“The man shall bring his wife to the priest, and he shall bring her offering on her behalf, one-tenth of an ephah of barley flour; he shall not pour oil upon it, and he shall not place frankincense upon it, for it is a meal offering of jealousy, a meal offering of remembrance, a reminder of iniquity” (Numbers 5:15). “The man shall bring his wife to the priest” – what is written prior to the portion of sota?
“A man’s sacred items shall be his; [anything that a man gives the priest shall be his]” (Numbers 5:10). Do Israelites eat sacred items? It is, rather, if you came to the priest with vow offerings, gift offerings, and first fruits, I will produce from you priests51His daughters will marry priests, and his grandchildren will be priests. who partake of sacred items. If you mocked the mitzvot and did not bring sacred items, ultimately, “the man shall bring his wife to the priest.”
An entrance that is not open for mitzvot is open for the doctor.52Money not spent on mitzvot will ultimately be paid to the doctor. “And he shall bring her offering on her behalf” – he brings an offering from what is his.53He did not give the priest from his harvest, and now he will have to spend his money to bring his wife's offering to the priest. “One-tenth of an ephah” – it is because she violated the Ten Commandments.
“Barley flour” – she fed the adulterer delicacies of the world; therefore, her offering is of animal feed. “He shall not pour oil upon it, and he shall not place frankincense upon it” – Rabbi Shimon said: By right, the meal offering of a sinner should require oil and frankincense, so that a sinner will not be rewarded. Why does it not require them? It is so his offering will not be glorified.
Another matter: “He shall not pour oil upon it” – why? It is because oil is light for the world, as the verse called it yitzhar.54It shares a common root with tzahorayim, noon, and tzohar, a source of light. Since she preferred the darkness, there will be no light in her meal offering. “And he shall not place frankincense upon it” – as the frankincense evokes the matriarchs, as it is stated: “I will go to the mountain of myrrh,” (Song of Songs 4:6) – these are the patriarchs of the world; “and to the hill of frankincense” – these are the matriarchs.
But this one strayed from their paths; let their memory not be in her offering, as frankincense is called memory.55“The priest shall burn its memorial portion [azkarata] on the altar” (Leviticus 2:2). “For it is a meal offering of jealousy [kenaot]” – these are two jealousies. Just as it is jealousy for the husband, so it is jealousy for the paramour.56He too is punished with the woman’s drinking of the water.
Just as she evoked jealousy below, so too, she evoked zealotry [kina] above. “A meal offering of remembrance” – this is for the better, if she is found to be pure. “A reminder of iniquity” – this is for the worse, if she is found to have been defiled. “The priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the Lord” (Numbers 5:16).
“The priest shall bring her near” – she does not come during the pilgrimage festival.57Although the spectacle would be greater then, the priest does not wait, but stands her before the Lord at the first opportunity. “And have her stand” – he shall not have her slaves or her maidservants stand with her, because she will be emboldened by them. “Before the Lord” – at the Nikanor Gate; from here they said: The head of the watch would stand the ritually impure at the Nikanor Gate.