste. Its common name
"wormwood" comes from the German Wermut, "preserver of the
mind," since the herb was thought to enhance mental functions...Properties...It
stimulates the uterus and expels intestinal worms.
____________________
(Geneva Bible footnotes)
Artemis: a Greek moon goddess often protrayed as a virgin huntress--compare DIANA
Acts 19:35:
And when the townclerk had appeased the people (who were upset that Paul had said that no
gods were made with hands), he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that
knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana,
and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?
The Ephesians believed superstitiously that the image of Diana came down to them from heaven.
----
(Robertson's Word Pictures)
Jupiter was considered lord of the sky or heaven...The legend about a statue fallen from heaven occurs concerning the statue of Artemis at Tauris, Minerva at Athens, etc. Thus the recorder (townclerk) soothed the vanity of the crowd by appeal to the world-wide fame of Ephesus as sacristan (keeper) of Artemis and of her heaven-fallen image.
(Worlds in Collision, Immanuel Velikovsky)
"When comets pass close to the earth, stones occasionally fall...Since the planets were gods, stones hurled by them or by the comets created in their encounters, were feared as divine missiles, and when they fell and were found, they were worshiped.
"The stone of Cronus at Delphi, the image of Diana at Ephesus, which, according to Acts (19:35), was the image which fell down from Jupiter, the stones of Amon and Seth at Thebes, were meteorites. Also the image of Venus on Cyprus was a stone which fell from the sky. The Palladium of Troy was a stone that fell on the earth "from Pallas Athene" (the planet Venus). The sacred stone of Tyre, too, was a meteorite related to Astarte, the planet Venus. "Traveling about the world, she [Astarte] found a star falling from air, or sky, which she taking up, consecrated on the holy island [Tyre]." At Aphaca in Syria a meteorite fell which "was thought to be Astarte herself," and a temple to Astarte was built there; festivals "were regularly timed to coincide with the appearance of Venus as the Morning or Evening Star."
"The stone on which the temple of Solomon was built--Eben Shetiya, or fire stone--is a bolide that fell in the beginning of the tenth century, in the time of David, when a comet, which bore the appearance of a man with a sword, was seen in the sky. The sacred shield of Numa at Rome, the ancile of Roman Mars, was a bolide; it fell from the sky in the beginning of the seventh century and its origin was connected with Mars...Carving messages to peoples or kings on fallen stones was known before and has been practiced since.
"One of the stones that fell from the sky is still worshiped today--it is the black stone of Kaaba in Mecca. Now its surface is black from being touched and kissed innumerable times, but under its cover of dirt it retains its original reddish color. It is the holiest thing in Mecca, built into the wall of Kaaba, and pilgrims travel thousands of miles to kiss it...The black stone of Kaaba, according to Moslem tradition, fell from the planet Venus; but another legend says that it was brought down by the Archangel Gabriel."
[ I got my paperback copy of Velikovsky's "Worlds in Collision" over ten years ago in a second-hand bookstore and I paid 50 cents for it. Nowadays it's well-nigh impossible to find any books by him, never mind in this price range. Amazon had some reissued works but they were sold out immediately and seem to be completely out-of-stock at this time. Making inquiries at second-hand bookstores brings the price of between $100-200 for a hardcover edition. Seeing it is so hard to find a copy I would recommend the following instead: Cataclysm : Compelling Evidence of a Cosmic Catastrophe in 9500 B. C. by D. S. Allan, J. B. Delair. Philologos review of the book:This book is absolutely chock full of scientific evidence that helps explain the earthly changes forecast in the book of Revelation. All the natural phenomena related in the last book of the Bible finds its counterpart in the ancient earthly record and is a matter of "been there, done that" as far as the earth is concerned. You can't explain away the residual evidence of a cataclysmic event in the past so it's not too far-fetched to imagine it happening again. The most unbelievable aspect of this research is that more people have not been exposed to it.
(Kenison, Fred. The Apocalypse of Revelation, Purkaitheion Press, p. 119)
"Why did John choose to use the simile of the great star as wormwood? The Egyptians had a luminous demon idol who presided over a third of the waters. The Popular and Critical Bible Encyclopedia and Scripture Dictionary (Vol. 3, p. 1735) says, 'The vocation of this star was to destroy by poison, not by fire, sword, or famine. St. John seems to employ this symbol of Egyptian poison and bitterness as the prototype of a great anti-christian power, which would poison and embitter the pure waters of christian life and doctrine, converting them into wormwood, mitzraim, being a figure of apostasy and rebellion."
"The Temple: Its Ministry and Services, Chapter 11 The Preparations for the Passover" explains that the draught of a women suspected of adultery is administered on 15th of Adar.
"Purification From Suspicion of Adultery " also speaks on this matter.
From Worlds in Collision, Immanuel Velikovsky:
When Venus sprang out of Jupiter as a comet and flew very close to the earth, it became entangled in the embrace of the earth. The internal heat developed by the earth and the scorching gases of the comet were in themselves sufficient to make the vermin of the earth propagate at a very feverish rate. Some of the plagues, like the plague of the frogs ("the land brought forth forgs") or of the locusts, msut be ascribed to such causes. Anyone who has experienced a khamsin (sirocco), an electrically charged wind blowing from the desert, knows how, during the few days that the wind blows, the ground around the villages begins to teem with vermin.
The question arises here whether or not the comet Venus infested the earth with vermin which it may have carried in its trailing atmosphere in the form of larvae together with stones and gases. It is significant that all around the world peoples have associated the planet Venus with flies.
In Ekron, in the land of the Philistines, thre was erected a magnificent temple to Baal Zevuv, the god of the fly. In the ninth century King Ahaziah of Jezreel, after he was injured in an accident, sent his emissaries to ask advice of this god at Ekron and not of the oracle at Jerusalem. This Baal Zevuv is Beelzebub of the Gospels.
...
The Zend-Avesta, describing the battle of Tistrya, "the leader of the stars against the planets" (Darmesteter), refers to worm-stars that "fly between the earth and heaven," and that supposedly signify the meteorites. Possibly it is a reference to their infesting property.
This idea of contaminating comets is found in a belief of the Mexicans described by Sahagun: "The Mexicans called the comet citlalin popoca which means a smoking star...These natives called the tail of such a star citalin tlamina, exhalation of the comet; or, literally, 'the star shoots a dart.' They believed that when such a dart fell on a living organism, a hare, a rabbit, or any other animal, worms sudenly formed in the wound and made the animal unfit to serve as food. It was for this reason that they took great care to cover themselves during the night so as to protect themselves from this inflaming emanation."
The Mexicans thus thought that larvae from the emanation of the comet fell on all livinig things. As I have already mentioned, they called Venus a "smoking star." Sahagun says also that at the rising of the Morning Star, the Mexicans used to shut the chimneys and other apertures in order to prevent mishap from penetrating into the house together with the light of the star.
Learmonth Solar Observatory
Excerpts from website (2004):
"Project Wormwood is a small program run by IPS Radio and Space Services (a unit of the Australian Government Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources) and established at Learmonth Solar Observatory..."Learmonth Solar Observatory (LSO) is located on the North West Cape of Western Australia at approximate coordinates 22 degrees south and 114 degrees east.
"Established in 1979, it is jointly managed by the US and Australian governments. It is staffed by four different organisations - the US Air Force Weather Agency, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the USAF 15th Communications Squadron (Maintenance), and the Australian IPS Radio and Space Services. It is a real-time space weather patrol observatory that monitors the near space environment...
[next to a picture of the observatory]
"The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water - the name of the star is Wormwood. Revelation 8:10-11"Telescope, mount, cameras and associated equipment arrived at Learmonth Solar Observatory and were initially set up in 2003."