Why did Christ come into this world? That question can be answered in many different ways. He came to assume our human nature; he came to dwell among us; he came to rescue his people; he came to fulfill the promises; etc. Each answer enriches. The (in)famous passage of  Numbers 5:11-31 contributes to this enriching: he came to drink the cup!

Poor Wife!⤒🔗

What horror! A woman finds herself suspected of adultery — by her own husband. If she is guilty, that would be one thing. But what if she is not?! What if her husband has it wrong?! Yet she cannot convince him of her innocence. He's not only slightly suspicious, but "feelings of jealousy" wash over him. He has no concrete evidence that she has committed adultery, but these "feelings of jealousy" eat away at him. Deep down he just "knows" that she has indeed been unfaithful. Horrible!

Horrible Ceremony←⤒🔗

Though her life is not in immediate danger as it would be in most surrounding nations, she now has to go through quite the ceremony. Her husband has to take her to the priest who in turn has to "have her stand before the LORD," likely at the altar of burnt offering — a very public place. The priest then has to fill a clay jar with holy water, adding some dust from the tabernacle floor to it. Then he has to loosen the woman's hair — her crown of glory!

Next, the priest places her under oath before the LORD: If no other man has slept with you and you have not gone astray and become impure while married to your husband, may this bitter water that brings a curse not harm you. But if you have gone astray while married to your husband and you have defiled yourself by sleeping with a man other than your husband — here the priest is to put the woman under this curse of the oath — may the Lord cause your people to curse and denounce you when he causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell. May this water that brings a curse enter your body so that your abdomen swells and your thigh wastes away.Numbers 5:19-22

To this the woman then must respond, "Amen, Amen!"

The priest would then write the words of the curse on a scroll and wash them into the water — and give that water to the woman to drink. Horrible ceremony!

The husband and wife could then return home. No, the water did not work magically. But God's Word would prove true. If she was guilty she would no longer be able to hide it: it would come out.

True, there is a silver lining here. If the woman was innocent she would receive children (Numbers 5:28) and thereby be enabled to build up God's special nation in this world. Was that not the hope and desire of God-fearing women?! Think of Hannah. But even then: what a ceremony! Horrible! How she, even years later, would look back upon that dark page in her history and shudder.

Poor Husband!←⤒🔗

Now to the husband. We might be tempted to say, "What a miserable, suspicious guy! Who would want him for a husband anyway?!" Even if his wife is proven innocent he appears to get off Scot-free.

Without going into all the details, however, such an understanding is too simplistic. Those "feelings of jealousy" were not minor. They consumed him (cf. Proverbs 6:34) — much in the same ways as zeal for God's house later on consumed our Lord (John 2:17). Such feelings do not normally overpower a person — unless adultery indeed has been committed. After all, especially when the marriage has been good, hiding adultery is virtually impossible: the spouse typically detects right away that something is drastically wrong. The man just "knows" deep down that adultery has happened — and yet his wife denies it — and he simply does not have any hard evidence. Poor husband!

Holy God←⤒🔗

But there is more to it. He is living in the camp of Israel — and holy God is living in that camp as well. After God rescued his people out of Egypt, and after the LORD established his covenant with them at mount Sinai, then the LORD said to Moses, "Build me a tabernacle so that I too can move in with my people." That was wonderful news! Egyptians, Philistines, Moabites, Canaanites, watch out. "If God is on our side, against us shall be none!" People of Jericho, watch out: your walls will now come tumbling down!

At the same time, holy God cannot stand sin. When he came into the camp, those with infectious skin diseases or discharges had to be sent outside the camp (Numbers 5:1­4). Those who defrauded their neigbours had to make full restitution (Numbers 5:5-10): such was now imperative! Otherwise, God's wrath would burn. How shocked the people must have been very recently when Nadab and Abihu were struck down by the LORD when they offered an offering with unauthorized fire (Numbers 3:4).

Poor husband! He knew that there was no way that holy God would be unmoved by the adultery of his wife — and that before his face. He realized that they lived "coram deo." If holy God could not have ceremonial uncleanness in his presence, how much less actual uncleanness — especially that of adultery.

Holy Seed←⤒🔗

There is still more to the story. With adultery, the "seed" of God's special people was being tampered with. Think of how God later on says via Malachi, "Has not the Lord made them one in flesh and spirit they are his. And why one because he was seeking godly offspring. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith with the wife of your youth" (Malachi 2:15).

Poor husband! How could he dare stay in the camp? How could he keep his family in the camp? Their lives were at stake; the well-being of the whole camp was at stake.

But he had no proof — and indeed it was possible that he had it wrong! Yet those feelings of jealousy consumed him.

Indeed Serious!←⤒🔗

Poor wife! Poor husband! Indeed, the situation was most serious. Was not their marriage relationship designed from the very start already to be a reflection of that very special relationship between God and his people (cf. Ephesians 5:32)? Had God not just established that relationship with the nation of Israel? Was God not very zealous for that relationship? Was not the functioning of that relationship so key to their children learning about God's relationship with his people? Was not this relationship key to the future of the nation?

No, it is not as if the husband just happened to be very suspicious of everything that happens, always assuming the worst. Rather, he feared holy God! He longed for godly offspring.

But what could be done? The wife could not convince her husband — and there simply was no proof. Just imagine the tension!

Mercy←⤒🔗

True, the ceremony itself is horrible, but in instituting this ceremony the LORD showed mercy. The husband is right: this situation just cannot be tolerated in the camp of Israel. God therefore allows his people in such situations to come to him and thus to call upon him, "Who alone knows the heart, to bear witness to the truth, and to punish me if I swear falsely" (LD 37). He will bring the resolution needed. Assuming innocence, he will set the stage for the husband and wife to truly embrace one another again in full confidence — and thus restore their marriage so that their marriage could function to build up the nation of Israel as it pressed forward looking for the arrival of the great Messiah.

Holy Jealousy←⤒🔗

As already mentioned, the reality of the marriage relationship is key here. Keeping in mind that this relationship is a reflection of the relationship between God and his people, what do we see reflected or pictured or illustrated in the husband as the "feelings of jealousy" wash over him? That's a reflection of what happens to the LORD when his bride, his people, prove unfaithful to him!

Of course he never gets it wrong when those feelings of jealousy wash over him. They are rooted in reality — and he has all the proof. Even the mountains and the hills can testify (cf. Micah 6:1-2). Consider the history of his people: it is a history of adultery (cf. Hosea)!

Christ's Cup of Curses←⤒🔗

Now consider how Christ, when walking on earth, again and again pointed out to his disciples that he had come in order to suffer. Listen to him as he comes into the Garden of Gethsemane. He cries out in agony — and he speaks of a "cup." "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me." In the Garden his Father is giving him a cup to drink — that cup of curses — that cup of wrath — that cup foreshadowed in Numbers 5. No, he does not want to drink it. Why not? True, it is not a nice ceremony, but if he is innocent, won't he be cleared of guilt?

He knows, however, that though he is innocent, the curses will yet enter into him causing his thigh to waste away and his abdomen to swell, as it were. Indeed, he will die childless! In the words of Isaiah 53:8,

By oppression and judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants?

Why? Because he came to drink the cup in our place!

Our Cup of Blessing←⤒🔗

And why did he do that? So that we, in spite of our spiritual adultery, may receive from his hand the cup of blessing! The gospel of Christmas is marvellous. Christmas leads to the cross where the cup of curses was drained to the dregs once for all by Christ. And now each one of us, as a child of his, may lift up the cup of salvation and say: surely, my cup overflows (Psalm 116 and 23)! Glory to God in the Highest!